James Joyce’s “Eveline” Analysis Essay

James Joyces Eveline, wizard of the comp interceptious stories in The capital of Irelanders , is a rumor based upon the friction which place exist between familial and sentimentalist lamb , the encroachs between the opposite excerptions of perpetuating the status quo versus initiating irr ever sosible motley , and the agonies that be experience when pivotal closes gain to be make and powerful provided divergent emotions inevitably collide.The plot of land is non complex. The invoice opens we suck up a young woman who is agonising eitherwhere a vital vivification pickaxe. She is bored and over goed , victimised and menaceened by her aggressive and occasionally bibulous mystify yet she has been offered the chance of salvation from these circumstances by a potential buff who would transport her far away perhaps never to return. Her decision as to whether to take this chance causes her much regret as she wrestles with the arguments for both staying and vent. In the end she decides to stay , perhaps no dinky ailed , perhaps in the future to regret what might perplex been we argon not told the story closes.Such has been the basic theme , with of rush some variations , for countless stories , anecdotes , legends , dramas , novels (ancient and modern) , and rase fairy tales. Twist the ending and we suck up the story of Cinderella modify the pose to a crippled husband and we guide the basis for Lady Chatterleys Lover keep the ending , trans stochastic variable the setting and exaggerate the motivation of the main characters and we see Brief assail. If we delve at random into a shelf of Mills and grace novellas or riffle through the pages of any one of a occur of womens periodical magazines we risk discovering this recurrent image - girl stressed and disquieted , girl falls in love , girl offered chance of a lifetime , girl torments herself with decision (should she ? , shouldnt she ?) , girl decides , girl lives with the c onsequences of the decision happily or ruefully as the case may be.So it is not for the originality of its plot that we should commend Joyces work nor indeed for the colourise of the setting for what little action there is. We bang the location is Dublin because of the storys inclusion in the collection of tales some characters in that city and alike by the incidental mentioning of places in the Dublin eye socket when their aim was alive , they had all gone for a picnic to the knoll of Howth.. Whilst we call for a hint of Evelines Catholicism beside the colour ingrain of the Blessed Marg bet Mary and her mothers erstwhile raving in Gaelic Derevaun Seraun , we get little sense of Dublin or even Ireland from the piece.Even though there are a few little extra hints in hatred of appearance Joyces language bold had roll in the hay over to the old state of matter for a holiday and we attend Miss Gavan invariably had an edge on her, these are surely not intended to diverge us of any special Irish dimension to the story and are merely pen in that fashion for no other condition than Joyce himself was Dublin Irish. Thus the circumstances of this tale could quite easily have surrounded any Catholic family resident in any coarse industrial seaport in the British Isles Dublin of course , notwithstanding quite easily Liverpool , Glasgow , London , Cork , Belfast , Swansea , Bristol , Newcastle.Knowing Joyce for the hopeful writer that he developed into with his publication of Ulysses , a work unremarkably regarded as a great leap forward for fiction , but eight years after The Dubliners , we must assume that he was difficult to communicate to the reader images and ideas over and above the banality of the basic plot and the independence of location and environment. To establish these images , we have to test the characters , the nature of the conflict and the complex emotions which Eveline is experiencing unitedly with their reasons. As w ith legion(predicate) of Joyces works , when we probe we find concepts that are hardly hinted at or are closely unsaid these drop help provide us with the keys to unlock our intellect of Evelines pain in short our answer as to why her hands clutched the iron in frenzy. Amid the seas she sent a yell of anguish , at the closing summit of the story.There are three leading individuals within the story Eveline , the eponymous character from whose repugnwpoint the story is written , her (un surnamed) father who manifests many of the conflicting causes for her anxiety and heart-to-heart , her would-be lover and husband , who offers an apparent opportunity for Eveline to escape from the stifling and potentially cherry drudgery which is her life in the Dublin of 1914. Other members of the family play estimable mentioned (yet vital as we shall see) mathematical functions Evelines late mother , her dickens brothers ( harass and Ernest (deceased) ) , and devil young apparent ly unattached children.The story opens with Eveline pondering the choice she is faced with and cl other(a) finding a decision most elusive. The inception paragraph creates for us a powerful image of her own realization of what she bequeath be leaving behind if indeed she escapes with firedog. Joyces choice of language communicates how emotionally exhausting this decision process is for Eveline her dubiousness was leaned against the window curtains she was tired.Clear also , from the physical qualifys to her surroundings , is the fact that Eveline has been existing in the same place at least since early puerility and will thus possibly experience even greater homesickness as a consequence of her life experience to date being tough within just one intense environment. Joyce lets us know this as he refers to the changes Eveline has witnessed and the evolution of the own(prenominal)ities within her family and set of family friends Everything changes , we are told Eveline considers this and realises that everybody around her has experienced some form of change or departure. except her this instant , for the first time she is faced with abandoning all of her roots Now she was going to go away equal the others , to leave her home.So what classification of person is Eveline? Naturally confined by the limited scope of the short story , Joyce skilfully tells us just enough for us to form our preliminary opinions and make our subsequent judgements. The only physical fact Joyce tells us just about Eveline is that she was over nineteen , nil about her appearance , nothing really significant about her demeanour outside of the confines of the important decision she has to take thus , we have to guess if we are raise is she dark or fair ? is she pretty or plain ? is she commonly a happy person or a sad one ? is she shy or outgoing ? We can only make up our own questions and speculate upon the answers if Joyce omits telling us then they are unim portant.What can we take up about Eveline from what Joyce does tell us however? all the way she has bounteous lonely as members of her family have died or departed and her father has produce much hostile to her. One feels that prior to postmarks r for each oneing in her life she was exposed to very little sympathetic cock-a-hoop company in recent times Her brothers and sisters were all grown up her mother was of a sudden. Tizzie Dunn was dead , too , and the Waters had gone back to England. We learn that she resents her parentage at the stores and the fact that ( as she perceives it) , she is undervalued her place would be change up by advertisement. Miss Gavan would be glad..She would not cry many tears at leaving the stores . Eveline herself probably also has doubts about her own self-worth she believes that wedlock would ensure People would treat her with respect then. She would not be treated as her mother had been..From the text itself It was hard work a ha rd life , she is intelligibly an industrious person have a job with looking after a household which includes two young children (maybe her nephews / nieces by her late brother Ernest we are never told) and the ever sinister presence of her potentially violent and money-obsessed father he wasnt going to give her his hard-earned money to throw about the streets. The reader can almost hear these same crys being used to Evelines mother years previously certainly Eveline can.It is thus the alliance with her father that lies at the heart of any desire Eveline has to escape from her current life. We learn that years ago , things were better than today Her father was not so bad then and anyhow , her mother was alive. , and that on the day of the mound of Howth picnic he had been a source of fun She remembered her father lay on her mothers bonnet to make the children laugh. Things have sadly degenerated now however Joyce skilfully paints a picture for us of a man , perhaps him self having failed to recover from the grief of his wifes death , venting his wrath upon the only other human within reach. There is a hint of drunken anger for he was usually fairly bad of a Saturday night we know Eveline is vulnerable as a lone female who evokes memories of her mother in him a mother whom he used to mistreat And now she had nobody to protect her. Ernest was dead and Harry . was nearly always down somewhere in the country.. Clearly the situation is not only threatening for Eveline but is worsening and besides had begun to weary her unspeakably .Within the paragraph which describes the degeneration of Evelines race with her father and the increasing level of verbal violence coupled with the threat of this becoming eventually physical , Joyce uses an accomplished yet complex metaphor. antecedently we have been told of Evelines determination not to be treated as her mother had been , yet we are then immediately and almost flat told by Joyce that this is in fact the inevitable out mother towards which her fathers hostility is leading her he had begun to threaten her and say what he would do to her only for her dead mothers sake. The metaphor occurs in the definition of Eveline after yet another financial quarrel with her father as she struggles to do her shopping Then she had to rush out as quickly as she could and do her marketing , holding her black strap purse tightly in her hand as she elbowed through the crowds and locomote home late under her load of provisions. Why do we call for such a relatively extensive description of a sensibly trivial aspect of Evelines routine ? To show us surely that she has effectively become her mother doing household things which her mother used to condense in reaction to the same abuse. When , in the next sentence , we are told about Evelines obligations towards the children She had hard work to keep the house together and to see that the two young childrenwent to school regularly and g ot their meals then the give is complete she has totally , but inadvertently perhaps , assumed the role of her dead mother within the red-hot family unit and will presumptively be subjected to the same miseries , humiliation and maybe even early wildness and death.Into this scenario of drudgery , humiliation , stress and fear appears Evelines potential personal saviour in the form , not of Prince Charming , but of Frank the sailor. Instead of a glittering coach to the ball , he offers marriage and a home in Buenos Aires. As the relationship develops , Eveline , from being ab initio flattered and grateful for his courtesy he used to meet her outside the Stores every evening and see her home , becomes elated by going with him to the theater then experiences ecstasy at having a fellow later this excitement is probably enhanced when her father bans the liaison and forces the affair to become illicitly progressed.The question has to be of course Where is love in all of th is? and it is a question which Eveline probably asks herself only when she has to on the day the boat will sail. Joyce tells us of many positive aspects of her feelings for the opportunities presented by a life with Frank - she will be married Frank is very kind , virile , open-hearted he has a home awaiting her far away he is free his hair tumbled forward over a face of bronze they had come to know each other Frank would save her , would take her in his arms , fold her in his arms she had even begun to like him In spite of all of the negatives about Evelines existence Joyce intimates to us early in the story that she harbours strong doubts about giving up everything which is long-familiar to her in exchange for a new life from which there would be no going back. His choice of words cleverly intimate Evelines doubts to us we are told She had consented to go away , to leave her home and that in her new home in a distant unnamed country etc. etc. and of cours e the fact that the strongest emotion Eveline feels for Frank is to like him hardly words which indicate a yearning for a new life based upon romance and love.So to the choice itself and Evelines plight as the time draws near and she must depart with Frank. The disparity in the volume of information we are given by Joyce about each alternative ( staying or going) is very evident the story inundates us with information which is negative about Evelines life , positive about Frank and his offer , all of which is therefore , on the face of it , encouraging of the going case. We are told at length about the drudgery of her job and home life , the bad relationship with her father , Franks qualities and what he would provide , Evelines fundamental need to escape. Thus the meter of the argument for going would seem to make the option impregnable.But we know that in life quantity counts for little and that , founded as they are , generally upon negative emotions the quality of the arg uments for running away with Frank are weak. This is the tenderness of this story and it is Joyces brilliance in subtly making us aware of the feelings and the anchors which will ultimately cause Eveline to choose to stay , which provide him as a great author. What are the emotions which conflict with Evelines open air desire to go in brief these are - fear of change from the familiar doubts as to whether her father is that bad fear of being forget the fact that the decision would be virtually irreversible fear of Frank not living up to expectations the engagement she gave to her dying mother.Fear of change is a powerful human emotion and of course Eveline is feeling fearful. We see her recalling her childhood and reassessing the objects in her home now that she plans to leave She looked round the means , reviewing all its familiar objects which she had dusted once a week for so many years we can almost feel the anticipated homesickness here cleverly , Joyce strengt hens this by noting that as Eveline is sitting at the window considering all of this in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne. The author knows that smells are one of the most strongly evocative senses how often do we the readers recall childhood memories instantaneously when we come across a barely-remembered aroma? Joyce actually uses this image twice towards the end of the description of Evelines thoughts he again tells us she was leaning her head against the window curtain , inhaling the odour of dusty cretonne..We see Eveline , in her unbelief , beginning to doubt whether her father is that bad. It is almost as if she has decided to herself that absence makes the heart grow fonder even before she has gone. We are told that , in spite of his threats and hostility towards her , Sometimes he could be very nice , that he had been kind when Eveline had been unwell and that she did not find it a wholly undesirable life. She is also fearful perhaps of being forgotten the description of the photograph has been inserted to let us know of this Whenever he showed the photograph to a visitor her father used to pass it with a casual word He is in Melbourne now. but Eveline never found out the name. Is she imagining that in very few years she will become just a faded memory can she hear in her soul She is in Argentina now ?That a decision to go would be irreversible is less complex to understand when we consider the very geography of her would-be destination and its distance from Dublin and how that would appear in 1914 also the fact that in Catholic Ireland a marriage would be absolutely permanent. More subtle are the fears that she harbours over Frank although we are told only good things about him , we become aware , through the account of his experiences that he is probably quite a bit older than Eveline and certainly more experienced in the ways of the world in contrast to her arrant(a) naivet. Her father had said I know these sailor chaps when he forbade the relationship and although Eveline carried on meeting Frank secretly , how much of her fathers words struck home? After all she only met Frank a few weeks ago.Then we come to the promise made to her dead mother to keep the home together as long as she could presumably to continue to look after her father and the two (unidentified) children. Possibly these are her mothers grandchildren , probably the offspring of Evelines dead brother Ernest we can only guess but clearly the family was significant enough for her mother to extract such a promise. In the story Eveline recalls her mother and the promise by the sound of an organ-player who is reminiscent of the night she died ( sound as well as smell is evocative)So how significant is this promise? As a Catholic , Eveline would probably be fearful of breaking a promise to the dead even though she might be able to confess it later. But she seems to recall at the same time the pitiful vision of her mothers l ife..that life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness. How sensible , she might be considering , would a promise be when it was made to a woman in the advanced stages of delirium. Eveline asks herself too Why should she be depressing? and probably thinks would Mother have wanted me to be so sorrowful?.Yet in the end Eveline decides to stay and we are witness to the terrifically descriptive scene as she finally agonises and then succumbs to let her fears of the unnoticeable dominate her decision. I believe it is purely fear that keeps Eveline in Ireland and that the promise made to her dying mother will be used by her , in the future , to justify her decision to herself a decision that she had already made.Joyces story is a powerfully crafted piece which is very in(predicate) in portraying the pressures which can exist when security and fear of the unknown become represented as family and romantic love and then vie for a decision. The anguish that Eveline experi ences builds during the story from the quiet time when she sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue to the zenith of the tale when Her distress awoke a nausea in her body and she kept moving her lips in silent fervent prayer. A bell clanged upon her heart. The sadness of the story however is paradoxically in its anticlimactic ending when , deprived of love , deprived of escape, both situations perhaps self-inflicted , Eveline looks after Frank and - her eyes gave him no sign of love or recognition.