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Eveline ( Short Story ) By : James Joyce About The Author :- James Joyce was an Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, teacher and literary critic. His famous works include, “Ulysses”, “A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man” and “Finnegans Wake”. “Eveline” is one of the most remarkable short stories written by him in which he has portrayed the adversities in the life of a young girl who is not able to gather enough courage to break away from her adversities to seek a better life.
Introduction Of The Story :- “Eveline” is a short story by the Irish writer James Joyce. It was first published in 1904 by the journal, Irish Homestead and it later featured in 1914 collection of short stories, Dubliners. “Eveline” focuses on a young Irish woman of nineteen years, who plans to leave her abusive father and poverty – stricken existence in Ireland in order to seek out a better life for herself and her lover, Frank in Buenos Aires ( Capital of Argentina , Argentina is a country in South America ). Precise Summary Of The Story :- Eveline was a young woman who lived in Dublin (Capital of the Republic of Ireland. with her father. Ireland is a country in
father was a drunkard and he was abusive in nature. In fact, he used to make his share of contribution in the weekly housekeeping money very reluctantly, only after the repeated requests of Eveline. At one point of her life, Eveline got tired of this constant and unending struggle and she wished to go away from her tiresome life. Frank, a sailor, who was courting Eveline, was the only source of delight in Eveline’s life. However, her father discovered about their courtship. He once quarrelled with Frank and he asked Eveline not to meet Frank ever again. But since Frank was the only person who was a source of joy and peace for Eveline, therefore, she continued to court him secretly.
Frank and Eveline finally decided to start a new life together, by eloping to Buenos Aires. However, she felt ultimately weighed down by her familial responsibilities and the promise that she made to her mother to keep the family together, which made her drop the plan of eloping with Frank. Consequently, she did not board the ship to Buenos Aires and left Frank to board the ship alone. On this note of melancholic separation of Eveline and Frank, the story came to an end.
opportunity of starting a new life with Frank in Buenos Aires.
- Internal Conflict Of Emotions : - Eveline went through an internal conflict of emotions. On one hand, she desired to seek a new life with Frank in Buenos Aires whereas on the other hand, she felt the familial compulsion of being a dutiful daughter to her father and a responsible sister for her younger siblings. Although her father was abusive and violent towards her, yet she felt a sense of compassion towards her father because she remembered her childhood when her father used to take care of her as well as her siblings. She remembered how
her father used to wear the bonnet of her mother to make her and her siblings laugh. Therefore, such childhood memories made her continue to feel compassionate towards her father despite his ill behaviour towards her. It is this internal conflict within her that made her choose her family and she left the opportunity to go to Buenos Aires with Frank and ultimately ended up staying in Dublin.
- The Paralytic Condition Of Eveline :- In the story, James Joyce has portrayed how Eveline used to repetitively dust all the familiar objects around her for years. This repetition is
transformed her life from sorrow to bliss. She is psychologically and societally guided by the stereotype that the sole purpose of a woman’s existence is to be a caretaker for her family, even at the cost of her own happiness. Thus, Eveline’s psyche was conditioned by the society to continue to fulfill the responsibility of taking care of her family, which ultimately made her sacrifice the prospective of her happiness with Frank.
