Trapped by Guilt in James Joyce's Eveline from Dubliners

1284 Words3 Pages

Eveline: Trapped by Guilt

The story "Eveline," by James Joyce is one of indescribable loyalty and extreme choices. Two themes dominate the story: everything good must end, and it is the victim of abuse that often feels guilt. The guilt that Eveline feels forces her to make choices that trap her into a pitiful existence.

The setting of "Eveline" is a typical Irish town. Eveline’s mother is dead and her father, though living, has a less than stellar character. He is abusive towards her two brothers and constantly threatens her. Another example of his character or lack thereof is his racist attitude. This is evident when he yells, "Damned Italians!" Then one day, Eveline meets Frank who lives in Buenos Aires. They fall in love and she must make a choice whether to go with him or stay and take care of her father. This is where the internal conflict takes place. The conflict is resolved when she chooses to stay with her father and family.

The main character of this story is Eveline. She begins as a flat character then slowly becomes round, but in the end, she returns to her stagnant characterization. From the very beginning, Eveline starts out as a helpless guilt-driven person, and she does not change by the conclusion of the story. Frank is another character in "Eveline." He is also a flat character. He truly loves Eveline, and even in the end when she does not go with him, he still calls out to her.

"Eveline" contains many themes but the central one prevalent throughout is the choices and consequences of life. Everyday, people make decisions, which have an affect on their lives no matter how minute. Eveline must make the decision whether to stay and care for her father and f...

... middle of paper ...

...one wishes for "do-overs" but once a choice is made, there is rarely ever a second chance.

The story of Eveline is a very common occurrence in society today. The themes contained in "Eveline" are also very prevalent in the every day lives of people. Many people are abused each day and yet it is still the victim that feels guilty. That is how Eveline feels, and that is what drives her to stay. The same parallel is evident in abused wives. Though they are battered and mistreated, they have the compulsion to stay as opposed to leave. Another theme in the story is that everything good ends. "Eveline," in short is an insightful comparative into the common happenings of peoples' every day lives and the momentous choices that affect each life.

Works Cited:

Joyce, James. “Eveline.” Exploring Literature. 2nd ed. Ed. Frank Madden. New York: Longman, 2004.

Show More
Related

  • Ellen Foster

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    A breathtaking saga of a young girl’s tragic memories of her childhood. As with Ellen, Gibbons’ parents both died before she was twelve-years-old, forming the family. basis of the plot and themes of this novel. The fond memories she possessed of her mother and the harsh ones of her father are reflected in the thoughts and actions of Ellen. The simplistic and humble attitude that both Gibbons and Ellen epitomizes in the novel is portrayed through diction and dialogue.

    Read More

  • Theme of Love and Marriage in The Storm by Kate Chopin and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman

    589 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Like a river flows so surely to the sea darling, so it goes some things are meant to be.” In literature there have been a copious amount of works that can be attributed to the theme of love and marriage. These works convey the thoughts and actions in which we as people handle every day, and are meant to depict how both love and marriage can effect one’s life. This theme is evident in both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman; both stories have the underlying theme of love and marriage, but are interpreted in different ways. Both in “The Storm” and in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the women are the main focus of the story. In “The Storm” you have Calixta, a seemingly happy married woman who cheats on her husband with an “old-time infatuation” during a storm, and then proceeds to go about the rest of her day as if nothing has happened when her husband and son return. Then you have “The Yellow Wallpaper” where the narrator—who remains nameless—is basically kept prisoner in her own house by her husband and eventually is driven to the point of insanity.

    Read More

  • Evey Hammond as a Revolutionary in V for Vendetta

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    Particularly, he challenges Evey to be stronger than her past because “[it] can't hurt [her] anymore, not unless [she] allows it” (). Furthermore, the government has turned her into a “victim” and a “statistic,” but she has the power to free herself. It is Evey's responsibility to find such power within herself and become “forever changed”. Evey's transformation occurs when she leaves ignorance behind and becomes acquainted with her pain.... ...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of 12 Angry Me

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... his action, and make the meeting last less long. Similarly, like most of the jurors in the room he has an acute distaste for correction. After all, most of them seem to conform to a certain desired ideal – that is, being right. This way, irrespective of the defendant’s sentence, he is okay with making any decision, provided no one attempts to reproach him. This conformity to ‘being seen as right’ makes him very close with juror 11.

    Read More

  • The Theme of Escape in James Joyce’s Dubliners

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eveline is compelled by her responsibility of taking care of her father. In this story, the main antagonist is her father who is a shameful parent. He creates an unplea...

    Read More

  • Mrs Wright And Mrs. Wright

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many authors have different types of writing and different ways of telling the story regardless of whether it is a horror type of story, a romantic type of story or even a comedy type of story. However, in this story by Susan Glaspell, it is a fiction type story which is about Mrs. Wright who seems to have lost control of her emotions and snaps. She kills her abusive husband which is found dead with a rope around his neck while she was asleep, but nobody knows her motive of killing him. The inequality between Mrs. Wright and Mr. Wright, which is based in gender, affects Mrs. Wright’s sense of enjoyment of life, which explains Mrs. Wright’s motive for the murder. Factors like, loneliness, depression, and lack of freedom justifies how Mrs. Wright sense of enjoyment of life was negatively affected and they are the reason for Mrs. Wright to murder her husband.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Araby And Eveline By J. Joyce

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    Both “Araby” and “Eveline” are characterized by melancholic, even depressive mood. In the first case, the sadness associations are developed by the motifs of darkness and silence that reinforce the boy’s psychological state. The boy says that “All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves” (108) which means that he wants to become invisible, to disappear, and darkness and silence are helpful for him alleviating his pain: “I was thankful that I could see so little” (108). In “Eveline”, the mood is also melancholic and depressive, but this time the feeling of melancholy is combined with nostalgia and a fear of the uncertain future. It reveals itself in Eveline’s memories of her deceased mother, her brothers, her friends, in her looking at the things associated with her previous life: “Perhaps she would never see again those familiar objects from which she had never dreamed of being divided” (1). And what concerns the tone, in both “Araby” and “Eveline” it may be described as serious though not solemn as the narration lacks too eloquent expressions, and the context concerns more daily routine than some elevated

    Read More

  • Isolation And Loneliness in A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    who wanted to enter her life, she is left alone after her father’s death. Her attitude

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay: The Problem Of Alcohol Consumption

    1148 Words  | 3 Pages

    Health problem and drunk driving hit the list. Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and can affect the way the brain looks and works. In addition, alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substances that can eventually lead to pancreatitis, a dangerous inflammation and swelling of the blood vessels in the pancreas that prevents proper digestion [3]. Not only that, alcohol can also increase the risk of developing certain cancer. But almost every drinker knows these horrible diseases above, then why they never stop drinking? The point is, a short-term alcohol consumption does tiny harm to human’s body, only long-term alcohol consumption can impair the body badly. Nevertheless, the contradiction is apparent to find out: when a drinker finds that there is something wrong with their health, it is too late. And in a drinker’s early life, they can not completely realize which kind of damage that alcohol consumption can lead because they were healthy at that time——at least on the surface. Alcohol just like a chronic disease, making drinkers less vigilant, and brings on severe health consequences in the end.

    Read More

  • Eveline

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short story "Eveline" by James Joyce, the title character Eveline is fearful of making a

    Read More

  • Essay on Setting in Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour

    1436 Words  | 3 Pages

    Setting exists in every form of fiction, representing elements of time, place, and social context throughout the work. These elements can create particular moods, character qualities, or features of theme. Throughout Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour," differing amounts and types of the setting are revealed as the plot develops. This story deals with a young woman's emotional state as she discovers her own independence in her husband's death, then her "tragic" discovery that he is actually alive. The constituents of setting reveal certain characteristics about the main character, Louise Mallard, and are functionally important to the story structure. The entire action takes place in the springtime of a year in the 1890s, in the timeframe of about an hour, in a house belonging to the Mallards. All of these aspects of setting become extremely relevant and significant as the meaning of the story unfolds.

    Read More

  • Isolation In Eveline

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Eveline,” by James Joyce, is a story about a woman who is all alone and can’t escape the life that she is living. She is naïve and wants to move on to have a better life but has many things holding her back. The main thing being her promise to her mother. The whole story she sits in the house alone in a chair surrounded by dust. Eveline is isolated from the rest of the world but can’t leave when she has a man right in front of her that she thinks she loves.

    Read More

  • Importance of Setting in Eveline of James Joyce's Dubliners

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is extremely hard for her to make the decision of whether or not to go with Frank because she only knows one way. Eveline understands that she has "a hard life,"(513) and she has the chance to go to a place where "it would not be like that" (513). However, it scares Eveline to change her setting. After thinking about leaving she did not find her present setting as "wholly undesirable" (513) as she previously did. The latter part of "Eveline" is set by the sea. This sea is a symbol of rejuvenation for Eveline. Much like in "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin, the sea is a way to escape life. "All the seas of the world tumble around her heart," (515) and Eveline is unable to flee from her life to go away with Frank. Eveline's mind has been subconsciencly designed by her environment, and she can't imagine living life any other way. Eveline is so confused and doesn't know what is holding her back, but something is.

    Read More

  • Female Empowerment In The Color Purple By Alice Walker

    1840 Words  | 4 Pages

    The novel follows the protagonist, Celie, as she experiences such hardships as racism and abuse, all the while attempting to discover her own sense of self-worth. Celie expresses herself through a series of private letters that are initially addressed to God, then later to her sister Nettie. As Celie develops from an adolescent into an adult, her letters possess m... ... middle of paper ... ... bservations of her situation and form an analysis of her own feelings.

    Read More

  • Why Eveline Didn't Leave to Go to Buenos Aires with Frank

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    Trapped in a world where mental anguish imprisons her, Eveline is another of James Joyce's paralyzed souls. Her life is full of ups and downs. Every day she struggles with burdens that she should not have to bear and when the opportunity comes for her to get away from this retched life, she denies herself the chance. The reasons why I feel Eveline did not leave for Buenos Aires with Frank is because she was obligated to her family, she was afraid of the unknown and she did not know how to receive love.

    Read More

More about Trapped by Guilt in James Joyce's Eveline from Dubliners

Open Document