One of the stories that I choose was I Used To Live Here Once by Jean Rhys. The story is a short story that is told in third person format. In the beginning of the story the woman is looking at the stepping stones and remembering them as she is walking across the river. When the narrator says ‘ She was standing by the river looking at the stepping stones and remembering each one” it lets you know that the young lady in the story has been there before.
The narrator of the story is giving a sense of what the short story is going to be about with this stament as well. The setting shows that the women is in a country enviroment. The plot shows that the young lady is on a walk that she has taken before however things have vhnaged from the last time that she was there. The narrator gives clues by showing that she was once there by stating” The road was much wider than it used to be but the work had been done carelessly. The felled trees had not been cleared away and the bushes looked trampled.
Eventually she sees the house where she used to live and notices that it has changed as well. The mock summer house was no longer there and she noticed a car in front of the house as well. When she seen the car it was strange which points out to me that when she was living cars wasn’t around. The women spots two young children a girl an a boy that are playing in the yard and says “ hello” to them she is surprised when they don’t reply back to her. She walked more closly to the children and says hello again and mumble “ I used to live here once.
She says “ hello” a third time and reaches her arms out to the children to touch them. On the third try the little boy looks straight in her eyes and says to the little girl that it feels cold all of a sudden and that they should go in, the little girl agrees. As the children run off to go inside it finally makes sense to her that she is no longer living that’s why no one is paying attention to her and everything she once knew has changed in some sort of way. The author makes this clear at the end by stating “ that was the first time she knew.
