EVELINE

EX 1

•A.     The Beginning

In the first paragraph the narrator shows Eveline sitting by a window at home, feeling tired.

•B.     The Middle

1.       We then follow Eveline's thoughts as she thinks about her present, past and future. Indirectly, we learn many details about her life - about her family and lover. In particular, we find out she's going to leave home, but that she's not sure this is wise. The narrator then shows us Eveline at the window again - a little later. Again we follow her thoughts. She hears an organ playing. More thoughts. Then suddenly she stands up in terror.

2.       In scene two the narrator shows Eveline standing with her lover near a boat that is about to move for Liverpool (in order to get a ship for South America). More of Eveline's thoughts and feelings. Eveline grips a railing.

•C.     The End

The story ends dramatically. Eveline doesn't leave.

EX 2

1.       The Beginning

WHO is the main character? Eveline

WHAT is the situation? She is sitting, watching out of a window.

HOW does she feel? Tired and possibly invaded (the word "invade" suggests an attack from outside)

WHERE is the story set? Inside Eveline's home.

WHEN does it take place? One evening.

1.       The Middle

What happens?

Eveline notices people passing, including the man who lives in the last of the new red houses nearby. The sound of this footsteps makes her think of the field that used to be there, of the differences between the new houses and hers.

She then thinks about her childhood, when she and her brothers and sisters were rather happy and when her father was not so bad. The thought that "everything changes" makes her think of her intention to leave.

The word "home" leads her to look carefully at the room she's in, which she has dusted so often; at a photograph of a priest and a print of religious promises.

Next she thinks about the wisdom of her decision to leave, the disadvantages, about how hard her life has been, about how the people at the Stores will react to her leaving.

Next her thoughts turn to the future and how she will escape her father's violence with the help of her lover Frank, who is kind, mainly and open-hearted. She recalls their courtship. Memories of her father's dislike of Frank focus on the time when - after a quarrel with lover - he had forbidden her to speak to him.

We then see that Eveline has written two letters, one to her brother Harry, the other to her father. Her thoughts turn again to her father and she begins to think he would miss her. Happier memories of him follow when, for instance, he had read her a ghost story, and when he put on her mother's bonnet to make the children laugh.

When she hears a street organ playing outside, she remembers her promise to her mother to keep the home together.

In a moment of terror, she stands up and repeats the word "escape" and Frank would save her.

WHO are the main characters? Eveline and Frank.

WHAT is the situation? She is standing at the station hand in hand with Frank. Although he is speaking to her, she is distress.

HOW does she feel? Pale and distressed. Then nauseos.

WHERE is the scene set? In the crowded station at the North Wall near a boat for Liverpool that will enable them to go towards Buenos Aires the following morning.

WHEN does it take place? The same evening.

What happens?

Eveline prayes to God to direct her and to show her her duty. When Frank tries to pull her towards him, she feels he will drown her and so she grips the iron railing.

1.       The End

At the end we see Frank shouting "come" again and Eveline crying out in anguish. Then as Frank rushes to get on board the boat, still calling, we see Eveline whit her white face and her eyes giving him no sign of love or farewell or even recognition.

My Summary:

Eveline is sitting at the window in her home and she is watching out when it starts her thoughts: she thinks about the past and the future. It is evening and Eveline should leave home with Frank this night. She loves him but now she thinks about her decision to leave: maybe she would like to stay home although there are some problems (first of all her father's violence). When it is time to leave Frank tries to pull her towards him but she feels he will drown her and so she grips the iron railing. Frank continues to call her but Eveline doesn't leave. She looks Frank without love.

EX 3

1. I like Eveline because she is a very sensible person. She would like to leave home with her lover Frank but she decides to stay home to keep her mother's promise. I don't like Eveline's father because he uses violence, especially with his daughter.

2. Yes, I like the story because it tells about the situation of a family of many years ago: you can understand how the life was at that time. And I like the story because it tells about adolescence.

3. Yes, I like the style.

4. In my opinion life in Dublin was not very easy, especially for an adolescent girl/woman because she was controlled by the father.  

EX 4

Paragraph 1: sight and smell

Paragraph 2: sight and hearing

Paragraph 3: sight

Paragraph 10: smell and hearing

Paragraph 11: hearing

Paragraph 23: touch, sight and hearing  

EX 5

Paragraph 1

Sight: the evning "invading" the avenue.

Smell: in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne.

Paragraph 2

Sight: people passing.

Hearing: she heard his footsteps clacking and crunching.

Paragraph 3

Sight: familiar objects that she has dusted - a photograph of a priest, a broken harmonium, a print of promises.

Paragraph 10

Smell: she continued inhaling the odour of dusty cretonne.

Hearing: she could hear a street organ playing.

Paragraph 11

Hearing: she heard again her mother's voice.

Paragraph 13

Touch: Frank holding her hand; her cheek going cold; nausea in her body; her moving lips; Frank seizing her hand and pulling her, gripping (and clutching) the iron railing.

Sight: station full of soldiers, the black mass of the boat, illumined portholes.

Hearing: he was speaking to her, "come", "Eveline, Evvy", he called to her to follow, he shouted.

EX 6

Let's look at each part, beginning with paragraph one (L. 1-3).

a)What kind of writing is it? Bits of narrative.

b)How many sentences are there? Three.

c)What do you notice abouth the lenght of the sentences? The second sentence is the longest and the last sentence is the shortest.

d)What feeling does the variety in sentence lenght (and the falling intonation) help the narrator evoke?The third sentence interrupts suddenly the harmoniuos description of the situation. The narrator understands that the situation isn't only quiet: there is something (ein problem maybe).

EX 7

a)What word does Eveline's name alliterate with in line 1? Evening

b)What other sounds are there in the first sentence? Window-watching

c)"invade" = frightened

d)What other example of alliteration is there in line 1? Window-watching, evening-invade-avenue

e)The first syllable is stressed.

f)What parts of her body are mentioned? Head, nostrils

g)What words are associated with her nose? Odour, dusty cretonne

h)Yes, it is less evocative because you can find other words and an other order in the sentences: this choice changes the sense of the situation and you are not very involved.

EX 8

1. personality

2. family and social class; wealth

3. education, work

4. opinions and feelings about other characters

5. what other characters think of them

6. experiences

7. aspirations; dreams

8. what they do and say and think on particular occasions

Yes, I think so. For example we don't know anything about her physical appearance, clothes and habits.

EX 9

I think about Eveline's physical appearance: in my opinion she is small, thin and she has got brown hair and dark eyes.

EX 10

a) a few people passing, including a man.

b) the man's footsteps clacking along the concrete pavement and then crunching on the cinder path.

EX 11

What word is repeated in line 4? Passed

In what other word is there a long [a:]? Last

EX 12

One time there used to be a field there in which we (they) used to play every evening with other people's children.

Then a man from Belfast bought the field and built houses in it - not like our (their) little brown houses, but bright brick houses with shining roofs.

We (the children of the avenue) used to play in that field with the other children of the avenue(together) - the Devines, the Waters, the Dunns, little Keogh the cripple, me (she) and my (her) brothers and sisters.

Ernest, however, never played: he was too grown up.

My (her) father used often to hunt us (them) in out of the field with his blackthorn stick; but usually little Keogh used to keep nix and call out when he saw my (her) father coming.

Still we (they) seemed to have been rather happy then.

My (her) father wasn't (was not) bad then; and besides, my (her) mother was alive.

That was a long time ago; me (she) and my (her) brothers and sisters are (were) all grown up; my (her) mother is (was) dead.

Tizzie Dunn is (was) dead, too, and the Waters have (had) gone back to England.

Everything changes.

Now I'm (she was) going to go away like the others, to leave my (her) home. 

EX 13

I think that the free direct speech is more immediate than the free indirect speech.

In my opinion Joyce used free indirect speech because it helps detach the reader from identifying too closely with Eveline.

EX 14

But in my new home,

in a distant unknown country,

it would not be like that.

Then I should be married -

I, Eveline.

People would treat me with respect then.

I would not be treated as my mother had been.

Even now,

though I am over nineteen,

I sometimes feel myself in danger of my father's violence.

I know it is that that has given me the palpitations.

When we were growing up

he had never gone for me,

like he used to go for Harry and Ernest,

because I was a girl;

but latterly

he had begun to threaten me

and say what he would do to me

only for my dead mother's sake.

And now I have nobody to protect me.

Ernest is dead

and Harry,

who is in the church decorating business,

is nearly always down somewhere in the country.

Besides,

the invariable squabble for money on Saturday nights

had begun to weary me unspeakably.

I always gave my entire wages -

seven shillings -

and Harry always sent up what he could

but the trouble was to get any money from my father.

He said I used to squander the money,

that I had no head,

that he wasn't going to give me his hard-earned money

to throw about the streets,

and much more,

for he was usually fairly bad of Saturday night.

In the end he would give me the money

and ask me had I any intention of buying Sunday's dinner.

Then I had to rush out

as quickly as I could and do my marketing,

holding my black leather purse tightly in my hand

as I elbowed my way through the crowds

and returning home late under my load of provisions.

I had hard work to keep the house together

and to see that the two young children

who had been left to her charge

went to school regularly

and got their meals regularly.

It was hard work -

a hard life -

but now that I was about to leave it

I did not find it a wholly undesirable life.

I was about to explore another life with Frank.

Frank was very kind, mainly, open-hearted.

I was to go away with him

by the night boat

to be his wife

and to live with him in Buenos Aires

where he had a home waiting for me.

How well I remebered the first time I had seen him;

he was lodging in a house on the main road

where I used to visit.

It seemed a few weeks ago.

He was standing at the gate,

his peacked cup pushed back on his head

and his hair tumbled forward over a face of bronze.

Then we had come to know each other.

He used to meet me outside the Stores

every evening

and see my home.

He took me to see The Bohemian Girl

and I felt elated

as I sat in an unaccostumed part of the theatre with him.  

EX 15

Eveline's father - we know:

1. personality

2. family and social class; wealth

3. habits; likes and dislikes

4. opinions and feelings about other characters

5. what other characters think of them

6. experiences

7. what they do and say and think on particular occasions

Eveline's father - we don't know:

1. basic personal details

2. physical appearance; clothes

3. education; work

4. abilities, achievements

5. aspirations, dreams

No, we don't know his name.

He is usually seen from Eveline's point of view.

EX 17

In the story Eveline tells us something about her mother. We can know that she is dead now. Eveline says that her mother wasn't treat with a lot of respect during her life. But we don't know anything about her physical appearance or other basic personal details. 

EX 18

Frank is Eveline's lover. He is very kind, manly and open-hearted. He wants to go to Buenos Aires with Eveline. He wants to marry her and to live with her in Buenos Aires. Eveline talks about their courtship. Then she tells us something about Frank's work: he is a sailor.  

EX 19

time = 2

field = 4

play(ed) = 3

children = 2

houses = 3

little = 3

avenue = 1

brothers and sisters = 2

grown up = 2

father = 3

mother = 2

home = 1

dead = 2

Yes, it is. She uses few adjectives to describe the "houses". She generally uses simple words or phrases and a lot of repetitions.

EX 20

What aspects make him (Frank) sound like a hero in a romantic story?

a) "She was to go away with him by the night-boat to be his wife"

b) "and to live with him in Buenos Aires where he had a home waiting for her"

d) "he sang about the lass that loves a sailor"

i) Of course, her father had found out about the affair and had forbidden her ... She had to meet her lover secretly.