Dubliners, J.Joyce Analysis of "Eveline".  L.Gaddi 

Eveline is the fourth of the 15 short stories which The Dubliners by James Joyce contains.  In this episode, using a third person omniscient narrator,(free indirect speech) who is in the mind of the character the writer tells the story of Eveline, a nineteen years girl from Dublin who is torn by a taugh dilemma: leaving Dublin with her love Frank or staying at home with a violent father, but respecting her dead mother’s will.

From the structure point of view it is possible to observe that the writer first introduces Eveline’s thoughts while she’s at the window staring the avenue and next he moves the action from the house to the dock from which Eveline is supposed to leave. So the first part is set in Eveline’s house and the second part is set at the dock, near the sea that separates the protagonist from her new life in Buenos Aires.

Right from the beginning the reader is able to understand that Eveline is a character with a fragile personality and is not hard to guess what the end of the story is gonna be. In fact, Eveline lived a happy life with her mother, but when she died and her brother left she immediately felt that her existece as a shop worker with a violent father was meaningless. For this reason, in her reflexions Eveline seems willing to abandon Dublin and her old life in spite of the promise she did to her mother. But eventually, she doesn’t manage to leave her home and she gives up her dreams and perspectives. The young protagonist’s dilemma, reflects the conditions of many women in Dublin during a 20s, who where obliged to decide between a domestic life or the possibility of a new marriage life abroad. There’s no way to know Eveline is going to go back home, living with her dad, or she is going to live by herself. However the core of the story communicates how huge and harmful inside conflicts of human beings can be. The end of the episode shows how Eveline real  wishes failed against something that is to big to be fought, and this is the feeling of guilt Eveline is up to and the awareness of being to small to live such a big future.

In telling his story, J.Joyce uses simple phrases with the help of dialogues that make the narration more intense. He also goes back to the past, describing Eveline’s memories while she is at the window.