Eveline is a short story written by James Joyce, included in Dubliners, a collection of fifteen short

stories published in 1914, in which he represents the Irish middle class life around the 20th
century. The stories follow the four phases of human life: from childhood through to adolescence,
to which Eveline belongs, maturity and public life.
The story takes its title from the name of the protagonist Eveline, a nineteen-year-old girl who
lives in Dublin with her father, torn between pursuing the love of her life or keeping her sense of
duty towards her family. The narration begins with the main character who sits by the window and
starts thinking about her happy childhood, but since then everything has changed: her neighbors
went back to England, her mother and her brother Earnest died, her father started acting bad with
her sons, so she sacrificed her life to keep the family together like she promised to her mother on
her deathbed. Now she has the opportunity to change her life because of Frank, a sailor she met
by chance. They start falling in love with each other, but her father finds out their relationship and
forbids her to see him again. As a consequence they begin to see each other in secret, but because
of his work Frank has to move to Buenos Ayres and asks her to go away with him. His proposal
makes her thoughtful, and while she is thinking about the right thing to do, she hears the street
organ playing in the avenue the same melody she heard the night her mother died which reminds
her of her last words "Deveraun Seraun" that convinces her to escape to get a better life with
Frank. Before going away, she leaves two letters for her father and her brother. She’s in station
with Frank but while she's about to get on board she gets stuck. He’s forced to go on without her,
she keeps looking at his lover but her eyes gives him no sign of love and no explanation.