Eveline

Eveline is a short story written by James Joyce in 1914, the story was setted at Dublin, in Eveline’s bedroom and at the north wall station.

Main character:

Eveline is the main character of the short story, she  comes to life since the beginning, while she is looking out of the window. Her character is described mainly through her memories of the past. What is interesting to notice is that Eveline is matched along the entire story with expressions that convey idea of a person who has never lived as she wanted to, always depending on other peoples judjements and on her parents orders. Eveline’s biggest desire is to escape with Frank in an other land, far from her home, but she decide to not go away with Frank because she was afraid of her family reaction.

Syntax and Language:

• The author is invisible, he doesnt include personal judjements  (3rd person narrator)
• The narration mostly takes place in Evelines past
• Almost the entire story depends on Evelines point of view about her past
• Frequent use of verbs and expressions which recall a past dimension and belong to the semantic field of memory
• Eveline is presented throught words of loneliness, fear and expressions which reveal her impossibility in taking decisios independetly