Exchanging Love for Death in Eveline
Like "Araby," "Eveline" is a story of young love, but unlike Mangan's sister, Eveline has already been courted and won by Frank, who is taking her away to marry him and "to live with him in Buenos Ayres" (49). Or has she? When she meets him at the station and they are set to board the ship, Eveline suddenly decides she cannot go with Frank, because "he would drown her" in "all the seas of the world" (51). But Eveline's rejection of Frank is not just a rejection of love, but also a rejection of a new life abroad and escape from her hard life at home. And water, as the practical method of escape, as well as a symbol of both rejuvenation and emotional vitality, functions in a multi-faceted way to show all that Eveline loses through her fear and lack of courage. By not plunging into those "seas of the world that tumble[d] about her heart" (51), Eveline forsakes escape, life, and love for the past, duty, and death.
Like many of the stories in Dubliners, moving eastward in "Eveline" is associated with new life. But for Eveline, sailing eastward with Frank is as much an escape as a promise of something better. From the story's opening, she is passive and tired (46) and remembers old neighbors like "the Waters" who have since escaped east "to England" (47). She looks forward to "going... away like the others" (47). She admits she will not be missed at her job (47) and at nineteen, without the former protection of her older brothers, she is beginning to feel "herself in danger of her father's violence" (48). Her father takes what little money she earns and she is in charge of her two younger siblings as well (48). The sound of a street organ playing an Italian tune is both a call to her fr...
... middle of paper ...
...e, and "perhaps love, too" and "she had a right to happiness" (50). Yet Eveline is not certain she will find love with Frank, just as she doesn't know what kind of life they will have together. The adult world of desire, longing, fulfillment, and heartbreak roil about in "the seas of the world that tumbled about her heart" (51) and this unknown world of emotional vitality and power is as frightening to Eveline as the physical reality of sailing halfway round the world. In this realm she might drown, yes, but she might just as likely learn to swim. Yet by declining "to test the waters" Eveline condemns herself to a life without emotional fulfillment at all. In the rite of passage from adolescence into adulthood, Eveline feels only that the transformative experience will "drown" her old self and she is unable to adequately imagine a new self emerging from the waves.
From a mother, wife, and society woman, Edna progresses to a unique woman of her own, free and independent. By deciding to choose her own paths to take in life, breaking the rules and expectations of the people around her, Edna achieves total control of her destiny. The backdrop of Edna's journey of her awakening is the tantalizing whisper of the ocean. The ocean awakens Edna's senses, teaches her the thrill of taking a risk and offers her inspiration to "dare and defy" (109).
middle of paper ... ... She begins to glory in the beauty of her own body and begins a romantic liaison with a man who is not her husband. For the first time in her adult life, Edna begins to live according to her own desires, not those of her husband or society.
Even from the land in the safety of her summer home, the sea has enticed and attracted her towards it. The presence and embrace of the sea is a constant acquaintance of Edna. In contrast, her husband frequents the club and has children who are unattended by her. The continual presence of the sea allows Edna to reflect on her life, such as seeing her image on the surface of water. “The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.
In The Awakening, Kate Chopin’s protagonist Edna Pontellier breaks the boundaries of female behavioral norms by using the sea as a metaphor to convey Edna’s strength and empowerment. Edna’s recklessness shows her passion to escape from the restrictive reality of her time. Edna first breaks boundaries when she steps into the water in chapter X, in a “daring and reckless way, overestimating her strength”(Chopin 27). Edna swims out to sea to escape the entrapment of a male dominated society. She does not know how to swim or survive in this male dominated society. Swimming illustrates the alienation Edna feels. She attempts to overcome her fears
With her mind already gone, Edna's body begins to swim out into the sea, not caring about what lies ahead: "She did not look back now, but went on and on, thinking of the blue-grass meadow that she had traversed when a little child, believing that it had no beginning and no end." (109)
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Though the immigrants to Ellis Island could not see Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” within the base of the Statue of Liberty, “tired” and “poor” were overwhelming applicable to the desperate souls seeking new life in America. While Ellis Island has a reputation in popular culture for being the “processing center” for all those seeking to enter America on the East Coast, the sad truth is that primarily only steerage passengers who could just barely afford their ticket were the ones waiting in line at Ellis Island to gain admission into the United States. For those who could afford a luxury ticket, the immigration authorities boarded ships for them, and once given the all-clear, were then proceeded to be dropped off at New York.
Particularly, he challenges Evey to be stronger than her past because “[it] can't hurt [her] anymore, not unless [she] allows it” (). Furthermore, the government has turned her into a “victim” and a “statistic,” but she has the power to free herself. It is Evey's responsibility to find such power within herself and become “forever changed”. Evey's transformation occurs when she leaves ignorance behind and becomes acquainted with her pain.... ...
It is also, though, the thing that kills her. While Chopin’s work is technically classified as a feminist novel, many question if this writing has been appropriately labeled. The reason for this dispute is because of Edna’s apparent suicide. While she may appear weak and her drowning may appear as defeat, her suicide is an important part of her awakening. Her death is the final step towards a complete transition. As morbid as it may seem, Edna was never going to be happy in a world so constricting and limiting. The only way to complete and arrant freedom was to liberate herself from a life full of impedances and griefs. Her demise was actually her birth, allowing her soul to live eternally awakened. Edna’s life and death is cyclical, where she is born and eventually dies, only to be reborn. The only thing connecting each phase of her life is water, serving as the guide for her newly aroused being. It is the fuel to the fire, the light that induces and triggers the changes within her. Readers can see this cyclical aspect of water when Chopin utilizes the same phrases at her death and at the commencement of the novel, where she first learns to swim. “The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude,” (Chopin 203). Edna still feels enticed to the water, but
This short quotation from the end of chapter 6 of Kate Chopin’s the Awakening is crucial to understanding the text as a whole and is also a vital example of foreshadowing. In this part in the novel, Edna, the protagonist, has just refused to go for a swim with Robert. However, the very sight and sound of the sea entices her. The sea here is depicted as an invigorating object that gives Edna life. At the time of this novel, women were not viewed highly by their husbands. They were expected to conform to societal norms and remain subservient. They were not to question their husbands and were always expected to do as they were told. Thus, women of this time were not free. In this novel, it is the sea that makes Edna free. In the sea she loses all restraints and all reservations when she finally goes for a swim later in the novel. Being free in the sea and going for a swim is liberating to her, just like seeking out another man since she isn’t happy in her current marriage. In her marriage she can’t be the woman that all women want to be. While her husband is a good man, she still has to conform to his wishes. Thus she cannot be the person she truly wants to be. In order to be this person, Edna seeks out the company of Robert. By giving the sea these life-giving qualities, Chopin shows the sea as an emancipating force in Edna’s life. It sustains her and seduces her with the offers of freedom. The sea speaks to the soul because of what it offers and enfolds the body in its soft embrace for these same reasons.
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”.
In contrast to the poorly defined Windows DNA (Distributed interNet Architecture), .NET is a tangible and easily defined software product. It is an application framework, meaning that it provides applications with the system and network services they require. The .NET services range from displaying graphical user interfaces to communicating with other servers and applications in the enterprise. It replaces Windows COM (Component Object Model) with a much simpler object model that is implemented consistently across programming languages. This makes sharing data among applications, even via the Internet, easy and transparent. .NET also substantially improves application scalability and reliability, with portability being a stated but not yet realized objective. These are clear benefits demonstrated by the pre-beta edition of .NET.
Microsoft was able in the OS segment to double their revenue per PC when Windows 3.x emerged which still needed MS-DOS to run. Most of the sales Microsoft made were to OEMs who would take the additional step of installing Windows on a computer’s hard drive. This strategy was effective in that the cost of production was relatively low, as an OEM may only need a single master copy to do the installation. The costs to Microsoft would largely be bore in R&D expense rather than production. As part of the Microsoft business model for this segment, Microsoft designed their OS to need periodic upgrades. The upgrades did come at a cost, and in essence, Microsoft was able to create an “annuity” stream for the Microsoft OS segment. In this segment, Microsoft had a monopolistic structure that allowed them to realize huge returns, especially during such a period of technological growth and rapid obsol...
It is extremely hard for her to make the decision of whether or not to go with Frank because she only knows one way. Eveline understands that she has "a hard life,"(513) and she has the chance to go to a place where "it would not be like that" (513). However, it scares Eveline to change her setting. After thinking about leaving she did not find her present setting as "wholly undesirable" (513) as she previously did. The latter part of "Eveline" is set by the sea. This sea is a symbol of rejuvenation for Eveline. Much like in "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin, the sea is a way to escape life. "All the seas of the world tumble around her heart," (515) and Eveline is unable to flee from her life to go away with Frank. Eveline's mind has been subconsciencly designed by her environment, and she can't imagine living life any other way. Eveline is so confused and doesn't know what is holding her back, but something is.
In the short story “Eveline “ by James Joyce, Eveline, the protagonist is given the opportunity to escape from her hard unendurable life at home and live a life of true happiness at Buenos Ayres with Frank, her lover. Throughout the story, Eveline is faced with a few good memories of her past from her childhood and her mother, but she also faces the horrible flashbacks of her mother’s illness and her father’s violence. In the end, she does not leave with Frank, Eveline’s indecisiveness and the burden of her family’s duties makes her stay.