Rhys was involved in three different marriages and began writing after a near fatal abortion. She began to write some of her greatest pieces after moving in with English writer Ford Madox Ford who also convinced her to change her name to Jean Rhys. She died May 14, 1979 with a somewhat unhappy state of mind. English writer Ford Madox Ford was one of the first writers to discover Jean Rhys’s literary significance. He praised her for “singular instinct for form,” and also noticed that the fact that she was an outsider gave her a very unique viewpoint.
Jean Rhys was always the underdog and most of her background showed through in her stories. Her contribution to English literature came from her childhood. She showed what she had been through growing up in the West Indies, and the things she had seen. She then portrayed these certain things through out several of her stories. Her stories reflect outsiders who come back with a sense of dominance and independence. Regardless of the things she had seen and been through she still came out on top.
Jean Rhys’s short story “The Day They Burned the Books,” is set in the Dominican Republic in the 1900’s just before the world war one. Economic times were very trying during this time and extremely hard on the people who lived there. The narrator seems to take the role of Jean Rhys as a young, naive child who is experiencing everything first hand. This story seems to reflect Rhys’s life very well. The different themes consisted of racism, unkindness of love, self-acceptance, and many more. Racism was a big theme that showed exactly how Rhys grew up.
The Essay on The Story of an Hour-Theme and Narrative Elements
When considering short stories, it is very important to realize that the little things make a big difference in how a piece is perceived. Each piece must be in sync to really help convey the short story in the way that was meant. Different literary elements are integrated in different short stories. For Kate Chopin, her piece The Story of an Hour, symbolism and point of view play very strongly ...
Self-Acceptance was also a major theme. Rhys was never accepted and was known as the outcast. She was criticized for the way she talked which is shown in her writing. She purposely adds in grammatical errors to show that the narrator was a young child. The story also shows an unhappy marriage and the hate that can form between two people. I believe that Rhys is simply showing an insight of her childhood and the things she had to see as a child growing up in the West Indies. After researching Jean Rhys’s I grew very fond of her and her writing.
It takes a lot to be ridiculed as a child and made into an outcast, and to snap back from that and make something of yourself. Her whole life she was told she was always doing something wrong, she witnessed forms of racism that we today aren’t used too anymore. When teachers told her and her parents she couldn’t speak proper English she turned around and through it back in their face. I love the sense of power she brings in her writings. It’s her way of showing the world despite what everyone said she made it, and became a major part of literary history.
The way she adds grammatical errors to her writing is her way of making a mockery of what her teachers told her. She was the outcast that made something of herself. In an interview she had shortly before her death she made the comment that if she could go back and choose whether to be happy or write, she would choose to be happy. It makes you wonder if the only reason she started to writing was to prove to everyone and herself that she was good enough. Either way I believe that Jean Rhys and her short stories are powerful and god enough.
