An Interpretation of Jean Rhys' Used to Live Here Once
Jean Rhys’ “I Used to Live Here Once” is a very well written and thought through short story. Rhy is very descriptive about all of the surroundings in the story. She makes sure to leave out no details regardless if the reader realizes it or not. That is why I say Jean Rhys’ “I Used to Live Here Once” is not about where “she” use to live, it is about a woman remembering the first time she knew that she was dead.
The story begins with her standing on the bank, staring and “remembering” each “stepping stone” (Rhys 358). Everything was just as she remembered at the river. As well as it should have been, for that is where she died, and her spirit has remained until she decided to go home. The last stone she remembered is a very important element of the story. She remembers that, “The next wasn’t so safe for when the river was full the water flowed over it and even when it showed dry it was slippery. But after that it was easy and soon she was standing on the other side” (358). The importance is that the unsafe rock was what caused her death. She slipped on it and fell into the river and lay dead beneath the water for many years. Now her spirit has returned and she is trying to go home. She knows that it “was” easy after this stone, because she had done this several times before (358).
When she saw the road, she immediately realized that it was wider than before. At this point everything around her was familiar but damaged. The road was wider, but it was poorly done. The trees were still there, but they were lying on the ground. The bushes were still there, but they “looked trampled” (358). Although everything was not exa...
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...59), because “she” was eye to eye with the boy and he sensed her spirit. That is why the children never responded.
In the last paragraph the narrator states, “That this was the first time she knew” (359). That indeed was the “first time that she (narrator) knew” that she was dead.
I feel the moral of this story is that we have to live each day as if it were our last. For tomorrow is not promised to any one. And that the decisions we make are life-long and it is not possible to go back and re-live or change the past. Therefore since tomorrow is not promised and we can not go back to yesterday, we must live each day to the fullest with no regrets.
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Rhys, Jean. “ I Used to Live Here Once.” Current Issues and Enduring Questions. Eds. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 1999. 358-59
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...In her death-throes, she lands on her brother, causing him to die of fright. The narrator escapes only to see the entire
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