ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE SHORT STORY “EVELINE” BY JOYCE

• Present: the protagonist is sit in front of a window and watch outside nostalgically. The writer expresses her feelings by her body language, her attitude, her sensations and the setting. The time is the evening so the coming of the dark. Some words also refers to something that is going to an end such us “dusty cretonne” that refers to something that has finished

• Memory and flashback: she pays attention on every single sound that she perceives, remembering her past experiences. The adjective “new” underlines that something is not like it used to be and it gives the story a sign of change that will be developed by the writer.

  The narrator is a third person narrator that speaks from the protagonist's point of view so the writer adopts the post-modern technique of the sheet of point of view. Everything told is strictly connected to her memories. By making a flashback she remember her past life, her family and her past relationships, and then shift to the future recognizing that lots of things have changed and maybe she has to change her life too.

• Theme of leaving: she starts thinking about her immediate future and by her inner thoughts her interior conflict comes out the narration. She feels insecure because she doesn't have a own vision of the world, on the contrary she is affected by other people's judgments. She needs other people approval. The narrator makes the reader understand it by adopting the post-modern technique of the self-reflexivity, showing her intimate feelings and questions. Her interior conflict could be compared with the Hamlet's one introduced by Shakespeare. The concept of interior conflict in Shakespearean drama allows post-modern novelist to shape their protagonist such as anti-heroes, following the guide of the modern novel.

• External events recall er to the present: She is still trying to take a decision. The shift from past to future and vice-versa makes the reader to think about the concept of relativity introduce in the modern age by Einstein and accepted and used by the modern writers. According to that concept human beings' life is the mix of their past memories and future expectations. In this case the protagonist Eveline is trapped in her past experiences and she is afraid of changing her future. Her present decision is strictly affected by what she had lived and what she is not able to do. She is afraid of the unknown, of something new, she cannot draw her future. The reader can understand the cause of her insecurity thanks to the flashbacks. The domestic violence over which she was submitted signed her mind and made her a person no self-confident. Now she cannot leave her comfort zone. Consequently, she cannot live her life autonomously because she always look for protection.

• Flashback/Frank's presentation: his adventures stimulate her curiosity and makes she feel free and discover the world. That makes him an interesting man for her. Her father's jealousy oh her relationship with Frank puts on evidence his willing to have the total control over her daughter. His attitude caused over her psychological and physical violence. For this reason she decides to have a secret love story with Frank.

• Present again: she cannot leave her native city and go away with Frank. Her fears trapped her again in the past. The structure of the story return at the first point when she is thinking about her decision. She will never be able to take a decision for her life. Actually do not leave is not a decision, is simply submitting herself in her insecurity without taking a choice in order to make her life better.