You imagine the carefully pruned, shaped thing that is presented to you is truth. That is just what it isn't. The truth is improbable, the truth is fantastic; it's in what you think is a distorting mirror that you see the truth.
Jean RhysRead
The rumble of the life outside was like the sound of the sea which was rising gradually around her.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that life can be overwhelming and chaotic, similar to the rising sea.
In this quote, Jean Rhys uses the metaphor of the sea to illustrate the way external life experiences encroach upon a person's inner world. The 'rumble of life' signifies the hustle and bustle of the outside world, which can become increasingly overwhelming, much like the rising sea that gradually envelops someone. This imagery evokes feelings of being both at one with the natural world and simultaneously threatened by it, reflecting the complexities of existence.
Themes
LifeChaosMetaphorNatureSea
In practice
Example use cases
To illustrate the overwhelming nature of modern life in a speech about mental health.
More from Jean Rhys
All quotes →If I was bound for hell, let it be hell. No more false heaven. No more damned magic.
Jean RhysRead
The musty smell, the bugs, the lonliness, this room, which is part of the street outside-this is all I want from life.
Jean RhysRead
Yes, I am sad, sad as a circus-lioness, sad as an eagle without wings, sad as a violin with only one string and that one broken, sad as a woman who is growing old. Sad, sad, sad.
Jean RhysRead
My life, which seems so simple and monotonous, is really a complicated affair of cafés where they like me and cafés where they don't, streets that are friendly, streets that aren't, rooms where I might be happy, rooms where I shall never be, looking-glasses I look nice in, looking-glasses I don't, dresses that will be lucky, dresses that won't, and so on.
Jean RhysRead
I must write. If I stop writing my life will have been an abject failure. It is that already to other people. But it could be an abject failure to myself. I will not have earned death.
Jean RhysRead
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Fear can make you do more wrong than hate or jealousy. If you’re afraid you don’t commit yourself to life completely; fear makes you always, always hold something back. You shouldn’t be alone. It’s killing you; it’s undermining you. All the time, every day, you should be somewhere with people.
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