Eveline
In the short story “Eveline,” James Joyce gives Eveline an exciting chance to leave her old life and begin a new one. But she rejects this offer by choosing between Frank and Fate, she preferred instead to settle back into the lousy life she had known all her life. Why doesn’t she leave with Frank when she had great opportunity by forgetting the horror that she went through? Eveline had been raised as a Catholic, and it was very difficult for her not to keep a promise of her dead mother. It wasn’t right of her mother to ask her daughter to sacrifice herself. We know that Eveline will always be haunted by that promise, but we didn’t expect her to give up her life for this.
We certainly know that Eveline wanted to leave her abusive, bad-tempered, heavy drunken father. Her father was taken advantage of his daughter’s promise, and that promise forcing her to keep the house for her father. He had so frightened her with threats of beating her. Eveline realized that with her brothers gone, there is no one who can protect her from her father. To leave her father would be a great idea for her, but that promise killing her.
Eveline’s home life was so unhealthy, despite all the chores she performed in her house; she still didn’t feel comfortable there. The dustiness of the house, which Joyce always reminds us in the story, told us that the dust made her sufficed all the time and made her sick and tire of this town and her life. Eventhough she had many reasons to leave her town, she still preferred to stay with her lousy father. The main reason why Eveline didn’t leave Ireland, because she was afraid of unknown and taking risks which she wasn’t prepared to deal with that in her future. She chose to leave her wonderful man Frank who can give everything she desires. But instead she chose to stay in this horrible town with her father and with her promise, which she made to her mother. By staying in this town it will always remind her of what kind of mistake she made by not choosing to leave with Frank.
Eveline was afraid of failing on her own. She was scared that she might explore another life with a great person like frank who was willing to give her his life.
In her final letter to her mother, Eliza admits her wrong doings. She tells her mother she ignored all the things she was told. All their advice fell on her deaf ears. She explains that she had fallen victim to her own indiscretion. She had become the latest conquest of “a designing libertine,” (Foster 894). She knew about Sanford’s reputation, she knew his intentions, and she knew that he was married, yet she still started a relationship with him. And her blatant disregard for facts and common sense caused her unwed pregnancy and premature demise. Eliza Wharton had nobody to blame for her situation but herself. She ignored warnings, advice, common sense, and other options available to her. She chose her ill fated path and had to suffer the consequences.
Throughout Kaye Gibbon’s novels, each unified character portrays a resemblance to overcome their obstacles through hope. In Gibbon’s first novel, Ellen Foster the main character, Ellen a young child struggles to survive and live a normal childhood. Making matters worse, Ellen’s father was a drunken alcoholic who physically abuses her mother and sexually harasses his own daughter. As a result, Ellen’s mother commits suicide and her father dies from over dosage. As her, own parents abandon their precious child; Ellen was alone in search of a new home and family. As hope motivates Ellen to seek forward and find her new home she begins to believe what an ideal family would be like, “I had not figured out how to go about getting one for the most part, but I had a feeling it could be got”. Similar in Ellen’s case, in Gibbon’s second novel A Virtuous Woman, Jack is in search to regain himself after a heartbreak loss to his wife Ruby who died several months prior from lung cancer. Jack is an old farmer and relied heavily towards Ruby. He is now left on his own, he acknowledges that only hope may lead him back on his tracks and leave all the crucial memories behind.
Her mother passed away when she was young and her father was killed by Norsefire. She knows that a father has a masculine representation in her life. V doesn’t fit in the father or lover companion, and that make her confused in where she fits. Not only does she have mixed up feeling for V but also Gordon who she lives with and at first has a father figure and later a lover. Evey has a dream about her father who turns into Gordon and tries to have sex with her (Moore and Lloyd 143). Since Evey only knows two types of male companions she ended up with both who portray protection and guidance. Once again she is dependent on her male counterpart Gordon, to feel protected. Her dream of her as a young child portrays that she is still a child in need of guidance and protection and is defenseless. Beauvoir writes, “Thus, women may fail to lay claim to the statues of subject because she lacks definite resources, because she feels the necessary bond that ties her to a man regardless of reciprocity, and because she is often very well pleased with her role as the other (2). Evey feels a necessary bond to V and Gordon but there is no mutual conditions of favors or relationship, she’s just illustrated to show how she is dependent to a man. Evey is also pleased as the role of the other because she doesn’t understand anything more than that. Her role as a female and how to behave according to social rules is all she
In the story, Eveline's family is described poor, and they probably don't live a very comfortable life. The dust and Eveline's struggle for money mentioned in the story all go to explain the misery in their life: "Besides, the invariable squabble for money on Saturday nights had begun to weary her unspeakably"(Joyce5). This misery also appears in other stories by Joyce like 'The Sisters' and 'Araby'. Joyce could have related his childhood days when his family was in some financial crises to the family background of Eveline in the story: "but the [Joyce's] family fortunes took a sharp turn for the worse during Joyce's childhood" (Gale Group). From the story, we are told that it is from this misery, and her father's attitude that Eveline decides she would leave home, although, she does not leave at the end of the story. Joyce could have been writing about the urge the had to leave Dublin during his youth because he: "[cites] the city of Dublin as the center of paralysis" (the Gale Group).
Eve is labeled as an obvious submissive character as soon as she was introduced in the novel. She appears as a helpless woman in the company of nuns. Nuns might be considered some of the purest and most vulnerable creatures alive, second only to children. Her affiliation with these women imply that she is innocent and as helpless as they. Eve and the nuns are at the mercy of the brave warrior who rescued them from their mission. When Eve volunteers to walk across the jungle, even her act of courage seems weak. " 'Please'-Eve caught on impulse at the khaki-clad arm, 'if room can be found for Sister Mercy and the others , then I am sure I can trek the rest of the way' " (6). She asks, or begs, for permission to make a sacrifice, and through out the novel she never stops apologizing for it.
At the beginning of the novel when Eilis realizes that it is time for her to pack and leave Ireland, she feels that “She would prefer to stay home, sleep in this room, live in this house, do without the clothes and shoes. The arrangements being made, all the bustle and talk, would be better if they were for someone else” (Toibin 31). This depicts her home in Ireland as a feeling of belonging for Eilis. She wishes that she wasn’t the person who had to go though this and doesn’t want to be in her own shoes when it comes to moving away from home. This further portrays Stoddard’s theory of Sigmund Freud, especially on “the uncanny” since the double is a key figure in Freud’s uncanny. (Stoddard 150) Eilis associates the atmosphere in her home with sadness because of her departure and puts her mother and sister’s feelings before hers when she thinks, “...
In the majority of the story Eveline "sat at the window," (512) which parallels with her paralysis because she does not move. Eveline "was going to go away like the others" (512) because she was one of the only people left in Dublin from her childhood. However, Eveline doesn't go since she is trapped in her setting. Almost nothing in Eveline's setting ever changes throughout her life. The significance of Eveline looking around the room "reviewing all its familiar objects" (512) is that she "never dreamed of being divided" from them. All around her Eveline "had those she had know all her life about her" (512). Eveline is a product of her environment. The reader can see how the setting never changes, Eveline's life molds to it. This explains the reason for her not going away and starting a much happier life.
Mooney, Polly and Eveline, Joyce was able to openly address the lack of women’s rights in a way that appeases the public eye and the critical thinker. It seems as though Joyce’s female characters were mirror imitations of women in the 1900s. Women’s suffrage was not a myth by any means and James cunningly portrayed that in Dubliners. He was able to address the cruelty women faced in marriage and from men in general. In addition, women were under scrutiny from the Catholic Church and society as a whole. They had to accept where they were in life and deal with the suffocating sorrow that came with it. However, Joyce portrayed a side of women that was stronger than the oppressive men and the capability of making the heroine choice of self-sacrificial
By not taking that opportunity, Eveline probably missed a life of exploration with Frank. Eveline would have had the chance to know what independence feels like and she would have had the chance to experience individual freedom. Instead, her life afterwards is a life of regret and imprisonment with her family. Being an only child, she is bound by her family’s actions and their duties. Eveline has taken on an incredible part of the burden in keeping the family together. Her father is an overbearing and unfair man who takes his daughters earnings for himself; and rather than appreciating her sacrifices, he ridicules her. As she now lives with her dad and her two brothers, she feels tired and frustrated with her dad’s commands and her everyday life. Everyday, she sadly waits for frank to come back into her life once again and fill her life with happiness. Eveline may possibily in the future live her freedom when her controlling father passes away, but perhaps it will become too late for her to experience the freedom she wanted.
When Edna's one chance for change; her only hope, Robert, deserts her, she realizes that her dreams are unachievable. It is this grim acceptance that steals our heroine's last shard of optimism from her. Edna Pontellier's suicide is completely believable, justifiable, and understandable. This world was too cruel for her tender spirit; this life too stifling for her to bear. None of this surprises me. How many women (or men, for that matter) go through life with their eyes closed? How many find it easier to simply shut out the ugliness and horror that surrounds them? Finally seeing the loathsome existence they are a part of can simply be "too much" for many to sustain. Utter despair and hopelessness soon devour that fragile soul, with frailty too great for this existence.
"Strange that it should come that very night to remind her of the promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could." (Joyce 32) How is it possible for one to not follow out a parent's last wish? Eveline's mother's last request was for her to take care of the family. That is a great responsibility to be put into a child's hands. Everyone deserves a chance to be happy, so why did she go along with something that would only continue to make her life miserable? Eveline felt tangled knowing that it was all up to her to keep the family together, and to support her father, so she decides to stay. "She always gave her entire wages-seven shillings-…" (Joyce 30). This is again another example of what Eveline does for her family. After working all hours of the day, in the end, she gives all of her earnings to her father. It gives her a sense of purpose in a weird sort of way.
In the story “Eveline”, Joyce’s main character Eveline has ambitions to escaper her life in Ireland. For the main part of the story she is waiting in front of a window ready to leave for a new life with her lover Frank. “She stood up in a sudden impulse of terror. Escape! She must escape” (29). This illustrates the theme of escape by showing her dissatisfaction with her life in Ireland. She is reluctant due to a promise made to her mother to stay and take care of her family. Being an independent person she longs to leave Ireland however, she decides to stay at the end of the story with complete awareness of her decision. “NO! No! No! It was impossible. Her hands clutched the iron in frenzy” (34). She could leave her father and live a happy life instead she lives this displeasing life. Eveline is overwhelmed by her unending struggle with her will to leave.
Eveline is an individual stuck in the boring routine of life, but is given the opportunity to take a chance and possibly make a better life for herself by leaving Dublin and going to Buenos Ayres with a man who she loves named Frank. However, in the end, Eveline chooses to not take the opportunity given to her and instead decides to continue with the monotonous routine of her life in Dublin. Many authors of short stories allow the reader to make their own judgments about characters. However, Joyce decides to show his frustration with Eveline at the end of the story and judges her harshly. In fact, Joyce goes as far as to call Eveline a “helpless animal”.
The scene in which Evelina requests some figure of provision to “raise and support [her] with others” happens when she states that Mrs. Selwyn is “so much occupied in conversation” that she cannot help Evelina (242). These words perform perfectly in rebuffing women who chose to ignore social convention and eagerly speak their minds. Again, Evelina encourages the patriarchal idea that women are without valuable thought and thus, should not voice their ideas or opinions in the presence of company. Evelina is desperate to remain in the good graces of those around her and thus, admonishes Mrs. Selwyn in her letter to Mr. Villars to show that she is still respecting the societal rules, which are sympathetic to patriarchal control. When Evelina admonishes Mrs. Selwyn for rejecting the rules of conversation and society and begging for Mr. Villars approval in all of her actions, she is functioning under the patriarchy. This seemingly youthful and naïve hope is what makes it possible for Evelina to rebuff those that attempt to harm her because she is writing of the horrors to Mr. Villars and asking him, directly or indirectly, if it is acceptable that she rejects such
The setting of the story plays a very important role. The story takes place in the winter, traditionally considered to be a time of darkness and nature’s slumber. The location is Dublin, under English rule at the time the story takes place. In his opening sentence, Joyce offers a view of North Richmond Street, described as a “blind” street. The symbolism of the “dead-end” street seems purposeful, and is quite effective, particularly as the story progresses. The description of the house the protagonist lives in provides the reader with the information that the family’s finances are lower-middle-class. This element plays an important part, as conflicts are introduced.