By The River Jack Hodgins

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Jack Hodgins “By the River” is a short story that delves into the lives of an isolated woman named Crystal and her husband, Jim. An unnamed narrator explores Crystal’s life with Jim as she walks through the forest to meet Jim at the train station. Jim wanted to live isolated and independently from civilization, so he and Crystal moved into the woods and started working on a farm together. Crystal had different plans for her life, but Jim talked her out of them, and she moved onto the isolated farm with him. Things did not go as planned at the farm, leaving them unprepared for what was to come. Crystal continuously believed in Jim and what he could do, but he did not have that same belief in himself, so the farm failed. Crystal was always by …show more content…

Crystal is an extremely complex and somewhat naive character who is created through other people’s perspectives of her, her perspective on herself, and her delusions and ideas about Jim. Crystal's self-perception is largely determined by the opinions and beliefs of those in her life. Crystal, from the start, has shown that other people’s opinions affect how she thinks about herself. When she went on a date with Jim Styan many years ago, she was embarrassed by what people would think of her for going out with him. It is said that when she was young, she wanted to continue going to school and furthering her education, but Jim talked her out of it, and she moved into an isolated house in the woods with him, even though she was not doing it for herself but instead doing it for Jim. Jim works or goes to the city every day, leaving Crystal behind all on her own, making Jim the only person Crystal can “depend on” while he more than likely has people other than the Crystal he can socialize with. This is one of the reasons Crystal is under the impression Jim will come back to her in the …show more content…

Crystal being so easily influenced by what people think of her has made her lose the opportunity to pursue the life that she wanted to live. She is now stuck, isolated from society, and under the impression that Jim is coming back to her. She could break free from these ideas and delusions that other people, specifically Jim, have created for her; she could pursue a life back on the island she grew up on with her family and have more support from her community. Furthermore, she does not have to isolate herself any longer, but she does, and she is suffering, even if she does not realize it. Crystal has a hard time forming ideas for herself and is easily influenced by other opinions of her, which warps her perspective on life. As previously stated, Crystal primarily bases who she is and how she lives her life on what others think of her, but there are rare cases where she does show who she truly is and what she wants to be. She often thinks about having children, and she used to think about going to university to further her

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