Setting

.......The story 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 passengers bound for a port (probably
Liverpool, England) where oceangoing vessels embark for foreign locales.
Point of View
.......Joyce tells 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 room from Eveline. In the second paragraph, the
narrator enters the mind of Eveline and reports the rest of the story from there, revealing the
thoughts of the title character as she considers whether to remain home or go to Argentina to
marry. She reviews the events of her life, comparing the quality of her life in Dublin over the
years with the quality of life she believes she would have in Buenos Aires.
Writing and Plot Structure
.......Most of the writing imitates the way the title character would speak if she verbalized her
thoughts. Occasionally, Joyce makes a deliberate writing error (such as the omission of a
comma) to suggest the flow of Eveline's thoughts. The language is straightforward and easy to
understand, although not necessarily easy to interpret, and Joyce makes every word count.
Except for the first paragraph, he structures the plot according to the order of 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 again flash back. Occasionally, Eveline attempts to glimpse the future,
speculating on what her life would be like in Argentina.
Characters
Eveline: Dublin woman not yet twenty. She lives at home with her father, who threatens her.
Her name is a variation of Evelyn.
Mr. Smith: Eveline's father, who mistreats her. The words he was usually fairly bad on Saturday
nightsuggest that he drinks heavily on weekends.
Mrs. Smith: Deceased mother 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 at the time that Eveline reflects on her past, and Harry,
who works in the church-decorating business.
Miss Gavin: Supervisor at the Stores (a retail outlet), who watches Eveline
closely.
Little Keogh: Crippled boy 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 parents
are.
Devines, Waters, Dunns: Playmates of Eveline when she was a child. One, Tizzie Dunn, is
dead at the time that Eveline reflects on her past.
Organ Grinder: Italian street entertainer who plays a song that reminds Eveline of the night her
mother died. He was also playing on the night of her mother's death.
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Plot Summary
By Michael J. Cummings. 2009
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.......Eveline Hill looks out the window of her father's Dublin home, reminiscing about her
childhood days. She and her brothers and sisters used to play in a field nearby with
neighborhood children from the Devine, Waters, and Dunn families. Whenever her father came
looking for them with his blackthorn stick, Little Keough, a crippled neighbor boy, would warn
her and her siblings.
.......Now everything is changed. Her mother and her brother Ernest are dead. The rest of the
Hill children are young adults. Houses now occupy the field where the children played, Tizzie
Dunn has died, and the Waters family has moved back to England. The Smith home looks the
same, though, with its familiar furnishings. The old yellow photo of a priest still hangs above the
harmonium. The priest and her father had been friends at school, and her father shows the
photo to visitors, saying, He is in Melbourne now.
.......Eveline herself 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't you see these ladies are
waiting?"
.......In her new home in a far-off land, she will be a married woman who is treated with respect.
Her father will not be there to threaten her or treat her the way he did her mother. Though she is
going on twenty, she still fears him. When she was very young, he did not treat her as badly as
he treated Ernest and Harry. Lately, though, he has been threatening her. Harry usually is not
there to take her side, for he spends a lot of time out in the country on his church-decorating
business.
.......The Saturday-night arguments with her father over money are a trial. She always gives him
all of her pay, and Harry gives him what he can. But try getting money back from him. He
always tells Eveline she is a spendthrift and that he will not give her any of his hard-earned
money. After a time, he yields. But he expects her to buy Sunday dinner.
.......In addition to her job, she has to keep house and tend to the two little children in the
household, making sure they get their meals and get to school on time.
.......In spite 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 maintains there. Frank is a kind man, Eveline
thinks. After they met, he called her Poppens and always accompanied her home from work.
Once, he took her to see The Bohemian Girl, an opera about a young woman abducted by the
leader of a gypsy band. Frank would also tell her stories about all the lands he visited serving
aboard ships of the Allen Line. When her father found out about the courtship, he forbade her
from seeing Frank again. Then she had to meet Frank in secret.
.......On her lap are two letters, one to Harry and one to her father. She remembers that 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. Years before, when the family had gone on a picnic, he
wore his wife's bonnet to make everybody laugh.
.......Still looking out the window, Eveline hears the song of an Italian organ grinder coming from
down the street, the same song he played on the night her mother died. The song reminds
Eveline of the promise she made to her mother to keep the family together as long as possible.
But she believes she has a right to escape with Frank, a right to be happy.
.......It is time to leave. Eveline is with Frank, who is holding her hand. Soldiers are 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 turn back?
.......As Frank proceeds, he calls back to her. But Eveline "set her white face to him, passive,
like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition."
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Themes
Inertia
.......Like Ireland itself in the last years of the nineteenth century and the early years of the
twentieth century, Eveline struggles to escape oppression. Her father has ruled her life for as
long as she can remember, just as England 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. Eveline takes a step, then retreats
and ends up as she was before. But there is a 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 father when he makes unreasonable demands? Will she have the courage to begin taking
back her life? Or will she continue to languish amid the smell of dusty cretonne and her mother's
Gaelic gibberish ringing in her ears?
Environmental Attachment
.......Eveline's attachment to her environment strongly influences her decision to remain in
Ireland, as the following passages suggest.
Paragraph 3: Perhaps she would never see again those familiar objects from which she had
never dreamed of being divided.
Paragraph 5: In her home anyway she had shelter and food; she had those whom she had
known all her life about her.
Paragraph 9: It was hard worka hard lifebut now that she was about to leave it she did not
find it a wholly undesirable life.
Paragraph 13: Her father was becoming old lately, she noticed; he would miss her. 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. Another day, when their mother was alive,
they had all gone for a picnic to the Hill of Howth. She remembered her father putting on her
mothers bonnet to make the children laugh.
Guilt
.......Guilt may 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 together as 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 what about her father, who was becoming old lately [and] would
miss her?
Doubt
.......The narrator hints that Eveline harbors doubts about her relationship with Frank. She
considers his good qualitieshis kindness, his manliness, his love of musicbut never once
does she note that he loves her. The closest she comes is this thought in paragraph 18: She
must escape! Frank would save her. He would give her life, perhaps love, too. (The key word
here is perhaps.) Nor does Eveline ever note that she loves Frank. When the night-boat is about
to embark, she prays to God to show her what was her duty. Here, duty suggests that she
believes her life with Frank would be like her mother's life with her fatheror no better than
Eveline's life with her father. It may be that her doubts about her relationship with Frank,
combined with her attachment to her environment and her feelings of guilt, overcome her desire
to escape.
.......Eveline may also have been aware that Buenos Aires had a reputation as a place where
young women were often ensnared in a life of prostitution. Was it possible that Frank was luring
her into such a life?
Difficult Life of Women in a Male-Dominated Society
.......In Joyce's time, a woman like Eveline generally had to endure male discrimination in every
sector of society. At home, a husband or father expected her to submit to his will even when he
treated her poorly. In educational institutions, overseers severely limited a woman's
opportunities to study for a professional career. In the workplace, employers usually hired a
woman only for menial labor. 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 she did not have the right to
vote.
.......At the beginning of the story, Eveline's desire to escape a life of drudgery suggests that she
believes she will find a new world of equality in Argentina. However, after considering her
choices, she seems to believe that life for her in Argentina would be the same asor possibly
even worse thanher life in Ireland.
Emergence From Eden
.......Eveline seems to have enjoyed her childhood, when her father was not so bad (paragraph
2) and her mother was alive. She was Eve in the Garden of Eden (the vacant field). Of course,
her father now and then invaded her garden with a serpent (the blackthorn stick). Eventually,
she had to leave the garden, which was taken over by urban sprawl, and enter the world of hard
work and tribulation.
Climax: a Liberating Moment?
.......The climax occurs when Eveline decides not to board the ship while Frank shouts "Come!"
(paragraphs 21, 24). Her refusal to obey his command could be a liberating moment for herif
she also refuses to comply with any unreasonable demands of her father.
Who Are the Children Eveline Looks After?
.......After Eveline reminisces about her childhood, the narratorin presenting Eveline's
thoughtssays, "That was a long time ago; she and her brothers and sisters were all grown up
[and] her mother was dead" (paragraph 2). This sentence eliminates the possibility that the
children are Eveline's siblings, children born before Mrs. Smith died, unless both of the following
apply: (1) Eveline is 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 the clause before the
semicolon.
.......It is possible that the little ones are the children of Harry, Ernest, or one of Eveline's sisters.
Perhaps financial reversal, domestic upheaval, orin the case of Ernestdeath required their
placement in the care of Eveline.
.......Whatever the case, the mention of the two children is significant in that it casts Eveline in
the role of a mother, a role that she may feel she is not ready to take on in a foreign land when
she is not even twenty years old. It is 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 by
Alfred Bunn. It was first performed at Drury Lane Theatre in London on November 27, 1843.
The story is about a young woman, Arline, the daughter of a count, who is abducted by the
leader of a band of gypsies. An aria in the opera, "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls," centers on
Arline's childhood memories.
Blessed Mary Alacoque: Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), French nun of the Visitation
order who was canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV as a saint of the Roman Catholic
Church. She claimed to have visions of Christ in which He asked her to promote 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 from Christ in obtaining grace, blessings, and salvation. (In the
story, the phrase promises made to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque refers to the promises of
help Christ made to Blessed Margaret in a vision.) The nun was bedridden for four years after
developing paralysis, then made what appeared to be a miraculous recovery. Eveline, of
course, suffers from a kind of psychological paralysis in her struggle to escape oppression.
cretonne: Heavy printed cloth, usually of cotton or linen, used to make draperies and upholstery
coverings.
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"which is
gibberish resembling Irish Gaelic (or Godelic)with "foolish insistence" (paragraph 16).
Because it is gibberish, it signifies nothing. This facttogether with the phrases "dusty
cretonne" and "foolish insistence"call to mind a famous passage in Shakespeare's Macbeth,
when the title character uses the words "dusty" and "fools" and refers to life as a "tale told by an
idiot . . . signifying nothing."
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (Macbeth: 5, 5, 19-28).
Perhaps "Derevaun Seraun" was Mrs. Smith's way of saying that life in Ireland, circa 1900, was
a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing.
Dust: The word dusty occurs twice in "Eveline"; dust and dusted each occur once. All the words
suggest that Eveline (and Ireland) has a difficult time shaking off the dust of the past in an effort
to begin anew.
Eveline: See Emergence From Eden, above.
Field where children played: See Emergence From Eden, above.
Harmonium: Reed instrument resembling an organ. The Smith family's harmonium is broken. It
may symbolize the broken harmony in the home, in the heart of Eveline, and in Ireland itself.
Hill of Howth (Howth rhymes with both): Recreation area at the village of Howth on Dublin Bay,
north of Dublin. Cliffside walking trails on the hill offer spectacular views of the bay and the
Wicklow Mountains.
night-boat: Ferry that carried passengers to England, where ships debarked for foreign ports.
nix: Keeping watch; standing guard.
Patagonians: Natives of Patagonia, a region in southern Argentina between the Andes
Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.
pavement: In Britain and Ireland, a sidewalk.
shilling: Coin worth one-twentieth of a pound.
sixpence: Coin worth six pennies; half a shilling.
Stores: General retail store in Dublin.
Strait of Magellan: Channel separating the southernmost tip of South America, the island of
Tierra del Fuego, and the mainland. The channel connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The
Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (1480?-1521) discovered the strait in 1520 while
sailing under a Spanish flag.
Water: Escape; a new beginning. The Waters family returns to England. Eveline considers
crossing an ocean to begin anew.


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Study Questions and Essay Topics
1....Before Eveline decided against leaving Ireland, was she in love with Frank? Or did she
simply view him as a means of escape from drudgery?
2....Is Eveline immature?
3....Was Eveline's drudgery typical of young Irish women around 1900?
4....Write a short psychological profile of Eveline. Support your views with passages from the
story and quotations from scholarly works that analyze the story..
5....What was the key factor in Eveline's decision to remain in Ireland?