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James Joyce’s “Eveline” is a short story that illustrates the pitfalls of holding onto the past when facing the future. Eveline is the first female protagonist in Dubliners, and her story reflects the conflicting pull many women in early twentieth-century Dublin felt between a domestic life rooted in the past and the possibility of a new married life abroad.
“Eveline” opens with nineteen-year-old Eveline Hill standing at the window in her childhood home while she reflects on a few childhood memories. Readers soon discover that Eveline’s nostalgic trip down memory lane is not arbitrary and is, instead, a manifestation of her guilt as she grapples with the decision to leave Dublin and marry her lover, Frank, in Buenos Aires.
The short story’s rising action consists of Eveline’s angst over whether she should leave her home or not. One moment, Eveline feels happy to leave her hard life, yet at the next moment she worries about fulfilling promises to her dead mother. She grasps the letters she’s written to her father and brother, revealing her inability to let go of those family relationships, despite her father’s cruelty and her brother’s absence. She clings to the older and more pleasant memories and imagines what other people want her to do or will do for her. She sees Frank as a rescuer, saving her from her domestic situation, but she does not know if she will have the nerve to let him save her. Eveline suspends herself between the call of home and the past and the call of new experiences and the future, unable to make a decision.
The entire rising action portion of the novel, which makes up the majority of the text, exists exclusively in Eveline’s mind. No events actually occur. No dialogue is uttered. No supporting characters enter the scene. Eveline does not even move from her spot at the window. Eveline’s physical stasis is juxtaposed with her vibrant thoughts, which jump rapidly from one topic to the next. Joyce structures his short story in such a way to show that Eveline is paralyzed by her indecision.
The turning point in the short story occurs when Eveline’s thoughts shift to her mother. She recalls how her mother worked thanklessly and without any respect until the day she died. Her mother was also the frequent recipient of her husband’s violent outbursts. Eveline took over her mother’s roles after her mother died, but she is terrified of that replacement becoming permanent. Joyce alludes that this will be Eveline’s fate if she stays in Dublin. Eveline recalls that her father has been threatening to hit her recently “for her dead mother's sake.” This memory disturbs Eveline, not just because she is scared of her father, but because it cements Eveline as her mother’s permanent replacement. The threat of repeating her mother’s life spurs Eveline’s epiphany that she must leave with Frank and embark on a new phase in her life.
Tragically, Eveline’s epiphany is short-lived. She resolves not to repeat her mother’s life of “commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness,” but she does exactly that. Like the young boys of “An Encounter” and “Araby,” two of the other stories in Dubliners, Eveline desires escape, but her reliance on routine and repetition overrides such impulses. On the docks with Frank, away from the familiarity of home, Eveline seeks guidance in the routine habit of prayer. Her action is the first sign that she, in fact, has not made a decision. Instead, she remains fixed in a circle of indecision. She will keep her lips moving in the safe practice of repetitive prayer rather than join her love on a new and different path. Though Eveline fears that Frank will drown her in their new life, her reliance on everyday rituals is what causes Eveline to freeze and not follow Frank onto the ship. As a result, “Eveline” becomes a tragic tale of failed aspirations and entrapment.
