Wide Sargasso Sea is a novel that explores life in Jamaica post emancipation. Jean Rhys tells the story of Antoinette, a creole girl, who has a rough childhood and grows up to marry a man who only married her for her dowry. He eventually decides she’s crazy and locks her up in the attic. The book comes to a tragic end when Antoinette sets fire to the house, burning it down along with her in it. Through this story, Rhys explores slavery and emancipation in Jamaica, the construction of gender and race, and the culture of death and magic.