Exercises at page 514 from Making Waves

 

Comprehension

 

1. The text begins while Eveline, who is the main character, is in the middle of an emotional crisis. Indeed she is not able to understand if it is better and wise to stay in Dublin, that is the place of her childhood, and take care of the family or to go away with her lover Frank for Buenos Aires and begin a new life.

 

2. There are different pros and cons. On one side, Eveline promised her mother to keep the home together as long as she could, that means not to leave Dublin. But at the same time she has to bear episodes of violence by her father and her poor job. On the other side, there’s her personal revenge. The possibility to escape with Frank and start a new life, away from the past, means a possibility to be respected in Buenos Aires. The decision she was going to take would exclude the other. So, at the end she decided to stay in Dublin. Even she, like the characters of “The Dead”, is overpowered by the state of paralysis.

 

3. Eveline, after the death of her mother became the house-woman. So she had to look after the entire family.

In a way, she became the new mother of the house In addition, Eveline’s life has been and is strictly connected to her father’s continuous violence; Eveline’s work-life is very bad, because she is often humiliated by her employer, Miss Gavan. So, she lives in a state of paralysis, in a world that isn’t the product of her decisions.

 

4. “Miss Gavan would be glad. She had always been sharp with her”.

 

5. Frank is characterized as a very kind, manly, open-hearted person. Eveline instead seems to be a person who is not able to take the right decision, so she is a doubtful and fearful person; Eveline’s father is described as a person who in some moments he is very violent, but in other cases he can be a careful and lovely father.

 

Interpretation

 

1. Considering you are in front of a modernist novel, the concept of time is a very particular one. In fact the text develops through sequences in which past, present and future are linked, not divided. So, all things that happens in Eveline’s mind are reported in the text. This device or better phaenomena is exactly what the French philosopher Henry Bergson defined “ stream of consciousness”. It follows that the story is built upon time shifts. At the beginning of the text Eveline remembers about her childhood in Dublin and the death of her mother(in the central part of the text); going on, the dimension of the present is focused on Eveline’s inability to take the right decision, which is directly linked to her future expectations, in particular to the image of her future life with Frank and Eveline’s scares about it.

 

2. The expression “a maze of distress” (“un labirinto di angoscia” in Italian) refers to Eveline’s incapacity to decide whether to remain with his family in Dublin or to escape away from there with her lover Frank and be a new person in Buenos Aires. What’s more, her state of wide incertitude is underlined by particular expressions, such “ Was that wise?”, and linked to other expressions, like “all the seas of the world tumbled about her heart” and “ she set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal”, which underline Eveline’s psychological weakness.

 

3. In the sentence taken into consideration Joyce uses the device of free indirect speech.

 

4. The technique of free indirect speech is used in order to show the feelings of the various characters. With reference to the expression above, it underlines Eveline’s doubts. Other examples of the technique are: “Was that wise?”, “People would treat her with respect then”.

 

5. Joyce adopts an anonymous third person narrator, who effectively coincides with Eveline’s consciousness.

 

Creative Writing Workshop

 

Dear Frank,

I have decided to stay. I’m really sorry, but I had no choice. My family needs me and I need to stay with my family. My last promise to my dear mother was to take care of them. I believe in promises; they must be kept. But there is also another reason. A very intimate one. Well, I’m afraid of future. I think we would be very happy together since I loved you so much. But I have to keep my promise. I am very sorry for the trouble. I hope I will see you again.

See you soon

With love, Eveline