Describe space and time in "EVELINE" by James Joyce

The short story "Eveline" is taken from the collection "Dubliners" written by James Joyce.

He describes the various places where Eveline lives and has lived. In each place the reader finds different feelings: James Joyce uses them to describe Eveline 's mood.

The first place quoted is the street under Eveline' s window and the window itself. Joyce describes the walk of a person and with this image Eveline remembers her childhood when in that place she and her brothers and her neighbors played together. The second place is her home, and she describes every corner of her house. She wants to leave it, but it is the only place where she feels safe. Near her window she remembers all her past, she analyzes all her past situations, and thinks on her future.

At the end of the short story there is the last important place: the harbor. At the harbor she should get on a boat that should take her to Buenos Ayres with her boyfriend Frank. Here she realizes she won't ever leave her home.

Another important aspect is the time. James Joyce uses the present tense, the past tense and the future tense in order to describe the childhood, the adolescence and the public life of Eveline. He does it using several flashbacks and flash-forwards. The main character is not able to live her future; she is strictly linked to the past.

She is leaning against the window and in this short time Eveline remembers her past, her childhood and imagines her probable future.