I am going to analyze Joyce’s Eveline, a short story about a nineteen girl who lived in Dublin during the first decades of the 20^th century.

The third person omniscient narrator enters the character’s mind adopting the interior monologue to tell intimate feelings. Besides the narrator uses the direct speech giving realism to the story and the symbolic realism. The narrator describes in great detail the scenes, therefore the reader is able to understand the life style of the characters.

The purpose of the essay is to analyze the lack of point of view that is the ruling principle of Eveline’s paralysis.

At the beginning she is sat at the window and she is watching. It is a passive behaviour and it means she is unable to make something for her life. She is paralyzed. Besides the room is full of dusty and it suggests the grew confusion of character’s mind.

In addition she reminds her familiar life, but she does not find familiar points of reference, “its familiar objects which she had dusted once week for so many years”, but she is not conscious of it, “wondering where on earth all the dust came from”. Besides her mother is dead and her father threats she, so she can not have faith in her family. After that she thinks what is right to do and what people would say about her, because she has not a reference in which she believes and above all she does not believe in herself, “what that wise? – what would the say of her in the Stores when they found out that she had run away with a fellow?”.

She could have a point of reference in Frank, a sailor, who loves her. But she is unhappy to become his wife, because she does not love him and she believes to have a better life with Frank and no an happy life. In addition she is confused and unsure to leave her home.

Her lack of life is underlined by her unchanging at the window, “ leaning her head against the window curtain”. It means she is not strength to go away, because she has not enough reasons to leave her home. She wants to escape, it is underlined by exclamation marks, but Frank is only a pretext to be save of her condition. As a matter of fact she continues to ask herself what she has to do and her troubles are underlined by disease symptoms, “her distress awoke a nausea in her body and she kept moving her lips in silent fervent prayer”.

Finally she do not go with him, because however she should be unhappy. At the end Eveline’s paralysis is underlined by her physical “her white face” and “her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition”, because mental confusion is reflected on physical.