“I Used to Live Here Once” painted a vivid picture of what
it is like to return to the familiar and not being able to physically connect. How
re-visiting a place can bring back a rush of feelings and memories, good and
bad. You experience the same feelings from the past as well as new ones during
the present, and sometimes you feel stuck in between. When she felt she could
not physically talk to the little boy and girl she was trapped in another place;
perhaps somewhere in between her past and the present. For me the cold breeze symbolized
her past, a cold breeze whipping by the two children, they could feel it but
not see it, similar to experiencing the past. You can feel it but cannot
physically see it. The ending when she knew she was no longer there was
symbolic of her being gone both physically and mentally from her home.
Rhys uses ample of vocabulary that suggests her insecurities about the place that she used to live. The depiction of the"unfinished" road and trees suggest that she has some unfinished business back there. However, the boy's "grey eyes" and her unanswered "Hello's" shows that she is not very welcomed, and thus her insecurities.
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