Eveline and Her Decisions in James Joyce’s Short Story

Eveline

Coming from a strong Irish family, I understand “Eveline” by James Joyce to my core. When I was young I was groomed to be a family person. “Always do what’s right for the family, first!” my grandmother would constantly say. That phrase still rings in my head over and over. Eveline, however is faced with such a huge decision for a teenager, I believe she honestly made the right decision.

Although she came from a strict family, like me she was taught to always put them first.

After her mother died, she was thrown into the position of matron of house. She did all the cooking and all the cleaning on top of her job. Just to stay afloat, all of her remaining close family members had to pool their weekly wages. Life was hard for the Irish at the beginning of the 19th Century.

“Besides, the invariable squabble for money on Saturday nights had begun to weary her unspeakably.

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Along with the hardship of her times, Eveline is faced with the daily dealings of her father, a brutal alcoholic. There are inklings of abuse that wafts through the pages of this short story.

“Her father used often to hunt them in out of the field with his blackthorn stick…”

From what I’ve read, this is just the beginning and was perhaps the nicest form of ill will his children felt at the end of his wrath. After their mother died, we feel the hatred grow stronger as he probably resents them for living and his love dying.

Among all of this though, there is still love. Love for her brother and love for her father.

“Sometimes he could be very nice. Not long before, when she had been laid up for a day, he had read her out a ghost story and made toast for her at the fire.”

But while she loved her family, her family – especially her father, did not agree with her love for Frank, a sailor who she’d taken a shine to.

“I know these sailor chaps, he said.”

After some coaxing from Frank, Eveline decided to run away with him to Buenos Aires. As she readies herself for the journey though, I feel like her guilt gets the better of her. After making herself leave her childhood home, she rushed with Frank to the docks and realized that her mother’s words rang true.

“Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!” – The end of pleasure is pain!

While her few weeks with Frank have been complete pleasure, her time has come to go home and continue taking care of her father and brother. She comes to grip with the fact that they can’t care for themselves without her. They would miss her and they would fall apart without her. She is the glue that holds them together. With that mindset, she is so shocked that she doesn’t even tell her lover good-bye. The helpless animal stare she gives him is due to the pure shock and realization that she will live in that same sad little town the rest of her life.

While gloomy, I would’ve definitely chose this path. It’s just how I was raised. What would have happened if she would’ve gotten to Buenos Aires and Frank would have left her? She would’ve been surrounded by people she didn’t know in a strange country and quite possibly would have never seen her family again. In the 19th century people, especially women, didn’t usually cross oceans more than once. If she would have chosen Frank, she would have lost her entire family.

While living with her family was hard, Eveline chose the right path. My Irish roots tie me to this story in so many ways, I feel like she is living my life, just 100 years in the past. My father is also a terrible alcoholic, although I still have my mother. Eveline wasn’t so lucky and because of the loss of her mother, she is left to pick up and dust off the pieces of her remaining family members.