EVELINE’S ANALYSIS

The object of the present text is to provide my personal analysis of Eveline. The story focuses on the theme of escape.

The portrait you have of her family life is less than heart-warming. You see that she has taken on an incredible part of the burden in keeping the family together.

Her father is a domineering and unfair man, who makes his daughter work and then keeps her wages;  he ridicules her, rather than appreciate her sacrifices.

Eveline's oppressive family life becomes a metaphor for the trap that is Ireland. Her mother provides the example of what it means to be a grateful child, and to do what is expected: we learn that she lived a life "of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness".

The meaninglessness of the phrase suggests, metaphorically, that the sacrifices have also been meaningless. Eveline's mother has earned nothing but madness.

The stages-of-life structure continues. Eveline is adult, a young woman old enough to get married. Joyce gives us in concise detail the cruel poverty and pressure of her situation. The weight of poverty and family responsibilities bear down on the young woman heavily.

She is trapped in a terrible situation, responsible for her siblings and the aging father who abuses her.

She lacks the courage and strength to make that leap that will free her of her oppressive situation.

She's too scared to leave Ireland, and she sees her lover as a possible source of danger: "All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them: he would drown her". Instead of an uncertain but hopeful future, she faces a certain and dismal future that may well repeat her mother's sad life story.