1.   Eveline is in the middle of an emotional crisis. What is her dilemma?

The problem that Eveline had is to decide what she had to do. She would like to escape from her problems, but at the same time the thought of her departure causes in herself a sense of anguish.

2.   What are her reasons for staying and her reasons for leaving? What does she finally decide to do?

The reason why she had to stay is that she promised to her mother that she kept the family together as long as she could. Instead the reason why she had to leave is that she didn’t want to live like her mother,that is a life of sacrifices culminated with the crazy. Her final decision was to stay in Dublin.

3.   What does the text say or imply about Eveline’s life?

From the text we understand that Eveline had a difficult childhood and adolescence. In particular from the text emerges the bad relationship with her father. For all these reasons Eveline is different from all the other girls: she is melancholy and she passes all her time at home.

4.   “Miss Gavan would be glad. She had always had an edge on her.”How can you rephrase this sentence to make the expression “had an edge on her” clearer?

The phrase “she had always had an edge on her” means that Miss Gavan had always ostaculated Eveline because their relationship wasn’t so good.

5.   What kind of people are Frank, Eveline and Eveline’s father?

Eveline’s father is a violent person that doesn’t help the others components of the family during hard time, such as the mother’s death. Eveline has a particular personality, she is different from all the other young people: in fact she lives like an old person: she spends all her life thinking about her past instead of living her life. The other character, Frank, represents the typical character of man falls in love with a girl, that makes the possible for their happiness.

6.   Focus on the sequencing of the paragraphs. Can you trace the time shifts in the structure of the story?

In the first part, the text focuses the attention in the events that took place in the most recent past. In the following part, the narrator provided to explain the events and the actions happened in a most remote past. In this last part Joyce talks about Eveline’s adolescence and her relationship with her father and Frank, her boyfriend.

7.   Focus on the last paragraphs. What is the meaning of the phrase “a maze of distress”? Can other words be linked to this imagine?

The phrase “a maze of distress” synthesizes what Eveline felt in that moment: a confusion of ideas and feelings.

8.   Focus on the sentence: “Could she still draw back after allhe had done for her?”. What mode of thought presentation has been used here?

The mode of thought presentation is to create a question to make Eveline reflect about her possible future.

9.   What kind of narrator does Joyce use?

He uses a third omniscient person narrator.