Throughout the short story by James Joyce that bears her name, Eveline, is distracted from moving forward into the future because of her memories of the past and her ties to the present. Tis shows in the first sentence and its symbolic reference to “dusty cretonne.” . Written and published in1914, Eveline is a story from The Dubliners.
This book concerns itself with about what was then contemporary Dublin and its surrounding area. This setting is established at the very outset as Eveline is introduced as she is looking across the street where she played with her siblings and other neighborhood children. She holds two letters in her hands, symbolic of her decision to move forward into the future. However, her thoughts are in the past Both the letters and the lot across the street symbolize this. The field is no longer there, instead there are recently built red houses, “not like their little brown houses, but bright brick with shining roofs.” .
Most of the story moves back and forth, as Eveline looks around her home. Although her actions are set in the present, her thoughts are divided between the past and the future. Her reminisces clearly show that she was not happy, not totally miserable, but neither her not her mother were treated well. If she remains, she can expect nothing better in the future. This is clear when she is mentally still debating the wisdom of her choice to go away and marry her suitor, Frank. In her mind, she asks herself this question since,
“In her home anyway she had shelter and food; ” . When she leaves even this is unknown, but the gain could be far greater than anything ever possible for her could be if she stays. She proceeds with her decision to move forward in her life right up to the moment when she is about to board the ship that will carry her to a new life in Buenos Aryes. At the end however she remains ashore, Frank tries to guide her to go with her but with the ship blowing its horn at the quay he moves aboard while she remains behind passive but resolute.
Works Cited
Joyce, James. "Eveline." Joyce, James. The Dubliners. 1914.
