Character Analysis Of Eveline

In this excerpt from the novel under the feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes, we are introduced to a young girl named Estrella. Throughout the excerpt Estrella’s character changes and develops in many ways. The author reveals these changes through her usage of literary devices such as selection of detail, figurative language, as well as tone.

In John Updike’s short story “A & P”, a dynamic and round character expresses his subjective attitude towards his views, a plot twist causes him to realize his future. Sammy an opinionated cashier at A & P grocery store does not agree with his Lengel, his manager after he reprimands a particular group of customers at the store. Sammy’s further actions cause him to face the true reality of his future.

Grace has been told for more than half her life that she was crazy. Her mother’s death that she witnesses was an accident, there was no scarred man, and there was nothing she could do to change what had happened. But Grace knew they were wrong. With the help of her friends Noah, Megan and Rosie, she managed to discover that the scarred man was Dominic, the first love of her mother, who was there to kill her mother, but chose instead to stage her death. Grace came down just as Dominic was taking the picture, and picked up the gun that was lying on the floor. Firing blinding, she missed Dominic and shot her mother instead. The traumatic moment of shooting her mother was blocked from Grace’s mind as it was unable to handle what she did. Her family tries to protect her from this, saying it was an accident, trying to get Grace to stop pushing. When pushing too hard, Grace discovers the truth of what happened that night, and what she did, and with the

She was just a small child when her older brother went temporarily insane and chased her around with an axe. Though she does not remember many details, that is the earliest memory Searra Hensley has. However, it is only one of the many interesting events that has occurred in her life.

A few blocks down the road Estelle Louise says,” Clemmie Sue that there gotta be the greatest birthday in many a long years. Who you be thinking this here Harry guy might be?”

Trapped in a world where mental anguish imprisons her, Eveline is another of James Joyce's paralyzed souls. Her life is full of ups and downs. Every day she struggles with burdens that she should not have to bear and when the opportunity comes for her to get away from this retched life, she denies herself the chance. The reasons why I feel Eveline did not leave for Buenos Aires with Frank is because she was obligated to her family, she was afraid of the unknown and she did not know how to receive love.

Eveline's internal struggle illustrates clearly how one struggles between the past and the future, leading to the failure to escape. While weighing her options as to whether or not leave Dublin, Eveline remembers her mother's wishes: "Her promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could" (Joyce 40). Even though Eveline's home contains an abusive father, absence of family members, and the struggles of domestic work, she is unable to let go. Awaiting her a promised adventurous and free spirited life with her respectful and kind lover, Frank. He has the ability to rescue Eveline from a troubling past and allow her to enter a new phase in her life, liberated from the ugliness of Dublin. However,

The short story written by James Joyce “Eveline” is about a young lady who lives her life in a promise. The promise is to her mother, who had passed away, that no matter how bad the family became, she would always keep it together. At a significant point in Eveline’s life, she was given the opportunity to leave the family and start a family of her own. Although Eveline is miserable with her life, she runs from Frank with no love in her eyes and remembers the promise that she had made. Is it that she did the right thing in keeping her promise, or was it that she wasn’t willing to leave the life she’s ever known. Though both ideas are relevant, it is strongly apparent

Joyce also pays extensive attention to detail in his writing of “Eveline”. The first paragraph, in which the reader is introduced to Eveline, creates a dismal feeling about her. Joyce uses words such as “dusty cretonne” to convey this sense of heaviness. Eveline self-describes her house as “little” and “brown” in direct contrast with “new red houses” being built on her block. The deliberate use of the word brown to describe the oppressive environment in which she lives is important because it is used again at the end of the story to detail a similar situation. Joyce describes the “soldiers with brown baggages” at the station where Eveline is supposed to get on the boat and make her escape with her lover Frank. However, Eveline

Eveline was a female that was brought up in a poor area of Dublin, Ireland. As with all underprivileged areas around the world things were harder. There was a higher importance placed on morals and values. Eveline’s job was to care for her father and the house after her mother passed. A promise she made to her mother on her deathbed, and promises are to be kept. She also had two children that she oversaw caring for. Her responsibilities were routine, comfortable, and safe. There is nothing that the human race likes more than routine. There is a comfort that comes with knowing how things are going to go and

James Joyce’s book of short stories entitled Dubliners examines feminism and the role of women in Irish society. The author is ahead of his time by bringing women to the forefront of his stories and using them to show major roles and flaws in Irish society, specifically in “Eveline” and “The Boarding House”. James Joyce portrays women as victims who are forced to assume a leading and somewhat patriarchal role in their families. He uses them to show the paralysis of his native land Ireland, and the disruption in social order that is caused by the constant cycle of abuse that he finds commonplace in Ireland. Joyce is trying to end the Victorian and archaic view of

Joyce wrote “her promise to keep the home together as long as she could,” meaning that it was a struggle for her to keep her promises to her mom. Taking care of her home is a way in which Eveline was oppressed. Around the time the story took place there was a lack of women’s liberation. Women could not really do what they want when they want to, even if it means giving up on their happiness. Not only did Eveline have to keep the house together, she also had to take care of two young children. Joyce wrote “She had hard work 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.” Eveline was doing everything a wife’s job was around the time the story took place but she did not have a husband and younger children were not hers. She did not have no help from her father because in his mind all that she was doing was a women’s job and all he had to do is provide the money to help take care of the house.

Eveline loves Frank but his love proves not enough to free her from the cage of a lonely life she has become trapped in. Miserably alone, Eveline finds herself after the passing of her mother and living with a controlling alcoholic father.: “At the center of each story is the conscious decision-making process, the pros and cons of running away, the security of the hearth against the freedom of escape” (Putzel 5). Whether it is the promise she made her mother to take care of the family or her father that stops her from leaving, Eveline makes her choices based on the feelings and thoughts of others. After reading “Eveline” by James Joyce it is clear that Eveline Hill is longing for a new life, one that brings her face to face with adulthood struggles, leaving her literally stuck within her mind and dark surroundings.

In Joyce’s, “Eveline”, most of the story is situated in the mind of the main character, Eveline. Eveline is characterized as passive, easily-influenced, and indecisive. Joyce highlights Eveline’s indecisiveness as she struggles with her immediate predicament; should she leave her abusive father and disobey her duty as a daughter, or pursue a new life with her potential husband Frank, to be free? As she contemplates, readers are taken inside Eveline’s mind to discover factors from her past and present that contribute toward her final decision. While Joyce utilizes rich literary devices including symbolism and dramatic irony, Eveline’s final choice is based on what is repressed in her unconscious mind – her mother’s last words. Eveline’s mother’s last word “Derevuan Seraun” is the deciding factor in which why Eveline chooses stays home.

Eveline's father is the second most important character in the story, yet Joyce chooses not to reveal his name. That is because he is only a father in a biological sense, falling short at every other fatherly duty. Mr.Hill is a failed provider who takes his offspring’s earnings only to hand it back, allowing him to feel like a “man of the house”. He is abusive and flaunts his dominance by “threaten[ing]” (Joyce 73) Eveline well into her adulthood. The threats seem unprovoked and random, indicating father's attempts to instill fear rather than curb or abolish an offending behavior. Compensating for his failures, the father uses aggression and control to get what he wants. “Her father was becoming old lately, she noticed; he would miss her” (Joyce 75), the narrator draws our attention to the aging of the father and impending helplessness following it. Though Joyce does not clarify how the father will miss Eveline, judging by his past conducts, it is safe to assume that he would miss Eveline’s help around the house and money the most. Still, as she contemplates leaving, Eveline sees good in him and “tries to balance her father's increasing capacity for violence by remembering three random acts of kindness”(Trudell) that seemingly undue all the wrong he has done in the past. No matter