AUTHORS BACKGROUND

JAMES JOYCE

 Born on February 2, 1882 in Dublin, Ireland

 The eldest of ten children born to John Stanislaus Joyce and Murray Joyce
 Largely educated by Jesuits
 Earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a focus on modern languages
 Irish novelist, poet and short story writer

BACKGROUND OF THE WORK

 A part of Joyce’s first book Dubliners which was a collection of fifteen stories
 Eveline and all the stories of Dubliners take place during the Irish Nationalism.
 This book was written along with nationalism and the desire of independence from Great Britain
 It revolves around the position of women in 20th Century Dublin

CHARACTER WEB

CHARACTERIZATION

 Eveline- she is the protagonist of the story

- Eveline is 19 years old in the story is likely beautiful but not striking
- Displays signs of being stressed
 Father- more likely a worker of a factory or a farm hand on a nearby farm
 Mother- working-middle class woman with callouses on her hands, an apron on
 Miss Gavan- store manager who is in charge of Eveline.
- A strict manager that demands only perfection from her employees
- Thin and wiry, with a well-kept appearance
 Henry- Eveline’s brother.
- He is said to be in the church decorating business
- Look like a younger version of Eveline’s father
 Organist- an Italian that is likely of middle-age and with some facial hair

SETTING

General: takes place in Dublin at either the end of 1890s or the beginning of the 1990s.

Specific: the bulk of the story takes place by a window in Eveline’s father’s house in the evening.

PLOT (10 Main events)

CONFLICT

Man Vs. Self- Eveline is in conflict with herself on rather she should stay with her abusive father or start a new life with
Frank who she has a doubts that he won’t make her happy.

Man Vs. Culture

Man Vs. Society

FORESHADOWING

- Eveline is sitting in the house, quietly looking at the street and pondering her decision.
FLASHBACKING

- Eveline thinks about her childhood- it was relatively happy, though there are challenges and since
then, she has lost both her mother and favorite brother.

CULTURAL EMPLICATIONS

THEME

Paralysis, Epiphany, Stream of Consciousness and Irish Social Conditions and Emigration

IMPLICATION OF THE TITLE

The name Eveline means “little or small”

Eve- which is Hebrew for “life”.

- The meaning of Eve “Life” and the suffix of –Lyn or Line suggest that Eveline lives a small life and
constricted life.

Joyce got the name of the story from Thomas Moore’s poem “Eveleen’s Bower”

Joyce got the name from a Victorian pornographic novel, “Eveline”, where the protagonist has sexual relations with her
father. George Russell, who advised Joyce, apparently warned him of shocking his readership, so perhaps Joyce choose
the name “Eveline as a subtle way of implying sexual abuse rather than stating it outright.