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).

When Miriam is on her death bed at the hospital, she asks Gemma to tell her a selkie story (Livesey 111). Gemma starts the story, positioning it as a woman living in the village by the sea. According to the OED, the selkie story is "also, in folklore, a creature or spirit having the appearance of a seal; spec. one able to assume human form” (“sealkie”). Elisabeth Gifford is a prose writer who also reflects on and has an interest in the selkie story. She writes, "The legend of the Selkie is told along the Western coast of Scotland and as far down as Ireland.

In The Flight of Gemma Hardy, Gemma discusses why “G” is her favorite letter, and ends up revealing a snippet about her name: "Because it's the first letter of the name of a little clam called a Gemma gemma. And it's a letter in your surname. And it's the first letter of garage" (Livesey 324). In many works of literature, the process of naming characters is a way to add depth to a story.

Throughout reading different hypertexts, it is clear that different authors choose to reinvent the characters, plot points, and motifs present in the original Jane Eyre. One aspect that changes through different versions of Jane Eyre is the name of the child Jane looks after. Identity is so closely intertwined with the process of being named, making the author’s decision on a name important, as it can add layers to the reading of a novel.