Eveline is a short story written by James Joyce about a 19-year-old woman making a hard choice regarding the direction of her entire life. Eveline lives in Dublin with her old abusive father; she works hard and looks after the house. Her mother and one of her brothers – Ernest are dead, while her other brother Harry does not live with them due to the nature of his job. Eveline met a sailor named Frank with whom she fell in love, and she accepted his offer to sail away to Buenos Ayres with him. However, due to Eveline’s promise made to her mother earlier and the young woman’s overall indecisiveness and fear, she does not step on board the ship sailing to Argentina. The story written by James Joyce warns about the issue of paralysis and the inability to make the right decision when it is necessary, thus extending one’s suffering.
The picture that James Joyce draws seems to be clear – on the one hand, there is a status-quo full of hardship on every front for Eveline. Eveline is afraid of potential violence from her father, as he started threatening her, she is not satisfied with her work, and there is no information if she has any friends at all. Furthermore, Eveline is terrified by the perspective that she might live her life in the same way her mother did – full of suffering and closing in insanity. The only positive things she has regarding her life are the memories of her past, when she was able to play with other kids, her mother was alive, and her father seemed to be a nicer person. On the other hand, there is a vague but prospective future for her. This future is associated with the only person that Eveline describes using exclusively good epithets – Frank, who is said to be “very kind, manly, and open-hearted” (Joyce 3). Moreover, Eveline believes that after marriage, she will be treated with respect. Overall, it can be observed that objectively there is a clear superiority of one option over another, and there is no reason for Eveline to choose her status-quo rationally.
However, Eveline chose to stay due to a combination of factors that affected her decision. Firstly, Eveline attached great importance to her duties and promises. This is observed in the scene where she recalls the promise to “keep the home together as long as she could” given to her mother (Joyce 5). This is further supported by the fact that Eveline prays to God to “direct her, to show her what was her duty,” instead of asking for direction towards a better life (Joyce 6). Secondly, due to the ignorance and insecurity regarding the sail to Argentina, Eveline may have become afraid of that scenario, with her fears manifesting through irrational images in her head. “He was drawing her into them: he would drown her,” – due to Eveline’s reluctance to make a decision, she perceives the situation as if she is being drawn to the unknown (Joyce 6). Eveline is naturally afraid of the unknown, and as she associates the unknown with the sea, she subsequently manifests her fears through drowning. Being in an unbalanced emotional and mental state, Eveline succumbs to the combination of guilt and fear, thus giving up on her chance of positive changes in the status quo.
All in all, the short story was written by James Joyce demonstrates the situation when a person can make a grave mistake in a reasonably obvious situation. The role of subjective factors, such as fears, feelings, and emotions, is enormous in the human decision-making process. Sometimes a combination of these factors may overwhelm an unprepared person, as was shown by Joyce. Therefore, the story of Eveline can be perceived as a warning that teaches its readers to be more careful with their decisions.
Works Cited
Joyce, James. Dubliners. New American Library, 1991.