EVELINE

The short story “Eveline” which was written by James Joyce is about a young woman whose mother was died
and who has serious conflicts in her family with her father. In this short story we see the difficulty of leaving
everything behind, despite the fact that they are unbearably bad things that make Eveline’s ruined and make
her suffer every single day, and being free. The short story takes place in Scotland during World War I.

Our main protagonist is called Eveline. She’s explained really detailed in the story compared to the other
characters that we have. The other characters which are flat and not described as detailed as Eveline are
Eveline’s father; the guy that falls in love with Eveline, Frank and Eveline’s two brothers: Harry and Ernest.

Eveline is explicitly described as easygoing. She is being treated badly by his father who gets paralytic every
single day. She is being abused by her father. Violence dominates her family. However, she stays with his father
and live as if she was her maid, instead of leaving the house just in order to keep the promise that she gave to
her mother before she passed away. From that we can understand that she is loyal, grateful and charitable. On
the other hand we have the father of Eveline, who is insolent; stolid; immoralist; drunkard and prone to
violence.

At the beginning of the story Eveline falls into a brown study and starts thinking about the past and the good
old days. She wishes she could turn back time, to the good old days. From this part we can understand that she
misses her old life, the times when her mother was alive. Then Eveline meets with Frank. Frank isn’t described
detailed like the other flat characters didn’t but we can clearly understand that he is in love with Eveline and
he’s ready to provide her a life that she always dreamed of. A new life without pain, sorrow, unhappiness and
misery. He offers Eveline to come with him to Buenos Ayres, Argentina. From this part we can clearly observe
that he’s head over heels in love with Eveline. Eveline considers the situation that she’s at. The things she
passed through, the violence of her father and the fear of being murdered. So she accepts the offer of Frank
and Frank books tickets for both of them. But as she is just about to board the ship, Eveline suffers a failure of
resolve, and cannot go through with it. She wordlessly turns round and goes home, leaving Frank to board the
ship alone. She just can’t make it. She thinks about the past and her family. Even though the price of not going
would be her freedom, she stays. This can be because of her feeling worried, depressed or not brave enough to
start a new journey.