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The Desire for Escape
The characters in Dubliners may be citizens of the Irish capital, but many of them long for escape and adventure to other countries. Such longings, however, are never actually realized by the stories’ protagonists. More often than offering a literal escape from a physical place, the stories tell of opportunities to escape from smaller, more personal restraints. “Eveline” is a perfect example of one of these narratives because the character of Eveline seeks to release herself from domestic duties and an oppressive family through marriage. Towards the beginning of the text, Joyce informs the reader that a sailor named Frank wants to bring Eveline to Buenos Aires and marry her. Eveline is intrigued by the offer, but readers can determine that she is much more interested in the life that Frank offers as opposed to simply Frank himself. Eveline allocates a single paragraph to describing Frank’s charms but spends the rest of the text fantasizing about her hypothetical escape. As a result, it becomes abundantly clear that Eveline’s desire to abandon her life in Dublin is much more important to her than any romantic feeling she may or may not have for Frank. Unfortunately for Eveline, she, like many of the characters in Dubliners who dream of a better life in far-off lands, is ultimately unable to escape her unhappy situation.
Female Autonomy
Eveline is the first female protagonist in the short story collection Dubliners and, as a result, hers is the first story to really tackle gender roles and the societal expectations placed on women in 20th-century Dublin. Eveline became the woman of the house after her mother died. She does all the cleaning, maintains the home, and works two jobs so that she and her father can eat. She has no sense of autonomy in her own home and in her family unit because she is beholden to the whims of her unstable and violent father. Eveline dreams of an escape but she knows that, as a woman, she can not do so on her own. As a result, she considers marrying Frank and fleeing with him to Buenos Aires. Over the course of the text, Eveline grapples with the decision to either stay in her father’s house, or marry Frank and move into his. No matter what she chooses, Eveline knows that she is powerless without a man’s protection and status. Joyce solidifies this theme at the very end of the text when Eveline prays to God and asks if she should go with Frank or not. Eveline’s father, Frank, and now God are all masculine figures that Eveline must depend on.
Disillusionment
Eveline is presented with two options: stay in Dublin with her abusive father and her joyless life, or flee to Buenos Aires with her lover Frank and marry him there. Eveline feels apprehensive about leaving the only home she has ever known, and guilty about abandoning her family. Nevertheless, she is swept up in the fantasy of a better life in Buenos Aires and makes it all the way to the docks before she is ripped from her haze at the sight of the sea and the night-boat. Eveline panics and becomes disillusioned with her fantasies and she is forcibly brought back down to earth. Her previous assertions that she “want[s] to live” and that she has a “right to happiness” melt into a stoic acceptance of reality. Her disillusionment with her fantasies, symbolized by the moment she lets the crowd rip her hand from Frank’s, marks her decision to stay in Dublin and the life that she has always known instead of chasing freedom.
