Now I am going to carry out the denotative analysis of Eveline.

Eveline is a short story written by James Joyce.

Cosidering the title I expect the short story to tell about a woman whose name is Eveline.

As the matter of fact the protagonist of the story is Eveline. She is a girl of about 19 years old and she lives in Dublin. She is an adolescent: the short story tells about adolescence.

The other main characters are: her father, her mother, her brothers and sisters (her family) and Frank who is her lover.

The writer beginns the story telling us Eveline's situation: she is watching through the window the evening that invades the avenue and she is thinking about her past and her future. Through her thoughts the reader can understand her family, economical, social and emotional background.

She lives with her father but she has got problems with him: as the matter of fact her father is violent and he is always drunk. So she is in a difficult situation.

Eveline has got a boyfriend whose name is Frank. She loves him and she would leave her home with him. The same night they have decided to leave towards Buenos Aires to live together. Eveline is thinking about her possible future with Frank but she has doubts about the wisdom of her intentions: to leave her home. She is unable to make a decision.

We discover that her mother his dead and that she still feels to be linked with her: Eveline has promised her mother to look after the family and in particular to look after her father who is always drunk. Eveline is unable to act and to make decisions because she still feels connected to this promise. She doesn't know what to do.

In the second part of the story the setting changes: it is not Eveline's house but the pier from which she and Frank should leave.

The story has a tragic conclusion because the girl decides not to leave with her boyfriend.