Eveline

James Joyce's Eveline is a short story that takes place in Dublin, Ireland, in 1914. The short story was published with Joyce's other short stories in a book call Dubliners. The story's main character is the title character, Eveline. Eveline is approximately a nineteen year girl who still lives at home in the house she grew up in, with a physically abusive father. Eveline's mother dies due to illness while Eveline is still young. When Eveline is a older she meets a young man named Frank and they begin to like each other and begin a semblance of falling in love. Frank ask her to marry him and move with him to Beunos Ayres, Argentina, before they can start their life Eveline changes her mind and decides to stay in Dublin with her father. The theme of Eveline is her sense of duty is the greatest factor behind her decision to stay with her father. When Eveline's mother is on her deathbed she ask Eveline to promise her something that creates a sense of duty that Eveline can never escape.
Eveline's promise to her mother on her deathbed creates in her a sense of duty that will not let her leave with frank. As Eveline is preparing to leave her house and her father she remembers the promise to her mother, “ Strange that it should come that very night to remind her of the promise to her mother, her promise to keep the house together as long as she could” ( Pars. 14). In this promise is the largest contributing factor to the sense of duty that prevents Eveline from leaving her house and her father. There is a power to a promise made to a person on their deathbed. This power is increased when the person is your mother. Both of these factors add together to create that sense of duty that will not let Eveline leave. The sense of duty comes ...

... middle of paper ...

...ing of an obligation to her father that forces her to stay with him.
From the start of the story of Eveline it is very apparent that she is ruled by her sense of duty to her home and to her father, it is not till the final sentence that we see the true hold it has on her life. Eveline's sense of duty is the driving force behind her reasons for staying behind with her father. This is made clear to us by the promise she made to her mother on her deathbed. Then it is increased by the fact that Eveline knows no other life but this one. Finally Eveline's devotion to her family and to God combined to create a sense of duty. At the end of this story we see a young lady who has the chance to have a life full of happiness, joy and love but due to a false sense of duty to a cruel father she turns her back on it and instead accepts life full of pain, hard work, and heartache.