Eveline keeps her mother’s promise
Eveline was a motherless daughter who lived with her father. She had four siblings, one of her brother was dead, and the other was never around and was busy with work. And the rest two were young children who went to school. Eveline’s father was a violent and abusive man. She was not exactly living with him happily. There was no one to protect her from him. He would not give her money properly, and would be very violent towards her. She had to do a lot to hold the family together and make sure the kids went to school regularly and ate regular meals.
The story starts with Eveline walking down her memory lane and talking about her childhood memories, so for that fact we know that even though her father was abusive she still did have fond memories of her childhood and neighborhood. And then the story shifts to Eveline’s present situation. Eveline was planning to elope with her lover. She wanted to leave her father and live with her lover in a distant unknown country.
Eventually at the end of the story Eveline changes her mind at the very moment of eloping regardless of her unhealthy relationship with her father.
Her promise to her mother and attachment to family and surroundings was putting her in dilemma about taking such a decision of eloping. And on top of that her father’s warning about having an affair with a sailor raised doubts in her mind since she did know him for a very short period. The text gives evidence of all the facts above but her mother is mentioned repetitively in the passage. So I think it is her promise to her mother mainly which holds her back and stops her from eloping eventually.
Her mother is mentioned a couple of times in the text, and near the end of the story again her promise to her mother is mentioned. She said that she knew the thought of breaking her mother’s promise would haunt her everyday if she left, for she promised her mother that she would keep the home together as