Eveline by Jame Joyce
"Eveline" by James Joyce is a story about duty and family ties. The author introduces us to a young woman who is conflicted between her desire for freedom and the promise she has made to her dead mother. Throughout the story Eveline is perceived as a helpless animal caged in her own house by a tyrant father. In this story James Joyce focuses mainly on the feelings of the young heroine. He uses setting, symbolism and foreshadowing to reinforce his portray of Eveline as a weak and distressed woman.The narrative begins with Eveline gazing out of the window, watching the beginning of the evening. As the story unfolds the young woman takes us on a trip down memories lane where we are introduced to the members of her family. Right away the reader is stroke with the tangled feelings Eveline associates to her past: happiness mixed with fear. These feelings are an implication, on the author's part, of the melancholy that consumes Eveline's family. Death seems omnipresent in Eveline's house and is emphasizes on by the somber mood of the story as well as the departure of Eveline's childhood friends. The author accentuates the dark mood of the story by the young woman's memor
Moreover, James Joyce portrays Eveline as woman who lacks the self-confidence to embark on a journey towards happiness. y of her mother's last night of illness: "As she mused the pitiful vision of her mother's life laid its spell on the very quick of her being - that life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness. 4)Eveline is petrified at the idea of leading a life like her mothers and James Joyce exploits these feelings throughout the rest of his story, leading us to believe that Eveline's real desire is to break away from the ghost life of her mother's. In the distance she hears someone play the organ; this instrument is a form of foreshadowing as well given that it is usually associated with morbid, funerary music and therefore a symbol of death. The theme of duty and family ties prevail in this story. when he sang about the lass who loves a sailor, she felt pleasantly confused. She trembled as she heard again her mother's voice saying constantly with foolish insistence:"Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!" " (p. Indeed as the time comes for our protagonist to leave with her beau, she lingers at her house gazing through the window, reluctant in leaving. 3) The author implies that Eveline's feelings towards Frank had to do with the excitement of her encountering someone new who doesn't remind her of the unhappiness she feels at home. Symbolism plays an important part in "Eveline". However there is also a hint of irony, very subtle; the never ending circle of life. Eveline never lived anywhere else and as she stumbles in nostalgia, the reader realizes that her reluctance in choosing the life of freedom she dreams about over the only life she has ever know is due to her fear of the unknown:"Perhaps she would never see again those familiar objects from she which she had never dreamed of being divided.
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