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"Eveline" by James Joyce

Gliederung:
- Summary
- Biography of James Joyce
- stylistic elements
- Characterization

Summary

The short story “Eveline” of James Joyce is about the life of a girl named Eveline, who lives since her birth with her family in Dublin. She falls in love with a man, who wants to leave with her to Buenos Ayres.

Eveline has a nice mother and a violent father. In her youth Eveline plays like other children until she become older. The time changed. Neighbour families’ leaves Dublin and Eveline’s mother dies of illness. She is alone with her brothers Ernest and Harry, her father and the two younger children.
Eveline promises her mother before she dies that she keeps the family and the house together. She starts to work and looks after the younger children that they get to eat and go regularly to school. It is a hard live for Eveline but she handles it. She is afraid of her father. He threats her and there is nobody who helps her. Ernest dies. Harry is down in the country because of his job in the church decorating business.

After a time Eveline meets a young man named Frank. Frank is on holiday in Dublin. He lives in Buenos Ayres. Frank and Eveline start to meet each other very often. They go to see “The Bohemian Girl” and see each other at the evening outside the Stores. As her father finds out the affair to Frank he becomes angry and forbid Eveline to see Frank. Because her father does not like the sailor chaps and Frank is one of them. So she starts to see him secretly.

Eveline does not like to live any longer the way she lives. She decides to leave Dublin with Frank. She wants to marry him. She writes a letter to her brother Harry and one to her father to say them that she leaves.
Eveline wants to go with Frank to Buenos Ayres and wants to live with him there. They want to leave by boat, but Eveline cannot leave Dublin, because she remembers the promise she has given her mother. And she runs home to her violent father and leaves Frank at the station.

Biography of James Joyce

James Joyce was born at the 2nd February 1882 in Dublin. His father and his mother had ten other children. So James Joyce could only go to school when his father had enough money.

From 1888 till 1898 James Joyce could go to different schools which were all leaded by Jesuits. He was a pupil with good marks. He turned away from the Catholicism. And he got trouble with the Jesuits.
From 1898 till 1902 James Joyce studied languages and literary at the University College in Dublin. The University College was also leaded by Jesuits. James Joyce became a member in the Literary and the Historical Society. He starts learning Norway to understand the original book “Ibsen”. His first criticism “Ibsen New Drama” wrote James Joyce 1900. It was published in a London magazine. Because of the fame he got, he decided to become a writer. 1901 he wrote an essay in which he criticize the “Celtic Revival”. He closed his studies 1902. After this he left Dublin and went to Paris. 1903 he came back to Ireland. He did different jobs, while he was writing his first novel “Stephen Hero”. Later his first novel was published with the title “a portrait of the artist as a young man”.

1904 James Joyce wrote some shortstories with Dublin’s background for an agricultural magazine. Three of his shortstories were published with the pseudonym name “Stephen Dedalus”. At the 16th June 1904 he starts a relationship with Nora Barnacle. In October 1904 he left with Nora Barnacle Ireland and went to Austria-Ungarn. James Joyce worked as an English teacher there. Nora Barnacle birthed James Joyce two babies.

1905 went James Joyce with his family to Triest and became there an English teacher too. 1906 and 1907 James Joyce worked in a bank in Rom, after eight month he went back to Triest. In Triest he wrote his publishst shortstory “the dead”. Afterwards he started overworking his first novel.
1909 James Joyce left two times to Ireland to surch a publisher for his shortstories “the Dubliner”.
1913 he met the author Ezra Pound (1885-1972).
1914 “the Dubliners” were published. He left Italy because of the First World War and went to Switzerland. He lived with his family in Zurich. He worked in Zurich as a private teacher and teached English.
1916 his first novel was published in American in “the Egoist” and in a British magazine. From 1917 till 1930 he had many operations because of his eyes. For a time he was blind.

1920 Ezra Pound invited him to Paris and he did so. While this time “Ulysses” was forbidden in Great Britain and America because of the obscenity. In a censored version was “Ulysses” published by a British bookshop possessor.
From 1922 till 1940 worked James Joyce on his novel “Finnegan’s Wake”. This was his last novel which was published 1939.1931 he married Nora Barnacle. After the occupation of France he went with his family to Switzerland again.
James Joyce died in the age of 58 in Zurich.

stylistic elements

The text “Eveline” is a shortstory written by James Joyce, it is because the story has an open beginning and an open ending, because you don’t really know what happens after she has left Frank. The story is a snap-shot of Evelines life: her decion if she leaves or not and the flashback in her youth. One more example for the shortstory is the major conflict of Evelines feelings. The shortstory is written as a narration.
The story handled about Eveline, her family and her boyfriend Frank. Eveline is the major character in the story.
In “Eveline” tells a narrator the story. The narrator is a first-person, but he does not handle in the story. The narration time is past tense. The shortstory is written in formal English.

In “Eveline” is a rising action, because you know just at the end of the story if Eveline leaves Dublin or not. There is a crisis in the story; it is from line 19 to line 32 on page 29. After the crisis follows the turning-point of the story. This is when Eveline leaves Frank at the station (p.29 l.31 to l.36). And the story ends with the climax.
The story starts with a flashback into Evelines youth and ends with the decion to stay in Dublin (s.p.26 l.6 and p.29 l.14).
While her youth the writer uses a light atmosphere into, you can see this on page 26 from line 6 to line 16. The author shows that Eveline was at this time without sorrows and really happy. Later he springs the irresolution of Eveline to an atmosphere up. Now Eveline has many sorrows and isn’t happy anymore, you can see this e.g. on page 27 line to line 2 and on page 29 from line 9 to line 11. When you see this you recognize that the youth of Eveline and her grown-up-time is an antithesis. The feelings of Eveline are antithesis too, because on the one hand she decided to leave Dublin (p.29 l.9 to l.12) and on the other hand she does not leave (p.29 l.34 to l.36). Eveline stands in a conflict with herself and her feelings over the whole shortstory.

About her character is not much to read, but you can see it between the lines how she feels and how she thinks (She would not cry many tears leaving the stores ( she doesn’t like her work very much). It is an implicit presentation of her character. You can make your own conclusions about Evelines character.
The information’s about Eveline and her feelings are all over the story distributed, so that the reader had to read the story at least two times to understand everything.
The writer managed that the reader feels with Eveline and her irresolution because he describes the feelings of Eveline and her tattered (p.26 l.30ff.).

The shortstory could play between 1904 and 1914. Because at this time there were many conflicts between some countries and at least the First World War started. I imagine that the story play at this time because when they want to leave there are standing many soldiers on the way to Buenos Ayres too.
At least the ending of the shotstory was very unclear, because the reader only knows after thinking a time why she really left him at the station and doesn’t go with him. The reader imagines that this decion handle with her irresolution and her promise to her dead mother.

1.4.Characterization

Eveline is a girl in the age of nineteen. She has four brothers and sisters. Her father is very violent and she is frightened of him (see line 13f. on page 27). She has no good relationship to him. Instead of her mother. Eveline loved her mother, but she died in her youth. You can see how much her mother means to her on it how important the promise she had given to her mother is for her (see line 36 on page 29, she doesn’t leave her family).

Eveline started to look after her little brothers and sisters. She works in a Store and she works hard for her money. She does not like her work, this you can see in line 9 on page 27 while she thinks that she would not cry many tears at leaving the Stores.
Eveline believes in god and prays a lot and asks for help especially when she does not know what to do (see p.27 l.20 …she prayed to god to direct her, to show her what was her duty.).

Eveline is a shy girl and does not say all the things she likes to say. For example she does not say to Miss Gavan that she does not like her very much (see p.27 l.4 to l.9). And she does not want that anyone thinks badly about her, she wants that the people treat her with respect (see p.27 l.2ff. and l.12). She is also a much dreamed person with great fantasy. She can very good imagine things she dreamed it will be in the future (see p27 l.10ff. and p.29 l.9ff.). She thinks the people will treat her with respect when she is married that shows that Eveline is not very self-confident (see p.27 l.11ff.). While she was a child she was without sorrows, but now she put things into practice (sees p.27 from l.30. to l.33).

Eveline is not happy about her life (p.29 l.11). And if she want to change something she had to leave her family, but she cannot do this, because she gave her mother a promise here you can see that Eveline take her word earnest. She seems to be an authentic person, because she does not leave and looks after her sisters and brothers.
Eveline sacrifice herself on her family, because she does all for them. And sometimes her own luck stands in the background (…like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition.), because she remembered the promise.
She is a person who cannot put her own feelings into order. Eveline feels tattered, on the one hand she cannot leave her family and on the other hand she loved Frank.

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