Essay/Term paper: Eveline: character analysis

Essay, term paper, research paper:  English Literature Essays

Eveline: Character Analysis


"There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is
habitual but indecision (James)." Originally appearing in Dubliners, a
compilation of vignettes by James Joyce, his short story Eveline is the tale of
such an unfortunate individual. Anxious, timid, scared, perhaps even terrified
-- all these describe Eveline. She is a frightened, indecisive young woman
poised between her past and her future.

Eveline loves her father but is fearful of him. She tries to hold onto
good memories of her father, thinking "sometimes he could be very nice (Joyce
5)," but has seen what her father has done to her siblings when he would "hunt
them in out of the field with his blackthorn stick (Joyce 4)." As of late she
has begun to feel "herself in danger of her father's violence (Joyce 4)."
Ironically, her father has "begun to threaten her and say what he'd do to her
only for her dead mother's sake (Joyce 5)."

Eveline wants a new life but is afraid to let go of her past. She dreams
of a place where "people would treat her with respect (Joyce 4)" and when
contemplating her future, hopes "to explore a new life with Frank (Joyce 5)."
When, in a moment of terror she realizes that "she must escape (Joyce 6)," it
seems to steel her determination to make a new home for herself elsewhere. On
the other hand, she is comfortable with the "familiar objects from which she had
never dreamed of being divided (Joyce 4)." She rationalizes that: "In her home
anyway she had shelter and food; she had those whom she had known all her life
about her (Joyce 4)." As she reflects on her past she discovers "now that she
was about to leave it she did not find it a wholly undesirable life (Joyce 5)."

Eveline wants to keep the deathbed pledge made to her mother but is alarmed
at the prospect of sharing her mother's fate. Her mother was ill-treated in
life and Eveline vows that "she would not be treated as her mother had been
(Joyce 4)." She has had a life filled with hardship and chafes under "her
promise to keep the home together as long as she could (Joyce 6)." When she
recalls "the pitiful vision of her mother's life (Joyce 6)" she is uncertain of
what to do and prays "to god to direct her, to show her what was her duty (Joyce
6)."

Eveline thinks she loves Frank but is apprehensive about her future with
him. She likes Frank; she thinks he "was very kind, manly, open-hearted (Joyce
5)." She wants to believe in Frank; to believe that "he would give her life,
perhaps love, too (Joyce 6)." However, she is riddled with self-doubt. She
questions the validity of her decision to leave. Although "she consented to go
away, to leave her home (Joyce 4)," she wonders "was that wise (Joyce 4)?" She
hesitates at the thought of living "in a distant unknown country (Joyce 4)."

Although fear is not Eveline's constant companion, it is a common one. A
companion that contributes greatly to her lack of self-confidence. A companion
that gives her fate over to a wavering will. Eveline's indecision leads to a
paralysis that dooms her to the fate she sought to avoid. Besides, "we know
what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over
(Bevan)."

WORK CITED

Bevan, Aneurin. Observer. Dec. 1935. The Colombia Dictionary of Quotations.
Colombia University Press. 1995. Microsoft Bookshelf 1996-1997 Edition. CD-ROM.
Microsoft Corporation. 1996. n. pag.

James, William. Principles of Psychology. vol. 1, ch. 4. 1890. The Colombia
Dictionary of Quotations. Colombia University Press. 1995. Microsoft Bookshelf
1996-1997 Edition. CD-ROM. Microsoft Corporation. 1996. n. pag.

Joyce, James. Eveline. Literature and the Writing Process. Eds. Elizabeth
McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice,
1996. 4-6.

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