Learning Paths » 5A Interacting
CBallarin - 5 A - Modernist Fiction: J.Joyce Eveline
by - (2013-02-13)
Up to 5 A - Modernist Fiction: V. Woolf and J. Joyce
Eveline by J. Joyce
Comprehension:
1) Eveline is asking herself if she had to leave her house where "she had shelter and food" for living with her boyfriend.
2) She would like to stay because she has a house, a work, a life and she feels protected even if her life is hard. On the other hand she would like to leave because, after marrying people would have treated her with respect. Finally she decides to stay at home because she had promised her mother to take care of the family.
3) From the text the reader understands that Eveline is 19 years old, that she has two brothers to grow because her mother is dead and her father is often drunk. She considers her life hard and she wants to live with her boyfriend to marry him and start a new life with him but she does not have the courage to leave her house and her family.
4) Miss Gavan would be glad, she didn't go on well with her.
5) Eveline is a common girl who is afraid of her father and of risks and who gives importance to the family and to her personal interests. On the contrary Frank loves travels and new adventures; he is open-hearted and seems to love Eveline. Eveline's father is an old man who does not give importance on the family and does not love Eveline as the same way he loves the other two sons.
Interpretation:
1)1st sequence: present
2nd sequence: memories, past
3rd sequence: reflection on the differences between past and present
4th sequence: memories of the first meeting with Frank and her father's reaction to their relationship
5th sequence: memories about her family
6th sequence: present, what is happening around her
7th sequence: her mother's last day
8th sequence: present, decision to escape
9th sequence: present, paralysis
2) "A maze of distress" means "un labirinto di angoscia"; it is the psychological condition of Eveline in the moment she has to leave with Frank.
3) The sentence "could she still draw back after all he had done for her?" is an example of interior monologue used by Eveline in her reflections.
4) An other example of interior monologue is "escape, she must escape!"
5) Joyce uses a third person omniscient narrator: he knows everything even the feelings of the main character; his point of view is the same of Eveline