" In contrast to the freedom of the boat, Joyce juxtaposes the inside of the house with the dust that is mounting up, the familiar objects and the yellowing photograph. Although her brothers are not there physically with her, the letter to Harry says he is near to her heart. Similarly, he uses water as a means of rejuvenation, as well as a threat of drowning her and letting her see what she loses through her fear and lack of courage. By not plunging into those "seas of the world that tumble[d] about her heart" Eveline gives up escape, renewed life and possible love for the past, duty, and a stale life.

The whole concept of duty to her family and to God is contained in this brief story, as well. She in fact prays to God and he responds to her with a mournful sound: "She felt her cheek pale and cold and, out of a maze of distress, she prayed to God to direct her, to show her what as her duty. The boat blew a long mournful whistle into the mist."

Joyce also compares time and location. Eveline moves back and forth from childhood to adulthood and from Buenos Ares to Ireland: Playing in the field with friends, living away in her new home, sitting and listening to the music of the Bohemian Girl as she and Frank sat together in the theatre. On the other hand, is the store, the confines of her room, the close, dark room where her mother died and asked her to take care of the household. Here is the escape to large fields and open theatres and huge seas compared to the closed-in rooms and store.

But more than anything, it is the duty, love and attachment that finally win out at the end. Eveline has to let go of Frank's hand and grab hold of the rail and pull herself back to her home, where she...

Eveline has to reject the love and being alive emotionally and spiritually as represented by "the seas of the world."
When she thinks about parting with Frank, Eveline remembers her home as offering her "shelter and food" and the friendship of "those she had known all her life." Even though she goes back and forth with her thoughts, she is never far away from those who count on her. Eveline realizes her father and siblings depend on her and need her but she it is not love. Yet, either was Frank: "Frank was very kind, manly, open-hearted and after the "excitement" of being courted she "had begun to like him." She knows Frank can give her happiness and "perhaps love, too" and does she not have "a right to happiness"?

However, Eveline is not sure she will truly find love with Frank, and she does not know what kind of life they will have together. After all, she is still a child who has fears. She is afraid of leaving home and going so far away with a man she barely knows. She is afraid of the "the seas of the world that tumbled about her heart." She is afraid that even if she tries, she may not be any stronger than her mother. It is not time for her "to test the waters." Eveline has decided on what is the answer to her conflict. She has given up the unknown pleasures and adventure in other world. In her rite of passage from young woman into adulthood, Eveline gives in and is once again the passive, helpless animal, ensnared in her old life and unable to show any emotion or to care.