I Used to Live Here Once by Jean Rhys - Analysis
To what lengths will someone ever remember their home and recognize the things they’ve once known? Stories have been used throughout the ages to not only create a tale that can cause to the reader great imagination and wonders, it is also common for them to hide several meanings and twists to the adventure. Through the portraits of her life, and the perils of her adventures, Jean Rhys’ has incorporated many of the paths of her life into the illustrations she had developed into short stories. These representation of her original life represent the strong and key points of her journey where she had felt abundances of emotions; many of which were transcribed into very short tales such as ‘I Use To Live Here Once’ where you may notice the precision on the details, the excess of description on the author’s view and imagination, as well as the direct correlation with herself. The following story entitled as mentioned, tells the tale of a woman returning back to a distant memory, and finds two mysterious figures that will enlighten her truth. Further opinions will be referred to as a base to the literal analysis of the story, in order to understand the feelings of the author. Jean Rhys’ includes a particular genre and writing style in this short story that is built around her personality, the author’s use of the ending helps to symbolize the connection with her life whilst using specific types of imagery and juxtaposition throughout the story.
The story debuts on a quite simple scale with one description leading to another where each receive a thorough scan, to which we may notice several types of similes and metaphors used in order to express the themes and tones of the short story. The gradual increase of the ‘truth’ hidden at the end of the story can be understood as you proceed the reading through the use of these writing techniques; these reverses of ‘meaning’ give away odd particularities throughout the whole story: “She stopped and looked towards the house that
The story debuts on a quite simple scale with one description leading to another where each receive a thorough scan, to which we may notice several types of similes and metaphors used in order to express the themes and tones of the short story. The gradual increase of the ‘truth’ hidden at the end of the story can be understood as you proceed the reading through the use of these writing techniques; these reverses of ‘meaning’ give away odd particularities throughout the whole story: “She stopped and looked towards the house that
Cited: Brady, T. (2009, April 27). I Used To Live Here Once - Literary Analysis. Retrieved from Useful Writting Tips: http://usefulwritingtips.weebly.com/uploads/2/2/0/0/2200043/mlaexamplee.pdf Castro, J. (2000). Jean Rhys. Retrieved 11 14, 2012, from EBSCO: http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=ab49a11d-4b3a-40a5-ace2-afcb1f51a6 57%40sessionmgr12&vid=3&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3 d%3d#db=aph&AN=3367082 Grencinger, M. (2012, May 23). "I Used To Live Here Once" By Jean Rhys : A Theme Analyzation. Retrieved from HubPages: http://bryteyedgemini.hubpages.com/hub/SHORTSTORYELEMENTS Linett, M. (2005). "New Words, New Everything" Fragmentation and Trauma in Jean Rhys. Retrieved November 15, 2012, from EBSCO: http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=22&sid=b734c470-0503-447e- 984c-ed893e2e9c3a%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3 d%3d#db=aph&AN=20895491 The New Windmill Book. (1994). Classic Short Stories. In J. Rhys, M. Hamlin, C. Hall, & J. Browne (Eds.), I Use To Live Here Once. Harlow, Essex, United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited.