Learning Paths » 5B Interacting
Structural Analysis of the Short Story Eveline by James Joyce, pg 511, Making Waves 2
The short story Eveline is taken from Dubliners, a collection of fifteen short stories, written by James Joyce during the beginning of the 20ieth century.
The story is composed of ten sequences.
The first sequence presents the main female character and her actions from an external point of view: the woman is sat at a window and she is tired.
In the second sequence the reader enters in character's mind and he can see and hear what herself is looking out of the window. Moreover there is a stream of consciousness in character's mind and the view of a man who is walking in the street remembers her of her happy childood. In this way her social status, her family and her sadness in the present life are introduced. The reader knows also she is going to leave her home.
In the third sequence her reflection about her home makes the reader understand her feelings and also how she lives because of her thoughts about the objects in the room.
Thinking of a friend of her father who lives in Melbourne, she thinks again about her decision to leave her family and the consequences of her departure (fourth sequence). This allows the narrator to go on with the characterization presenting character's work and her attitude towards it and her employer. In this sequence there is also another category of characterization: the name and the surname of the main character, Eveline Hill. In the fifth sequence the reader discovers why Eveline is leaving her home, where she is going, her family situation and her role in the family. She thinks of her father and his behaviour towards her. So in this sequence there is also the characterization of her father throughout Eveline's point of view.
The reflection about her present suffering life leads her mind to reflect about her happy future life in the sixth sequence. Here her lover and future husband Frank is introduced throughout her opinion about him, his actions, his work and what he likes.
In the seventh sequence Eveline's stream of consciousness is interrupted by the narrator in order to underline it is evening (external reality and chronological time). Then reader's attention is focused on the letters the woman is keeping in her hands: this leads her mind to remember of some kind action of her father in her happy past. So this sequence makes clear another happy thing of her past.
In the following sequence external sounds (the music of a street organ in the avenue) remembers her of her mother's death and also the promise she made to her. This sequence underlines the event which changed forever Eveline's life.
In the ninth sequence Eveline comes back to reality and present: she definitely decides to be happy and to leave with Frank.
In the last sequence there is a suddenly change of scene: Eveline and Frank are going to leave for South America. In this sequence the reader can see what herself sees in the station (external reality) and woman's feelings and fears (inner reality) are presented. So there is a characterization throughout her feelings. She decides to not leave: her choice shows the reader her insecurity and indecision, but also the impossibility to leave alone her family and to be happy because of her promise to her mother.