Eveline: a Strong Feminist Heart

Eveline: A Strong Feminist Heart Ever wonder what it was like for a feminist in the 1914’s? It was tough. But what is even tougher is being a child in the family that has to take over her mother’s responsibilities when she dies and then face the violence of a father who does not appreciate the child being a girl. Women were constantly mistreated and not given any positions of power, not even in their own home, where they would be the only ones to be clean it, cooking in it, and taking care of the children. If a mother would pass away, the oldest girl child would be handed the responsibility of being the mother, whether she wanted to or not. Of course, there was the option of running away and escaping that fate; however, society would never allow such a girl to have any kind of good life. James Joyce proves this in his short story, “Eveline” portrays a theme of Women’s Suffragists through the character of Eveline who is a feminist in the year 1914 in Ireland; her life is a life of duty as a girl, violence from her father, society’s looks on her, and her choice of lifestyle in the end. Eveline’s mother passed away and left all the duties of a mother, wife, and sister to Eveline. She was left to clean the house at least once a week (Joyce p. 532). As Eveline was sitting at her home, she was thinking about everything that she has gone through in her life because of her mother’s death and she was remembering how she had to take care of everything because she was a girl. She had to “[…] work hard to keep the house together and to see that the two young children who had been left to her charge went to school regularly and got their meals regularly” (Joyce p. 533). It is not easy to have two children to send off to school or to have them eat healthy and on time, yet Eveline had to endure it, even though she was not the real mother of the children but rather their big sister. Eveline was “[…] tired” of her life and she wanted a way to escape (Joyce p. 532). Eveline’s father is a man who believes in the responsibilities of a woman. He mistreated Eveline because she was a girl and he would never take good care of her. When she was old enough to get a job, he would take away the money she made, use it up, and then blame her for wasting it. In “The Critical Analysis of James’ Joyce’s Eveline” T.B. helps us understand that “[i]n that time period, females were still viewed as less than the worth of men, unable to vote or hold positions of power, thus Eveline’s father wasn’t proud of her as he was of his sons” (T.B. p.1 l.18). On top of that, he was demanding towards her responsibilities: “[…] he would give her the money and ask her had she any intention of buying Sunday’s dinner” (Joyce p. 533). Eveline would have to leave everything she was doing as it is and run out to go get Sunday’s dinner so that her father would not lose his temper with her. Her father was a hard man to live with and his attitude towards her, especially after the death of her mother, was very violent unless she was obedient and fulfilled her duty as the next girl in charge of the house. Eveline has to also face society with her status. She worked at a store where she was always mistreated and looked down upon because of her single status. When Eveline was sitting in her house and thinking about her escape with her love, Frank, she thought, “[w]hat would they say of her in the Stores when they found out that she had run away with a fellow? Say she was a fool, perhaps; and her place would be filled up by advertisement. Miss Gavan would be glad. She had always had an edge on her, especially when there were people listening” (p. 532). Nobody around her understood what her life was like; they did not know that being a single woman and having the responsibilities of a married woman was tougher to deal with than being a married woman. By the end of the story, we can see that Eveline is a feminist because of her choice of her lifestyle. Throughout her hard life, she was able to grow a strong heart that can keep her single and not need a man to depend on. Because Frank, her love, was there when she needed him the most, she had an ideal in her mind. She thought that her life would change when she would leave with Frank to Buenos Aires, Argentines. However, at the end, through the author’s use of imagery, we can see that she realizes that she does not love him and cannot escape her fate whether she is married to him or not. She refused to get on to the boat with Frank at the moment he was calling for her to get on and leave with him. Her expression that, “[…] gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition” shows us that she realized that he cannot be her escape. Instead, he can lead her to her doom because of such a disgraceful act of running away from her life.
She could not allow herself to live the life of a dutiful wife with a man just because her life was tough on her. She chose to be a feminist in the end of the story and stay single no matter what society thought of her, or how her father treated her because she was a girl. She understood that even if she got married, it does not necessarily mean her life will change because she would still have the role of a wife, and eventually a mother. Also, if she would run away with Frank, society would always be looking down on her no matter what, and if she would ever come back home, her father’s violence would most likely be worse than before. So trying to escape her tough life would most likely put her into an even tougher life in the end result. She made the decision to be a strong hearted feminist in the end of the story because whether she is married or not she is still a woman where men see her as a “[…] passive, like a helpless animal” (Joyce p. 534).

Works Cited
Joyce, James. “Eveline.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. By Michael Meyer. 8th edition. United States: Bedford/St. Martins, 532-534. Print.
T.B. Critical Analysis of James ' Joyce 's Eveline. Lifestyle: Associated Contact. N.p. 28 April 2006. Web. 23 March 2010.

Cited: Joyce, James. “Eveline.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. By Michael Meyer. 8th edition. United States: Bedford/St. Martins, 532-534. Print. T.B. Critical Analysis of James ' Joyce 's Eveline. Lifestyle: Associated Contact. N.p. 28 April 2006. Web. 23 March 2010.