Eveline's Decision in James Joyce's Dubliners

Eveline's Decision in James Joyce's Dubliners

In the short story, 'Eveline,' James Joyce introduces us to the

life of a young woman named Eveline. She has the opportunity to escape with

Frank, the man she thinks she loves, to a faraway country in search of a

new life. Instead, she decides to stay in the dreary and gloomy life she

already knows. To understand Eveline's final decision to stay we have to

analyze the reasons that prevent Eveline from pursuing a better life. Her

fear of the unknown; the fact that she does not know Frank well enough; and

the many attachments she has to her home, prompt Eveline to make her

decision.

The first reason for Eveline to stay is that she is does not have

the courage to leave. She tries to convince herself that her life is not ?

wholly undesirable,? but Joyce reveals how hard and undesirable her life

actually is when he tells us that she ?felt herself in danger of her

father's violence.? She gets ?palpitations? because she is so afraid of

her own father. Although he beats her and treats her badly, she still

thinks that ?sometimes he could be very nice,? just because she remembers

him making her laugh once, and other time when he took care of her when she

was sick. These good memories about her father look insignificant compared

to what she has to do for him. Eveline also has to support the

mistreatments of her abusive father even when she is asking him for money

to buy groceries. Especially on Saturday nights when he is ?usually

fairly bad,? meaning he is drunk. Eveline alone asks herself if it is

wise to leave. She thinks that at her home she has ?shelter and food; she

had those whom ...

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...irl, is protected by her mother.

Memories make Eveline feel more emotionally attached to her home. Although

her favorite brother, Ernest, is dead, she still cares about Harry. She

has to many duties in the house. She has to take care of two children,

take care of the house, and her abusive father. All because of the promise

she made to her dying mother to ?keep the home together as long as she

could.? The love for her mother is too strong to break that promise.

In conclusion Eveline chooses the 'odour of dusty cretonne' over a

new, but unknown life because the reasons for staying slightly overwhelm

the reasons for leaving. For this era her decision might seem bizarre or

even foolish; but making that decision she does what is logical for that

epoch.

Works Cited

Joyce, James Dubliners, New York:Penguin, 1993