Emotional Abusive Relationships In James Joyce's Eveline

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According to Statistics, “86% reported emotional and psychological abuse, 49% reported physical violence, and 35 % reported financial abuse.” So why does a person stay in an abusive relationship? A question so natural to ask, yet difficult to comprehend. Abuse does not see race, gender, or stature; yet, it happens every day especially in a close - knit relationship. Sometimes abuse can be so subtle that it slowly chips away a person’s identity and the person does not even realize that they are in an abusive relationship. In James Joyce’s, “Eveline” Eveline exhibits the classical signs of a victim to abuse. She lacks self-confidence due to her father’s verbal, emotional, and financial abuse.
Eveline lacks confidence due her father 's verbal …show more content…

The victim of emotional abuse looks for constant approval. The victim rationalizes abuser’s action and tries to please the abuser overly. Also, the victim feels incapacitated and doubt his or her decision. Eveline has also fallen prey to her father’s emotionally abusive behavior. Eveline’s mother passed away when Eveline was young. Although Eveline’s dad should take the responsibility of upbringing children, Eveline is shunned with that responsibility. She feels obligated to stay home because she made a promise to her mother to hold the family together as long as she can. Her brother Henry left home, and her father 's friend – a priest has gone away from her father as well, yet Eveline is not able to separate herself from her father. She finds the reasons to stay home thinking her father is becoming old lately and justifies her father 's abusive behavior; "father was not so bad then when the mother was alive." She reminisces her 19 years of life and finds a couple of “good memories” of her father. Moreover, then when she meets Frank whom she likes and wants to marry, she doubts her decision. James Joyce uses word “animal” in the last passage to describe Eveline’s emotions. Eveline feels helpless. She does not want her present life, but she finds it difficult to escape …show more content…

Rather, the story says her working at the store, doing the house chores, and taking care of her siblings. Eveline worked hard at home and at the store to support her father and her siblings. She gives away her full wage to her dad, and he would spend it on alcohol. It was difficult for Eveline to ask her father for the money because he accused her of squandering the money. When her father gave her money to buy dinner, she hurriedly goes to market tightly grasping her black purse. Afraid of the outside world, and especially afraid of losing the money, which of course she had earned in the first

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