Eveline is a short story written by James Joyce from the collection of short stories Dubliners.

It is divided in six sequences, each one connected to the next sequence. The first sequence covers the first three lines, and it has an introductory aim, which presents the protagonist and shows what she is doing. Eveline is nineteen years old and she lives in Dublin, she belongs to the working class and she is an orphan.

The second section covers the lines from 4 to 21 and it deals with Eveline's childhood. In this sequence is frequent the use of USED TO constructions, and it conveys the idea of habits, routine, and also the idea that Eveline doesn't live the present, but she lives her life through past memories. This is highlighted also by the use of words like "ONE TIME/ THAT WAS LONG TIME AGO/THEN/ NOW". The breaking point of the sequence is "Everything changes". It is the main breaking point because is the only simple present tense, and it shows Eveline's way of thinking: she doesn't want to change, as Dubliners, who seem to be affected by the inability to act, in worse cases to be unable to make decisions because of the inability to have a point of view on matters and situations. A very suitable instance of James Joyce ‘s SYMBOLICAL REALISM one that allows the reader to understand the tissue and the nature of Eveline's poor life.

The third sequence is connected to the previous one because it has the function to tell what is happening in the present, after a digression about Eveline's childhood. The sequence begins and the reader has access to Eveline's mental considerations about the decisions she is going to take. The reader notices that the story is returned to the present because of the exclamation "Home", which it may have symbolical meaning, also because the image of the house is often presented going on to the narration. Home is the image of safety for Eveline, in which she can live her life thinking to her past and making some expectation for her future. In the sequence is introduced the theme of the voyage, which presents a sense of confusion and indecision in Eveline, and for this reason Eveline is presented as a stuck person to her habits, unable to decide.

The next sequence has the aim to make the reader better understand what Eveline thinks and her story. In fact Eveline is worried about other people's judgment and about her work place. Then she thinks about her future if she leaves with Frank and the consequences may have her life. Going on the sequence returned to USED TO constructions in order to present Eveline's life, in this way Joyce tells to the reader that Eveline's father was violent, and Frank, on the other hand, was the typical boyfriend that all girls want. In the fourth sequence there are two verb tenses: USED TO and PAST PERFECT.

The fifth sequence, like the third, tells the reader the present situation in which Eveline is set, that is her house. Thinking about her present she continue to think her promise made to her mother before her mother had died, but she also thinks about her mother's life and how her mother didn't change her life. In this way Eveline seems to decide to change something to her life, and Frank is the image of safety. The verb "save" is repeated twice, as if Joyce wants to convince the reader that actually Eveline wants to change something in her life, but she doesn't, and so she is stuck to her habits. She is an adolescent and so she dreams about the future, she make lots of expectations but at the end she does nothing to reach them.

The last paragraph regards the present and the time of decision for Eveline. She is with Frank but she doesn't decide yet. She prays God to guide her to take the right decision: this is an important instance because it shows the inability of Eveline to make decisions, the lack of perfectives and she hasn't a point of view. And then the end of the short story sums up all the peculiarity of Eveline in order to convey the idea to the reader that Eveline is inactive, PARALIZED, tired.

There is a 3rd person narrator, it is omniscient and not intrusive. There is an onomatopoeic use of language, it makes the environment concrete. The reader can see, hear, smell an touch. There are alliteration for example "w" watching -window. There are long vowel sounds that create the effect of past. The symbolical use of the color red  color of menace and threat.