Eveline by James Joyce (1914)
Eveline by James Joyce (1914)
1. How is Eveline presented in the story? Use quotation from the text to explain and justify your response.
This story is a portrait of an adolescent girl in Dublin and reflects how she thinks about her domestic life in the past, in the present and the possibility of a new married life abroad.
In the first paragraph, the author introduces us to the character of Eveline as “She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne. She was tired.” We can see Eveline as she is watching the coming of evening and her position of head resting against the curtains, she is weary. Because of using the repetition of “she” and “her” without telling us the name of character, the author tries to give us a sense of familiarity with the person described.
“Few people passed. The man out of the last house passed on his way home; she heard his footsteps clacking along the concrete pavement and afterwards crunching on the cinder path before the new red houses.” There Eveline is as an observer. The sounds of “clacking” and “crunching” give us the feelings of loneliness and isolation of Eveline.
She remembers about her childhood, when she had a happier life next to her brothers and sisters: “they seemed to have been rather happy then”.
“Home! She looked round the room, reviewing all its familiar objects which she had dusted once a week for so many years, wondering where on earth all the dust came from.” There we can step in Eveline’s house and her life “Of course she had to work hard, both in the house and at business” and Joyce shows us that Eveline didn’t have a wonderful and easy life.
She is very confused about her decision run away with her boyfriend Frank. “People would treat her with respect then. She would not be treated as her mother had been.” One moment, Eveline feels happy to leave her hard life, to follow her beloved man with
1. How is Eveline presented in the story? Use quotation from the text to explain and justify your response.
This story is a portrait of an adolescent girl in Dublin and reflects how she thinks about her domestic life in the past, in the present and the possibility of a new married life abroad.
In the first paragraph, the author introduces us to the character of Eveline as “She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne. She was tired.” We can see Eveline as she is watching the coming of evening and her position of head resting against the curtains, she is weary. Because of using the repetition of “she” and “her” without telling us the name of character, the author tries to give us a sense of familiarity with the person described.
“Few people passed. The man out of the last house passed on his way home; she heard his footsteps clacking along the concrete pavement and afterwards crunching on the cinder path before the new red houses.” There Eveline is as an observer. The sounds of “clacking” and “crunching” give us the feelings of loneliness and isolation of Eveline.
She remembers about her childhood, when she had a happier life next to her brothers and sisters: “they seemed to have been rather happy then”.
“Home! She looked round the room, reviewing all its familiar objects which she had dusted once a week for so many years, wondering where on earth all the dust came from.” There we can step in Eveline’s house and her life “Of course she had to work hard, both in the house and at business” and Joyce shows us that Eveline didn’t have a wonderful and easy life.
She is very confused about her decision run away with her boyfriend Frank. “People would treat her with respect then. She would not be treated as her mother had been.” One moment, Eveline feels happy to leave her hard life, to follow her beloved man with
Bibliography: 1. http://www.gradesaver.com/dubliners/study-guide/section4/, (accessed on 8/11/12), 2. http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides6/Eveline.html, (accessed on 8/11/12), 3. http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/dubliners/summary-analysis/eveline.html, (accessed on 8/11/12) , 4. work class, 5. http://www.essaypride.com/essays.php?free_essay=5387616&title=Eveline:-Character-Analysis, (accessed on 17/12/12) 6. http://www.enotes.com/eveline/q-and-a/describe-characterisics-eveline-frank-from-story-21015, (accessed on 17/12/12)