#JamesJoyce#ShortStory
Good evening everyone!
Today I would like to post an essay about James Joyce's story "Eveline".
Good evening everyone!
Today I would like to post an essay about James Joyce's story "Eveline".
Eveline
I would like to
start my analysis of this short story with some facts about its author.
James Joyce is
the Irish author born in Dublin in 1882. He is famous all around the world for
his magnificent novel “Ulysses” and for inventing such style of narration known
as “stream of consciences”.
The short story,
which I would like to discuss is included in James Joyce’s collection named
“Dubliners”.
So, as I have
already described some information about the author, I would like to discuss
the story itself.
Let’s start with
summary. This is a story of a nineteen year old girl, who lives in Dublin an has
a very hard life. Her old father is some kind of a despot, which threatens her
all the time, drinks and keeps her wages. She also has other siblings she must
take care of. Eveline is some kind of a housekeeper as she watches over the
house and her family. She promised her mother to look after her siblings, but,
unfortunately it is to hard for her. She is suffering. She wants to live a
better life. When she meets a sailor named Frank, she realizes that this is her
chance for freedom. She decides to run away with him. But, when it comes to
make a decision, she is full of doubts, and finally she refuses to leave.
Now, let’s talk
about the images described in the story.
The first one is
the image of dust. It personifies the past. When looking at dust, Eveline
remembers all the good moments of her life, all her friends, her beloved
brother Earnest, who died several years ago etc. Also, this symbol is important
as Eveline spent her entire life dusting all the time.
Also, Ireland
itself personifies the symbol of some kind of a prison. In the early twentieth
century lots of Irish people wanted to leave Ireland, especially women, who
craved for marrying an alien. Eveline's hard family life becomes a metaphor for
the trap that is Ireland
We can also
observe the image of death. Eveline remembers her friends, her brother Earnest
and her mother, who passed away long time ago. Eveline also fears her own
death.
One of the most
interesting images in the story is the image of the sea. It is the image of
great fear. The fear of unknown.
Now, I would
like to describe the main characters of the story.
Eveline. She is
a nineteen year old girl (the first “adolescent” of “Dubliners” and the first
female character). She is constantly trying to hold her family together, but it
is pretty hard. She believes she has the right for happiness. That is why, at first, she decides to leave
Ireland with Frank. But, later she starts to create a list of pros and corns of
this runaway. On the one hand, this is her last chance to be free, to get
married and to become a respected woman. But, on the other hand, she has
certain responsibilities and duties. Eveline understands that she cannot leave
her father and other siblings. It is she, who must take care of them. She also places a great importance on keeping
promises, perhaps a result of her Catholic values. Speaking of corns, Eveline fears to repeat her
mother’s fate: “life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final
craziness." Finally, she refuses to leave Dublin as she thinks that this
runaway won’t allow her to live a full life. Also, her decision is influenced
by nostalgia, fear and emotions. She realizes that she will remain a lifeless
being, whether she goes or stays.
Frank is an Irish sailor, who moved to Argentina and
came to Dublin on vacation. Eveline describes him as a good and well-hearted
man, but, to tell the truth she knows nothing about him. At first, his
relationship with Evelin were very romantic: they went to the theater, he sang
her songs, made up nicknames for her, and boasted of all his sailor adventures.
But, as it usually happens Evelin’s father was against their relationship and
they had to meet in secret. After some time he asks Eveline to come with him to
Argentina and become his wife. But, at the final scenes we can see that
Eeveline is worried, she is afraid and she ignores him and everything he says.
She thinks that “he will drown” her. So, in the end she refuses him. We don't
really know how Frank feels about this because the story ends here, but it
hardly matters: the real focus is just how completely and how suddenly Eveline
has been convinced that going with Frank is a bad idea.
And finally, let’s discuss the themes of the story.
The main theme, which goes throughout the story is the theme of escape. The
main character wants to escape the hardships of her life. But, when making a
decision, she constantly goes back to her past and is reigned by her fears and
emotions. All this is an obstacle to her future.
And the last, but not the least is the theme of
paralysis. Paralysis makes Eveline a “helpless animal” stripped of human will and emotion. She starts to speak with God and asks him to guide her. She fears to leave all
the familiar places and people she loves. She is afraid of sea(she thinks that
she will die during the voyage) and she also fears the life with Frank, because
she barely knows him. All these things stopped her from running away.
