Study GuideCompiled by Michael J. Cummings.©2009
Typeof Work and Publication Date
.......JamesJoyce's Eveline is a short story in the genre of naturalism. Naturalismcenters on life as it iswithout preachment, judgment, or embellishmentandstresses the importance of the environment and heredity in shaping humandestiny.
......."Eveline"presents the thoughts of a young woman as she considers whether to leavehome and marry or to remain home with her stern father. It was first publishedon September 10, 1904, in The Irish Homestead, a journal, and laterrevised and republished in 1914 in The Dubliners, a collection offifteen of Joyce's short stories.
.......
Setting
.......Thestory begins on an evening in a residential section of Dublin, circa 1900.It ends the same evening at a dock where a night-boat (ferry) awaits passengersbound for a port (probably Liverpool, England) where oceangoing vesselsembark for foreign locales.
.......Joycetells the story in third-person point of view. In the first paragraph,the narrator reports from a distance, as if he is sitting across the roomfrom Eveline. In the second paragraph, the narrator enters the mind ofEveline and reports the rest of the story from there, revealing the thoughtsof the title character as she considers whether to remain home or go toArgentina to marry. She reviews the events of her life, comparing the qualityof her life in Dublin over the years with the quality of life she believesshe would have in Buenos Aires.
.......Mostof the writing imitates the way the title character would speak if sheverbalized her thoughts. Occasionally, Joyce makes a deliberate writingerror (such as the omission of a comma) to suggest the flow of Eveline'sthoughts. The language is straightforward and easy to understand, althoughnot necessarily easy to interpret, and Joyce makes every word count. Exceptfor the first paragraph, he structures the plot according to the orderof Eveline's thoughts as they occur. Her thoughts begin in the present,then flash back, then return to the present. From time to time, they againflash back. Occasionally, Eveline attempts to glimpse the future, speculatingon what her life would be like in Argentina.
Eveline: Dublin womannot yet twenty. She lives at home with her father, who threatens her. Hername is a variation of Evelyn.
Mr. Smith: Eveline'sfather, who mistreats her. The words he was usually fairly bad on Saturdaynight suggest that he drinks heavily on weekends.
Mrs. Smith: Deceasedmother of Eveline.
Frank:Sailor who says he will marry Eveline after they go to Argentina to live.
Eveline's Brothers, Sisters:Eveline identifies only two of them: the oldest, Ernest, who is dead atthe time that Eveline reflects on her past, and Harry, who works in thechurch-decorating business.
Miss Gavin: Supervisorat the Stores (a retail outlet), who watches Eveline closely.
Little Keogh: Crippledboy who was a playmate of Eveline when she was a child.
Two Small Children:Children Eveline takes care of at home. It is not clear who their parentsare.
Devines, Waters, Dunns:Playmates of Eveline when she was a child. One, Tizzie Dunn, is dead atthe time that Eveline reflects on her past.
Organ Grinder: Italianstreet entertainer who plays a song that reminds Eveline of the night hermother died. He was also playing on the night of her mother's death.
.
By MichaelJ. Cummings.©2009
.
.......EvelineHill looks out the window of her father's Dublin home, reminiscing abouther childhood days. She and her brothers and sisters used to play in afield nearby with neighborhood children from the Devine, Waters, and Dunnfamilies. Whenever her father came looking for them with his blackthornstick, Little Keough, a crippled neighbor boy, would warn her and her siblings.
.......Noweverything is changed. Her mother and her brother Ernest are dead. Therest of the Hill children are young adults. Houses now occupy the fieldwhere the children played, Tizzie Dunn has died, and the Waters familyhas moved back to England. The Smith home looks the same, though, withits familiar furnishings. The old yellow photo of a priest still hangsabove the harmonium. The priest and her father had been friends at school,and her father shows the photo to visitors, saying, He is in Melbournenow.
.......Evelineherself is about to leave her childhood home and her job at a retail store,where Miss Gavin is always there to order her around: "Miss Hill, don'tyou see these ladies are waiting?"
.......Inher new home in a far-off land, she will be a married woman who is treatedwith respect. Her father will not be there to threaten her or treat herthe way he did her mother. Though she is going on twenty, she still fearshim. When she was very young, he did not treat her as badly as he treatedErnest and Harry. Lately, though, he has been threatening her. Harry usuallyis not there to take her side, for he spends a lot of time out in the countryon his church-decorating business.
.......TheSaturday-night arguments with her father over money are a trial. She alwaysgives him all of her pay, and Harry gives him what he can. But try gettingmoney back from him. He always tells Eveline she is a spendthrift and thathe will not give her any of his hard-earned money. After a time, he yields.But he expects her to buy Sunday dinner.
.......Inaddition to her job, she has to keep house and tend to the two little childrenin the household, making sure they get their meals and get to school ontime.
.......Inspite of her hard life, she has reservations about going to Buenos Aires,Argentina, with Frank to be his wife and live in the home he maintainsthere. Frank is a kind man, Eveline thinks. After they met, he called herPoppens and always accompanied her home from work. Once, he took her tosee The Bohemian Girl, an opera about a young woman abducted bythe leader of a gypsy band. Frank would also tell her stories about allthe lands he visited serving aboard ships of the Allen Line. When her fatherfound out about the courtship, he forbade her from seeing Frank again.Then she had to meet Frank in secret.
.......Onher lap are two letters, one to Harry and one to her father. She remembersthat there were times when her father was good company. Only recently,when she was "laid up" in bed, he read to her and made her toast. Yearsbefore, when the family had gone on a picnic, he wore his wife's bonnetto make everybody laugh.
.......Stilllooking out the window, Eveline hears the song of an Italian organ grindercoming from down the street, the same song he played on the night her motherdied. The song reminds Eveline of the promise she made to her mother tokeep the family together as long as possible. But she believes she hasa right to escape with Frank, a right to be happy.
.......Itis time to leave. Eveline is with Frank, who is holding her hand. Soldiersare all around with brown bags. The ship calls for passengers with a whistle.Eveline asks God for guidance. Should she go aboard with Frank or turnback?
.......AsFrank proceeds, he calls back to her. But Eveline "set her white face tohim, passive, like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of loveor farewell or recognition."
.
.
Themes
Inertia
.......LikeIreland itself in the last years of the nineteenth century and the earlyyears of the twentieth century, Eveline struggles to escape oppression.Her father has ruled her life for as long as she can remember, just asEngland has for so long ruled directly or indirectly the life of Ireland.But independence for Eveline and Ireland requires bold action. Too often,however, every step forward also produces another step backward. Evelinetakes a step, then retreats and ends up as she was before. But there isa glimmer of hope: Eveline has said no to a man in a male-dominated society.But when she returns home, will she have the courage to say no to her fatherwhen he makes unreasonable demands? Will she have the courage to begintaking back her life? Or will she continue to languish amid the smell ofdusty cretonne and her mother's Gaelic gibberish ringing in her ears?
Environmental Attachment
.......Eveline'sattachment to her environment strongly influences her decision to remainin Ireland, as the following passages suggest.
Paragraph 3:Perhaps she would never see again those familiar objects from which shehad never dreamed of being divided.
Paragraph 5:In her home anyway she had shelter and food; she had those whom she hadknown all her life about her.GuiltParagraph 9: It washard worka hard lifebut now that she was about to leave it she did notfind it a wholly undesirable life.
See AlsoEveline by James JoyceParagraph 13: Herfather was becoming old lately, she noticed; he would miss her. Sometimeshe could be very nice. Not long before, when she had been laid up for aday, he had read her out a ghost story and made toast for her at the fire.Another day, when their mother was alive, they had all gone for a picnicto the Hill of Howth. She remembered her father putting on her mothersbonnet to make the children laugh.
.......Guiltmay have been another factor in Eveline's decision to remain in Ireland.After all, she had promised her mother that she would keep the home togetheras long as she could. Running away to Argentina would break that promise.And what about the two young children she has been caring for? And whatabout her father, who was becoming old lately [and] would miss her?
Doubt
.......Thenarrator hints that Eveline harbors doubts about her relationship withFrank. She considers his good qualitieshis kindness, his manliness, hislove of musicbut never once does she note that he loves her. The closestshe comes is this thought in paragraph 18: She must escape! Frank wouldsave her. He would give her life, perhaps love, too. (The key word hereis perhaps.) Nor does Eveline ever note that she loves Frank. Whenthe night-boat is about to embark, she prays to God to show her what washer duty. Here, duty suggests that she believes her life with Frankwould be like her mother's life with her fatheror no better than Eveline'slife with her father. It may be that her doubts about her relationshipwith Frank, combined with her attachment to her environment and her feelingsof guilt, overcome her desire to escape.
.......Evelinemay also have been aware that Buenos Aires had a reputation as a placewhere young women were often ensnared in a life of prostitution. Was itpossible that Frank was luring her into such a life?
Difficult Life of Womenin a Male-Dominated Society
.......InJoyce's time, a woman like Eveline generally had to endure male discriminationin every sector of society. At home, a husband or father expected her tosubmit to his will even when he treated her poorly. In educational institutions,overseers severely limited a woman's opportunities to study for a professionalcareer. In the workplace, employers usually hired a woman only for meniallabor. And her pay was far less than that of a male doing the same work.She could not complain about discrimination at the ballot box, for shedid not have the right to vote.
.......Atthe beginning of the story, Eveline's desire to escape a life of drudgerysuggests that she believes she will find a new world of equality in Argentina.However, after considering her choices, she seems to believe that lifefor her in Argentina would be the same asor possibly even worse thanherlife in Ireland.
.......Evelineseems to have enjoyed her childhood, when her father was not so bad (paragraph2) and her mother was alive. She was Eve in the Garden of Eden (the vacantfield). Of course, her father now and then invaded her garden with a serpent(the blackthorn stick). Eventually, she had to leave the garden, whichwas taken over by urban sprawl, and enter the world of hard work and tribulation.
.......Theclimax occurs when Eveline decides not to board the ship while Frank shouts"Come!" (paragraphs 21, 24). Her refusal to obey his command couldbe a liberating moment for herif she also refuses to comply with any unreasonabledemands of her father.
WhoAre the Children Eveline Looks After?
.......AfterEveline reminisces about her childhood, the narratorin presenting Eveline'sthoughtssays, "That was a long time ago; she and her brothers and sisterswere all grown up [and] her mother was dead" (paragraph 2). This sentenceeliminates the possibility that the children are Eveline's siblings, childrenborn before Mrs. Smith died, unless both of the following apply: (1) Evelineis referring only to the brothers and sisters with whom she grew up; (2)the second part of the deliberate run-on sentence is not governed by theclause before the semicolon.
.......Itis possible that the little ones are the children of Harry, Ernest, orone of Eveline's sisters. Perhaps financial reversal, domestic upheaval,orin the case of Ernestdeath required their placement in the care ofEveline.
.......Whateverthe case, the mention of the two children is significant in that it castsEveline in the role of a mother, a role that she may feel she is not readyto take on in a foreign land when she is not even twenty years old. Itis also possible that she feels she has a responsibility to the children.
Vocabulary,Symbols, and Allusions
Blackthorn stick:See Emergence From Eden, above.
The Bohemian Girl:Opera by Dublin-born Michael William Balfe (1808-1870) and libretto byAlfred Bunn. It was first performed at Drury Lane Theatre in London onNovember 27, 1843. The story is about a young woman, Arline, the daughterof a count, who is abducted by the leader of a band of gypsies. An ariain the opera, "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls," centers on Arline's childhoodmemories.
Blessed Mary Alacoque:Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), French nun of the Visitation orderwho was canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV as a saint of the Roman CatholicChurch. She claimed to have visions of Christ in which He asked her topromote devotion to His sacred heart as a symbol of love, mercy, and salvation.Those who take up this devotion, the nun said, would receive help fromChrist in obtaining grace, blessings, and salvation. (In the story, thephrase promises made to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque refers tothe promises of help Christ made to Blessed Margaret in a vision.) Thenun was bedridden for four years after developing paralysis, then madewhat appeared to be a miraculous recovery. Eveline, of course, suffersfrom a kind of psychological paralysis in her struggle to escape oppression.
cretonne: Heavy printedcloth, usually of cotton or linen, used to make draperies and upholsterycoverings.
Derevaun Seraun:While Eveline looks out the window and inhales the "odour of dusty cretonne"(paragraph 14), she recalls that her mother repeated "Derevaun Seraun"whichis gibberish resembling Irish Gaelic (or Goídelic)with "foolishinsistence" (paragraph 16). Because it is gibberish, it signifies nothing.This facttogether with the phrases "dusty cretonne" and "foolish insistence"callto mind a famous passage in Shakespeare's Macbeth, when the titlecharacter uses the words "dusty" and "fools" and refers to life as a "taletold by an idiot . . . signifying nothing."
To-morrow, and to-morrow,and to-morrow,Perhaps "Derevaun Seraun" wasMrs. Smith's way of saying that life in Ireland, circa 1900, was a taletold by an idiot, signifying nothing.
Creeps in this petty pacefrom day to day,
To the last syllable ofrecorded time;
And all our yesterdays havelighted fools
The way to dusty death.Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow,a poor player,
That struts and frets hishour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full ofsound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (Macbeth:5, 5, 19-28).
Dust: The word dustyoccurs twice in "Eveline"; dust and dusted each occur once.All the words suggest that Eveline (and Ireland) has a difficult time shakingoff the dust of the past in an effort to begin anew.
Eveline: See EmergenceFrom Eden, above.
Field where childrenplayed: See Emergence From Eden, above.
Harmonium: Reed instrumentresembling an organ. The Smith family's harmonium is broken. It may symbolizethe broken harmony in the home, in the heart of Eveline, and in Irelanditself.
Hill of Howth (Howthrhymes with both): Recreation area at the village of Howth on DublinBay, north of Dublin. Cliffside walking trails on the hill offer spectacularviews of the bay and the Wicklow Mountains.
night-boat: Ferrythat carried passengers to England, where ships debarked for foreign ports.
nix: Keeping watch;standing guard.
Patagonians: Nativesof Patagonia, a region in southern Argentina between the Andes Mountainsand the Atlantic Ocean.
pavement: In Britainand Ireland, a sidewalk.
shilling: Coin worthone-twentieth of a pound.
sixpence: Coin worthsix pennies; half a shilling.
Stores: General retailstore in Dublin.
Strait of Magellan:Channel separating the southernmost tip of South America, the island ofTierra del Fuego, and the mainland. The channel connects the Atlantic andPacific Oceans. The Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (1480?-1521)discovered the strait in 1520 while sailing under a Spanish flag.
Water: Escape; anew beginning. The Waters family returns to England. Eveline considerscrossing an ocean to begin anew.
Study Questions and EssayTopics
1....BeforeEveline decided against leaving Ireland, was she in love with Frank? Ordid she simply view him as a means of escape from drudgery?
2....IsEveline immature?
3....WasEveline's drudgery typical of young Irish women around 1900?
4....Writea short psychological profile of Eveline. Support your views with passagesfrom the story and quotations from scholarly works that analyze the story..
5....Whatwas the key factor in Eveline's decision to remain in Ireland?