HISTORY(CONTEXT)

a) Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories that explains the everyday lives of the folk of 1900s
Dublin, Ireland.

He wasn't living in Dublin when he wrote Dubliners but he still depicts his city faithfully and in great
detail.

b) It was Joyce's first prose publication that enabled people to the way of experimentalism.

It is a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.

c) James Joyce (1882-1941) was an Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, teacher, and literary critic. He
is one of the most influential and important authors of the 20th century.

PSYCHOANALYSIS

Loss:

She seems to be very aware of death when she lists the people in her family who died, her mother and
brother. She refers to her mother's death, saying life was better before she died.

Repression:

I think she represses her feelings of loss when it comes to her mother and her brother being dead. The
reason I think this way is because she doesn't talk about this with anyone in the story. She doesn't share
her feelings of loss.

Crisis:

Eveline’s inability to make a decision, a sort of mental paralysis, results in actual physical paralysis/crisis
at the end of the story as she stands outside watching Frank board the ship but cannot join him.
Through her inability to make a decision, she decides to stay behind in Dublin.

Eveline has a logical thought process as she considers her options. She observed her father’s violence
toward her mother and brothers growing up, and resolves to leave so she will not end up in the same
situation. At the same time she knows that both her father and the children she takes care of are relying
on her, but also reasons that she deserves to pursue her own happiness. Despite this logic, her
emotions kick in and she begins to feel guilty for leaving them. She is also influenced by her fear of the
unknown. She admits that her current life is “a hard life,” but now that she is making plans to leave,
Eveline starts to think about all of the good things and the certainty that her current life provides, finding
it not “a wholly undesirable life.”

TEXT / PRESENCE

Technique:
James joyce uses stream-of-consciousness and flashback in his works. An example of this would be her
sitting near the window and thinking to herself.

Themes:

Paralysis and Inaction: she cant leave her home and leave with Frank.

Escapism: She has an opportunity to escape to Argentina. She also has an opportunity to gain respect
through marriage, and also by distancing herself from the bad reputation her family seems to have,
escaping the limitations of her current social status.

Women and Society: Many of her thoughts and desires are influenced by her role as a woman in 20th
Century Dublin. Whether or not she is aware of it, her decisions are greatly affected by outside social
forces.

Eveline’s indecisiveness and resulting inaction is largely a result of women’s roles in society at the time.
Society has told her she is powerless, and so she feels powerless.

Loss: "Eveline" addresses the subject of death both literally, as when Eveline lists off the people in her
life who have died. She seems to be very aware of death, and the fact that she has been left behind,
either by people dying or leaving.

Catholic Values: Joyce clearly illustrates Eveline’s desire for freedom, but in the end she stays behind—
partly because of her Catholic background and its religious teachings involving guilt, sacrifice, and
promises

Symbols: The absence and deprivation of Irish-dominated Ireland in the political area is symbolized by
the imperfect woman image of Eveline.

Also, the dust that was mentioned in the early parts of the story may represent monotony. She cleans off
the dust only to wake up next day and do it again.

Water may represent the sea, which is unknown to Eveline. She fears of the unknown. She can't get on
the boat to Buones Aires.

Narrator: The story features a limited third person narrative, which means that it is told from the
perspective of a storyteller whose perceptions are limited to only what he or she knows about a
character or characters.

TEXT / ABSENCE

Eveline saying that "he would save her" is followed by a line of dots, then by the phrase "she stood
among the sway-ing crowd in the station at the North Wall". The gap in the narrative here allows us no
chance to observe Eveline's progress from her home to the station, so all we see of her in the story is
concentrated into two scenes in which she barely moves at all.

REPEATED PATTERNS:
Genre: Naturalism

Todorov:

● Equilibrium stage is the beginning to the paragraph menitoning her mother and father,
giving her father her wage.
● Disequilibrium is her relationship with frank and her family.
● Acknowledgement is the stage they are planning an escape.
● Solving is the stage they are getting the tickets to Argentina.
● Equilibrium is her trying to leave.

Propp:

● The Villain: The Sea because its her fear, the unknown.
● The Donor: Frank. Prepares Eveline on her quest of leaving her family.
● The Helper: It could be her mom because she is a great example of her father's wrong doings,
punishing his family.
● The Princess: It's not a female but it may be Frank because she marries him.
● The False Hero: -
● The Dispatcher: -
● The Hero: Eveline.

Mode/Frye: Low mimetic.

INTERTEXTUALITY

● Homer's oddysey
● The Divine Comedy
● Robinson crusoe

BINARY OPPOSITIONS

Man-Woman: Her thoughts are are affected by outside forces, which are men.

Eveline's not being able to decide anything and inaction may be a result of her being a woman in 20th
Century Dublin. Its possible that society told her that she is powerless and thus, she feels powerless.
This may be why she needs a male figure to make a decision about her life.

Individual Consciousness-Social Consciousness: Eveline looking out for herself may be individual
consciousness, and the social consciousness may be the mindset that people have, women should tend
to their house.