English > Eveline by James Joyce

The story of Eveline takes place in Dublin, Ireland. Eveline is a nineteen year old girl who is about to leave her home and move to Buenos Ayres with Frank, a sailor. Throughout the story Eveline is hesitating and questioning her decision she made and she is trying to win herself from both sides.

Eveline is looking out of the window from her old little brown house and remembers her happy childhood when she and her sisters, brothers and the neighbor’s kids played all together and her mother was still alive. She realized that everybody she knew left and the neighborhood has changed around her. Eveline is going over her familiar objects and everything becomes very important to her, even the name of a priest who is hanging on the wall. We can feel that everything around her becomes valuable and meaningful to her and that she is not ready to leave them behind her yet.

If she would go to Buenos Ayres her life would change, she would be married and people would respect her. She would escape from her father’s disturbance and probably from her unfortunate financial situation. Frank is the only entertaining and colorful character in this story. He tells stories about his adventures life and takes Eveline to see a play, he sings to her and eventually they fall in love.

Eveline still stands at the window holding her goodbye letters in her hands and remembers the time when her mother died. Eveline made a promise to her mother that she will keep the home together as long as she can. All of a sudden she realized that she doesn’t want to be unhappy and she ran to Frank who will rescue her.

At the end of the story she was about to board the boat but she became very uncertain about her decision. She was confused and asked God to guide her and show her the right thing to do but she became very weak and couldn’t go on. She was unable to express her feelings; her character became lifeless, almost dead.

 

What factors influenced Eveline’s decision?

One of the most significant factors that influenced Eveline’s decision was the way how she lived her whole life. She was always the one who never left her home, never changed, everybody and everything changed around her but she stayed the same. She was afraid of the changes because she doesn’t know anything other than her surrounding, her isolated little world where she feels safe and protected. Her father was a little abusive, they lived in poor conditions in a small, old, dusty house, but she still saw this house as a safe place where she finds comfort and it meant her home. She wanted to imagine another home but she was too afraid of letting go of her family objects and she couldn’t separate from them.

The other significant factor is her promise to her mother that she will keep the home together as long as she could. This promise could have influenced her a lot. She thought if she leaves too, nobody will hold the family together.

Another factor is that she had two younger siblings and her father started to get old and she felt responsibility toward them. She was afraid if she leaves nobody would take care of them.

Probably the fact that Frank was a sailor and he lived far away from her home made her decision making even harder. Her father was against foreigners and he forbidden Frank from Eveline. She was thinking about her coworkers at the department store that if she would go away with Frank they would talk about her as a fool.

 

Do you think she made the right choice?

I think Eveline was too young at this point in her life and she was a very weak person to make such a big change. If she would have gone to Buenos Ayres she would miss her home too much. She would feel guilty not live up to her promise to her mother that she will keep the family together. She would constantly blame herself for not taking care of her younger siblings and her old father. Some people are not strong enough to survive such a big change in their life; they are too attached to their surroundings, to their home, family members, neighbors and obligations. I wish that her character would have showed some courage and potency that she would be able to adapt to the change and have the strength to leave everything behind, but I didn’t find any of these characteristics in the story. I’m very sad to write this but because all the above mentioned reasoning I think she made the right choice. Probably her life would have been even more suffering as it was in Ireland and at this point she would have not survived so far away from her HOME.

 

 

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