The first traumatic event of Wide Sargasso Sea occurs only two pages into the story. Antoinette's mother's horse is killed, left dead under the frangipani tree: "...he was dead and his eyes were black with flies. I ran away and did not speak of it for I thought if I told no one it might not be true" (Rhys 16). The frangipani tree, although beautiful when in full bloom, has a contrasting wintertime nickname: "the ugly duckling." When winter approaches, the beautiful tree turns into an ugly skeleton of branches (Delvalle). This transformation parallels the storyline of Jane Eyre, or in in this case the prequel to Jane Eyre. Rhys opens with the horse death under the frangipani tree to foreshadow a transformation from something beautiful to something ugly, just as Antoinette and Bertha spiral into insanity.

Bibliography: Delvalle, Terry Brite. “Garden Help: Plumeria go from ugly duckling to swan plant.” The Florida Times-Union, 20 May 2017, https://www.jacksonville.com/entertainment/home-and-garden/2017-05-20/ga.... Accessed 31 Oct. 2019.

Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea, W. W Norton & Company, 1966.