James Joyce - Eveline: structural analysis

     Eveline is a short story, it belongs to a collection of stories, "Dubliners" written by James Joyce. The novel is set in Dublin, the city which, in Joyce's idea represents the centre of paralysis, and the Dubliners are unhappy, inactive people who do not have the courage to change their situation. 

In the story the narrator is an omniscient, third persona narrator; he knows everything, even what crosses Eveline's mind.

The setting of the novel is Dublin; that of "Eveline", is Eveline's house; for this reason it is an internal setting, while the external setting is showed through Eveline's mind. The reader however has a concrete idea of the external setting thanks to the use of the language which appears to the senses, sometimes even through smell. In addition, onomatopeycus use of language makes the environment concrete: the reader can see, smell and touch. The external world is received through Eveline's idea: it is seen as a menace or threat.

The perception of the character of Eveline is, right from the start, as inactive, paralysed: she does nothing, she sits, she watches, she is tired (negative connotation). All verbs which describe Eveline are no motion verbs, they are static verbs: she is stuck inside her house, while the inhabited world outside is busy because James Joyce conveys the idea of the city in a concrete and minute way. Eveline seems to contact a very ordinary routine life, where everything is already seen, gone; she seems to be covered by a shade. A slight interest of Eveline is directed to the unique novelty: "the new houses"; they are symbolically red. Red perfectly represents fear, pain. The adjective "new" makes the reader understand that something new threatens people because it is different from the common. The red houses in the middle of grey houses are the symbol of effort and suffering (symbolic realism).

Thanks to Eveline's memoires the intelligent reader understands that Eveline is thinking and going back to her past. The repetition of the syntactical form "use to" underlines that her life is made of habits. Joyce underlines the routine-like nature of Eveline's existence with expressions like "every evening" where every conveys repetition and evening creates an alliterative effect.

Her memory goes back to her childhood which seems very far away, in a distant past; thanks to this she lives present only through her memories of the past and her illusions about future.  

James Joyce introduces  the theme of the voyage because it underlines Eveline's inability to take a decision. In this part of the short story the reader may have the feeling that he is listening to the exact words that cross Eveline's mind even if this is not right. Immediately the next sequences begin and the reader  has access to Eveline's mental consideration about the decision she is going to take. Thinking about her voyage with her boyfriend, she immediately consider that at home "she had shelter and food" (line 35) and "she had those whom she had known all her life about her". Then Eveline thinks of her past and her present to make sense of her future. This explains the difficulty for her to cut with her past; she thinks that the new passes through the old, and even wars through what other people think of her: gossip interest her more than nourish her expectations; she always thinks about people's idea of her in negative terms. Again the reader can hear her thoughts: free indirect style underlines she is lazy, not quick and always depressed. She also seems not to miss the place.                                                                                                                           

The whole sequence underlines the law quality of her existence; Eveline has a hard life (her father is often drunk, she has to look after her brothers, she has to insist to get money from her father) and she has always to do the same things with nobody helping her. She did not feel protected and even wars "she sometimes felt herself in danger of her father's violence" (line 49). She doesn't at all feel loved like her brothers (lines 50/51).

Joyce underlines even the position of women in Irish society: they are not considered as men are. Moreover in her house money is like a ghost: it appears and probably disappears on Saturday night. In addition her father considered her unable to do the shopping (lines 59/60). The words of Eveline's father underline the law consideration she had inside the family. Also the way Joyce describes the way she goes shopping underlines an image of hard life in terms of relationships. The sequence symbolically ends (line 70/72) highlighting the concept of hardship in Eveline's existence and clearly brings to surface that the idea of leaving home is more a form of escape than a real choice.

The following sequence is about the relationship between Eveline and Frank. Joyce speaks about "to explore another life" (line 73) like the exploration of a forest where he does not know what he may find. Even there would be the escape by the night-boat: grey and darkness still shape Eveline's existence. Eveline's memoir go back to the first time she met Frank: again memoires cross her mind: Frank appears as the romantic man every girl is looking for, as in a dream. But he sang love songs and she felt confused (line 86). Cause to this, at the end of the story, when they are going to leave and the are in the middle of people standing in North Wall's station, she feels confused. Frank is telling her something about the imminent travel, but she does not hear at him because she is absorbed in her thoughts. Suddenly the boat blew a long mournful whistle in the mist. Frank says her that they have to go but she is paralysed; finally he rushed beyond the barrier and called to her to follow; he was shouted to go on, but he still called to her. She set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition.