"Eveline" is an extract from James Joyce's "Dubliners", his first published work of fiction.

The text is about Eveline's experience of life; she's an adolescent living in Dublin. Dublin isn't only a setting, it is also a metaphor to describe a way of life. In fact according to Joyce's opinion, people living in Dublin are inactive, they can't take decisions, they are unable to act. So Dublin has a negative connotation and this is the reason why in the text it is described in negative words.
Eveline first of all describes what she sees outside the window and then, she remembers in a nostalgic way how was Dublin when she was young. She sees her neighbour walking towards the new red houses. Their brilliant and new colour contrasts with Eveline's memory of the fields without houses in which she and others children play.
Going on Eveline describes the house in which she lives so the room surrounding her. It is empty of objects which remembers her the past.
To sum up, Eveline, talking about the setting in which she is, compares her past and her present situation; but she talks about this with nostalgic feelings so it is a prove that she is unable to act and change her situation.