Eveline, one of the short stories of James Joyce's Dubliners, is setting in Dublin, Ireland in the early years of twentieth century when Catholicism and poverty creates a stifling environment unable to change.

James Joyce's intention is to write a chapter of the moral history of his country and so he chooses Dublin for his particular scene. Dublin, as Joyce said, is the center of paralysis. Dubliners are unable to act because they don't have the courage and the strength to change their situations. The setting of the story helps the reader to better understand the behavior of the main character. Eveline is paralyzed as the environment that surrounds her; she is unable to make an autonomous decision about her life as a matter of fact when she has the opportunity to leave Dublin she doesn't go. Very important is also the small room where Eveline lives, it reflects upon her how she is: dead and unable to change. The small room symbolize the accumulation of her family and how it leaves its mark on her.

To sum up the setting is what characterizes the story and the main character indeed Eveline is strongly influenced by it.