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The Internal Conflict in I Used to Live Here Once by Jean Rhys

Decent Essays

In the Short story, “I used to live here once" by Jean Rhys portrays the story of a woman who is still in the process of accepting her death and that she is already in the afterlife. The conflict in the short story is also very intriguing because this is more of an internal conflict that the female character has to deal with. The conflict undeniably in the short story is all about the internal conflict between the female character and herself. Obviously the female character is already a spirit and she is having a hard time accepting that she is already dead. She visits the place that she used to call home but she notices that there have already been many changes that have happened there (Concert). She is aware of the changes that have happened in the place where she used to live because her memory is very powerful. However, as she continues her travel in the places that are familiar to her it slowly occurs to her that she is merely a spirit and not alive anymore. She notices that the day is ordinary and typical but the sky is ‘glassy’. She even tries to talk to the children under the mango tree but her voice does not resonate to them. She is talking to them but the children do not really hear her. Rather, the children suddenly feel an unusually cold feeling so they just opt to go back to their house. It is clear that her presence made the children suddenly afraid. There are many evidences that prove that the female character is merely a spirit who is just travelling in

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