The setting of the novel is within the New World Caribbean. Antoinette begins the novel by introducing Annette, who she reveals to be her step-mother. Annette is the second wife of her father and because of her youth and beauty, Antoinette points out that the Jamaican ladies disapproved of her and includes that she was a “Martinique” girl. Throughout the text, no exact date is given however, context clues within the very first five pages allow us to narrow down the range as being within and around the early 1800s.
In one scene, Antoinette overhears a conversation by a minor character stressing his impatience in waiting for the “compensation the English promised when the Emancipation Act was passed”. Afro-Caribbeans of previous enslavement had not easily forgotten their recent plight under the system. The 1833 American periodical titled Christian Secretary , the conditions of slavery in Jamaica are specified. The unnamed author records his visit to a plantation and his discovery regarding the severe punishment of flogging. He records “Now there were 277 slaves on that estate, of whom a very small proportion were children…and yet a man who had been among them for only two years did not know of anyone (with the exception of mere children) who had not been once or oftener subjected to this cruel, degrading and revolting punishment”.
Slaves would not hold back in silence much longer. Multiple revolts are documented as having occurred throughout the second half of the 18th century. Arguably the most significant would be that of 1760, now known as Tacky’s Revolt. The mass casualties leave it as both a significant and influential moment in the future of the Atlantic Slave trade.
Early 19th century Europe contrasted with the previous historical events and now actually looked to undo the practice of slavery. In 1807, England passed the Abolition Act which officially halted the Atlantic Slave trade completely. The hope had been that by halting the import of Africans into colonial territories, the white overseers now forced to coexist alongside their former slaves would grant them rights along with a path of inclusion into the existing society.
The character Antoinette overheard reflects the similar attitude held by Jamaicans of the time period who were now no longer enslaved but still considered inferior. English legislators quickly learned that their colonial counterparts weren’t particularly good at taking hints on the matter and as a result were forced to adjust.
Following the 1807 law, the British parliament passed a series of following laws collectively known as the Amelioration Acts. To ameliorate is to improve in conditions and the Acts looked to do just that in regards to race relations between black and white Jamaicans that were now equals thanks to abolition.
Unfortunately, African impatience would not be absent of physical conflict. Some would act upon their growing frustration years later in just 1831 as yet another revolt took place. The key differences in this revolt from previous ones were the considerably lower casualties that were accompanied by the intentional destruction of plantation land and infrastructure. The torching of plantations was calculated as Africans retained all that they had harvested for themselves beforehand and therefore looked to economically deprive their overseers by destroying what goods they were capable of benefiting from sale of. The world of Wide Sargasso Sea exists after 1807 but before the years after which future emancipation and Amelioration legislation would bring about significant change.