- Introduction: Author’s name, title of work, date published, a brief explanation and summary of work. A thesis statement at the end of introduction.
- Claim one - Confusion: textual evidence and explanation
- Claim two – Love: textual explanation and evidence
- Claim three – Characterization: textual evidence and explanation
- Conclusion – Justification of thesis statement to affirm the evidence
Introduction
James Joyce’s work “Eveline”, published in 1914 is an attempt to explore the reality of life of a human being. Joyce exposes that people are like helpless animal. The life of a human being is bound to the conditions they are born into for the better or worse. The text explains the dilemma of life of Eveline to justify these claims. At first, Eveline is a confused fellow who engages in a deep thought about the past. She does not know exactly where her immediate future lies. Eveline thinks about how life was during her days with parents. How the situation compares with the life she led with Frank. This essay will analyze the themes present in Joyce’s work. The main focus will be exploring how the author utilizes different configurative languages and themes to present the life of Eveline and other members of the community.
Well, that was by then, life has changed completely nowadays. The family is no longer together, some members such as Earnest have past way. Life is completely a mess. Eveline is now a grown up and is exposed to the world, something she is not well conversant with. This bothers her to an extent that she thinks of getting married so that she can face the world in a different manner. In her thoughts, Eveline suggests that life should never be the way it is at the moment. She does not earn the respect from other people from the society as she may like it. Therefore, according to her, marriage is the only alternative that will make her earn respect as any other responsible woman in her community. Evidently Eveline does not know the direction of her life in which she has to choose between her family as she promised to her mother or marriage. All these situations are an act of confusion.
Love
Love carries a big share of the state of Eveline’s confusion about the future of her life. Form the day she met with Frank at the times he was lodging in a house, the two have been spending life together. Eveline recalls the instances that Frank would always be available and taking care of her. Frank has been picking her outside the store every evening to go to her house before leaving to his place. This situation makes Eveline remember the life before where though her father would be responsible for the family; he would also do as much as possible to hurt Eveline’s love life. Frank makes Eveline’s life lively unlike before. The test of love is a completely different life to that she is used to with her family. As Eveline is of age to think of marriage, Frank adds up spice to her life.
Although the two are not dating yet, the community understands that they are courting. Furthermore, Frank had established a behavior that suggested about their relationship. This portrayed an image to the society that the two are in one way or another, an item. However, Eveline is still not yet convinced that the life she lives with Frank is the exact kind of living she has been dreaming for many days. This happens even though she feels somehow satisfied with what Frank does every day in her presence. The things she does includes telling her stories about his experiences and above everything, she sings for her, something that makes her feel pleasantly fine. The fact that Frank is very open to Eveline makes her feel even more secure. She usually fantasizes the way Frank would take her into his arms give her happiness and love. Eveline is obsessed of this way of life although she is yet to decide. It is true that the theme of love overwhelms between the two.
Characterization
Characterization is evident in the way that Joyce uses the character “Eveline” to suggest that every member of the society is bound to live within their means and destiny. Like any other member of the community, Eveline was born and raised in an environment in which she cannot escape from. The things that happened in early life are not that different with what is happening in present. This includes the struggle situation the family faces in the exposure of life outside. Joyce explains the struggle of life with other characters such as Harry who worked hard and used to send money for the family upkeep. The little cash was received and budgeted for by their father. This shows how the family life and background of struggle goes on to put major impact to the later lives of the Eveline and her generation.
Conclusion
As discussed earlier, it is evident that the author employs different figurative languages and themes to present her point. In the life of a human being, one is likely to go by the path and kind of livelihood that they are exposed to, no matter the situation at late ages. In a human life-span, there are various common situations for everybody. The author tries to justify this with an explanation of the love life, state of dilemma and confusion of Eveline and other characters.
