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An Age Of Doubt By James Joyce

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Frequently referred to as an age of doubt, the Modernist period of literature was characterized by authors who sought to challenge the notion of a literary text containing a single truth or meaning. Modernist writers went against societal and cultural customs by questioning literature and focusing on the individual experience of a text. As a result, much of modern literature destabilizes meaning through the use of ambiguity and suspense. Accordingly, ambiguity plays a central role in James Joyce’s short story, “Eveline.” Throughout the story, nineteen-year-old Eveline contemplates leaving her home in Dublin to pursue a happier life with a sailor named Frank. At home, she leads a dismal life with her violent father, and therefore the prospect of life with Frank in Buenos Ayres presents itself as an enticing escape. However, Eveline finds herself trapped between familiarity and freedom, between what she could do and what she wants to do. While numerous critics have attempted to uncover whether “Eveline” favours her staying or leaving, the story remains ambiguous with its “two mutually exclusive meanings” (Luft 48). In Joyce’s “Eveline,” ambiguity obscures the answer the reader seeks and reveals that Eveline cannot make a choice because her situation is inescapable – putting the reader in a position of “hermeneutic conflict,” analogous to Eveline’s “irresolvable inner conflict” (Luft 50).

Throughout “Eveline,” the ambiguity surrounding Frank’s character is a major source of

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