At the end of James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, teacher, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde and is regarded as one of the most influential and important authors of the 20th century. Joyce is best known for Ulysses, a land…
What is Eveline's decision at the end of the story?
In "Eveline," the decision that Eveline makes at the end of the story is to stay put in Ireland instead of leaving with her lover, Frank, for Argentina. She makes this decision because she is in the grip of a debilitating inertia that prevents her from making necessary changes to her life.
What happens to Frank at the end of Eveline?
She wordlessly turns round and goes home, leaving Frank to board the ship alone. Like many stories in Dubliners, ‘Eveline’ explores the relationship between the past and the future by examining a single person’s attitude to their life in Dublin.
What does Eveline think about when she thinks about leaving Ireland?
Eveline thinks about people she has known who have either left Ireland (a priest who has traveled to Melbourne, for example) or died (her mother and her brother Ernest), and of her own plans to leave the country with a man named Frank.
What happens to Eveline at the end of a separate peace?
Eveline meets Frank, a young man who wants to marry her and move to Buenos Aires. Though Eveline accepts his proposal, she has misgivings about the move and backs out at the last minute. She stays in Ireland, ruining her future.
See more
What happens to Eveline at the end of the story?
At the end of the short story "Eveline", Eveline goes to the docks to meet Frank, the sailor she has fallen in love with, and who has offered to take her away to Buenos Aires with him.
Why is Eveline paralyzed at the end?
Eveline's inability to make a decision, a sort of mental paralysis, results in actual physical paralysis at the end of the story as she stands outside watching Frank board the ship but cannot bring herself to join him. Through her inability to make a decision, she inadvertently decides to stay behind in Dublin.
What happened in the story Eveline?
'Eveline' focuses on a young Irish woman of nineteen years of age, who plans to leave her abusive father and poverty-stricken existence in Ireland, and seek out a new, better life for herself and her lover Frank in Buenos Aires.
Why does Eveline change her mind?
Eveline suspends herself between the call of home and the past and the call of new experiences and the future, unable to make a decision. The threat of repeating her mother's life spurs Eveline's epiphany that she must leave with Frank and embark on a new phase in her life, but this realization is short-lived.
What did Eveline promise before her mother died?
While Eveline's mother is on her deathbed, she asks Eveline to make a promise to "keep the home together as long as she [can]" (6). Evelline promises to do this for her mother not knowing that this promise may keep her trapped in a dead-end life forever. To keep this promise, Eveline works day in and day out.
Why did Eveline leave the house?
Eveline has agreed to become Frank's wife and to leave her home for Buenos Aires; she wants to leave home because his boyfriend is a sailor and her father quarrelled with him since he disgusted sailors. Frank is Eveline's boyfriend and he's a sailor.
What is the message of Eveline?
“Eveline” addresses the subject of death both literally, as when Eveline lists off the people in her life who have died, and figuratively, in several other life events that become metaphors for death. She seems to be very aware of death, and the fact that she has been left behind, either by people dying or leaving.
What happened to Eveline's mother?
She died of an unspecified illness, and was driven mad by her “life of commonplace sacrifices,” although it is unclear if her mental state is related to her death.
What is the climax of the story Eveline?
Eveline makes the final decision about Frank, she stood among the swaying crowd in the station at the North Wall and denies him. Eveline watches frank leave on the ship without her. Frank sails to the county to start a new life without Eveline. Eveline decides to remain and continue to live her routine life.
What happens at the actual climax or turning point in Eveline?
In Joyce's "Eveline", the turning point is when Eveline hears a street organ play the melody she had first heard the day her mother died. This reminds her of the promise she made to her mother on the latter's deathbed: to "keep the home together as long as she could".
What does Frank symbolize in Eveline?
At first, Frank represents escape and the fieedom of the open seas more than anything else in the story. Eveline feels that only he can free her from the rolling tide of 31 Page 10 32 her life and pull her safely onto his ship and into his world: "He would give her life, perhaps love, too" (33).
What makes Eveline's life miserable?
Eveline's home life was so unhealthy, despite all the chores she performed in her house; she still didn't feel comfortable there. The dustiness of the house, which Joyce always reminds us in the story, told us that the dust made her sufficed all the time and made her sick and tire of this town and her life.
How will you compare Eveline to someone with paralysis What does she lack explain?
Eveline's present is linked to stillness and dust. Her past is connected with the death of her mother. Her future has connections with love, action, the sea and escape. Eveline is compared to a ”helpless animal”, since she is passive, paralysed, unable to make up any decision.
What is Eveline's face compared to at the end of the story?
Explanation and Analysis—Helpless Animal: In the story's powerful closing lines, Joyce uses a simile to leave the reader with the lingering image of Eveline paralyzed after Frank calls for her to follow him onto the boat headed for Buenos Ayres: “[Eveline] set her white face to [Frank], passive, like a helpless animal.
Do you think Eveline made the right decision Why or why not?
I think Eveline did not make the right decision because she made her decision based on fear. Eveline was afraid of leaving everything behind, and leaving her comfort zone.
What does Frank symbolize in Eveline?
At first, Frank represents escape and the fieedom of the open seas more than anything else in the story. Eveline feels that only he can free her from the rolling tide of 31 Page 10 32 her life and pull her safely onto his ship and into his world: "He would give her life, perhaps love, too" (33).
Why is Eveline so important?
As much as Eveline fears following in her mother’s footsteps and sacrificing herself for her father, she also places a great importance on keeping promises, perhaps a result of her Catholic values . The fact that she is a woman also means she feels it is her social duty to sacrifice herself.
What does Eveline imagine when she runs away with a man?
She imagines that her coworkers at the Stores, the shop where she works, will say she is a fool when they learn she has run away with a man. Eveline imagines Miss Gavan, the owner, will be glad that she is gone, since she always seemed to be especially critical of Eveline.
What does Eveline smell?
Eveline notices the smell of dusty cretonne again and hears a street organ playing outside. She knows the tune, and it reminds her of the street organ that was playing on her mother ’s last night before she died (of an unspecified illness).
What does the dusty cretonne symbolize in Joyce's story?
Joyce begins by bringing in the symbol of dust almost immediately. The odor of “dusty cretonne” is familiar to Eveline, and she finds it somewhat comforting, but it also represents death, and reflects the fact that Eveline is not really living fully. As she watches her neighbor enter the newer part of the neighborhood, she becomes nostalgic and remembers her childhood, when there used to be a field instead of new red houses. This overwhelming feeling of nostalgia and glorification of the past eventually contributes to her paralysis and inability to make a decision at the story’s end.
Why does Eveline doubt her choice to escape Dublin?
Eveline allows her nostalgia to distract her from the harsh reality of her present life in Dublin, and her escape suddenly loses its appeal. Since she is a woman, however, she knows she must find a husband if she wants to gain respect or have any real agency in society.
How old is Eveline in LitCharts?
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Eveline, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Eveline, a nineteen-year-old woman in Dublin, is sitting with her head against the curtains, watching dusk fall on her street.
Why does Eveline feel pity for her mother?
Eveline feels pity for her mother, who seems to have spent her life making sacrifices for Eveline’s father and family, only to be driven to insanity. Eveline is suddenly struck with terror and is desperate to escape. She reasons that she has a right to happiness. She hopes Frank will save her and resolves to go meet him.
What is the story of Eveline?
Eveline Summary. " Eveline" is a short story by James Joyce about a girl who dreams of leaving Ireland. Eveline becomes a surrogate mother to her siblings after their real mother's death. She works a menial, unsatisfying job.
What does Eveline's father buy her?
Eveline's father buys alcohol with Eveline's paycheck. Depressed, Eveline spends her time staring out the window at a field where children used to play. Eveline meets Frank, a young man who wants to marry her and move to Buenos Aires.
How long is the free trial for Eveline?
Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this Eveline study guide. You'll get access to all of the Eveline content, as well as access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts.
Is Eveline's brother still alive?
Eveline remains. Her brother Ernest, who was “too grown up” to play, is now dead, as is her mother. Her father has turned to drink and is given to violence, particularly on Saturday nights. Eveline works as a shopgirl at “the Stores,” earning a miserable seven shillings a week, which are then given over to her father.
What is Eveline about?
Like many stories in Dubliners, ‘Eveline’ explores the relationship between the past and the future by examining a single person’s attitude to their life in Dublin. Joyce was interested in this relationship, and believed that Ireland – which often had a habit of nostalgically looking backwards and holding onto the past – needed to progress and strive to bring itself up to date.
What happened to Eveline and Frank?
Eveline is tired of this life, and so she and Frank book onto a ship leaving for Argentina. 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.
What is Eveline in Dubliners?
‘Eveline’ is one of the shortest stories that make up James Joyce ’s collection Dubliners (1914) , a volume that was not an initial commercial success (it sold just 379 copies in its first year of publication , and 120 of those were bought by Joyce himself ). We have analysed the collection as a whole, and summarised each of the stories in Dubliners, here.
What was Joyce's goal in Dubliners?
One of Joyce’s aims in writing Dubliners was to highlight the ‘paralysis’ of Ireland, and we see this time and again in the stories that make up the collection, from the mysterious illness that Father Flynn died of in the very first story, through to the emotional and social paralysis that appears to afflict Gabriel Conroy in the final story. The people of Dublin are held back, lacking in agency, trapped, unable to break free of the city. In these fifteen snapshots of Dublin, Joyce suggests some of the reasons for this lasting paralysis.
What is the key word in Joyce's Dubliners?
One of the key words in Joyce’s Dubliners is ‘paralysis’: people feel immobilised, unable to move or progress, trapped in their own lives. This, Joyce believed, is what Dublin – and, indeed, much of Ireland – was like as a whole: paralysed. ‘Eveline’ offers in a little snapshot an example of how deeply such paralysis could run, even leading a young woman to forgo the chance of a new start in favour of remaining in an abusive, dead-end life.
What happens when Eveline asks her father for money?
On Saturday nights, when she asks her father for some money, he tends to unleash a tirade of verbal abuse, and is often drunk. When he eventually hands over his housekeeping money, Eveline has to go to the shops and buy the food for the Sunday dinner at the last minute.
How many short stories are there in Eveline?
Yet Dubliners redefined the short story and is now viewed as a classic work of modernist fiction, with each of its fifteen short stories repaying close analysis. ‘Eveline’ focuses on a young Irish woman of nineteen years of age, who plans to leave her abusive father and poverty-stricken existence in Ireland, and seek out a new, better life for herself and her lover Frank in Buenos Aires. You can read ‘Eveline’ here.
What is Eveline's story about?
Eveline’s story illustrates the pitfalls of holding onto the past when facing the future. Hers is the first portrait of a female in Dubliners, and it reflects the conflicting pull many women in early twentieth-century Dublin felt between a domestic life rooted in the past and the possibility of a new married life abroad.
Where does Eveline leave Frank?
She remembers her mother’s uneventful, sad life, and passionately embraces her decision to escape the same fate by leaving with Frank. At the docks in Dublin, Eveline waits in a crowd to board the ship with Frank. She appears detached and worried, overwhelmed by the images around her, and prays to God for direction.
What does Eveline do on the docks with Frank?
On the docks with Frank, away from the familiarity of home, Eveline seeks guidance in the routine habit of prayer. Her action is the first sign that she in fact hasn’t made a decision, but instead remains fixed in a circle of indecision.
What does Eveline hear when she hears the street organ?
She hears a street organ, and when she remembers the street organ that played on the night before her mother’s death, Eveline resolves not to repeat her mother’s life of “commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness,” but she does exactly that.
Who is Eveline's lover?
Eveline faces a difficult dilemma: remain at home like a dutiful daughter, or leave Dublin with her lover, Frank, who is a sailor. He wants her to marry him and live with him in Buenos Aires, and she has already agreed to leave with him in secret.
What is Eveline Hill's dilemma?
Eveline faces a difficult dilemma: remain at home like a dutiful daughter, or leave Dublin with her lover, Frank, who is a sailor. He wants her to marry him and live with him in Buenos Aires, and she has already agreed to leave with him in secret. As Eveline recalls, Frank’s courtship of her was pleasant until her father began to voice his disapproval and bicker with Frank. After that, the two lovers met clandestinely.
What is the story of Eveline in Dubliners?
It is yet another Dubliners tale about paralysis, as Eveline stands on the pier at story's end, frozen in place by fear and guilt. She wants to leave Ireland, but she quite literally cannot move, speak, or even express emotion on her face.
Where does Eveline seek to live?
Eveline seeks Argentina, a place where she hopes to avoid the very real threat of her father's violence as well as her dead mother's "life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness.". "People would treat her with respect," Eveline thinks of married life in Argentina.
How old is Eveline Hill?
Summary and Analysis. Eveline. Eveline Hill, a 19-year-old woman who works in a Dublin shop, sits inside her family's house recalling childhood, including some happy memories as well as her father's drunken brutality to her and her siblings. Eveline thinks about people she has known who have either left Ireland ...
Who is Eveline's brother?
Death pervades "Eveline" too: the deaths of her mother and her brother Ernest, and of a girlhood friend named Tizzie Dunn. And of course, Eveline fears her own death: "he would drown her," she thinks of Frank, defying logic. Perhaps she unconsciously associates her fiancé with the other man in her life, her brutal father.
What is the Holy Grail of the boy in "An Encounter"?
Thus, this is the third Dubliners story in a row about a failed quest. The Holy Grail of the boy in "An Encounter" was the Pigeon House , which he never reached; the main character in "Araby" sought the bazaar, closing down by the time he got there. Eveline seeks Argentina, a place where she hopes to avoid the very real threat of her father's violence as well as her dead mother's "life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness." "People would treat her with respect," Eveline thinks of married life in Argentina.
