Dubliners stories deal mortality/death . For, "Eveline," a young girl lives a promise made dying mother. There is no denying the fact that morality is one of the principle themes in James Joyce's collection of short stories Dubliners, and in the tale "Eveline" in particular. Joyce is regarded as "one of the brightest stars of European literary modernism" (Spinks 1). In many ways, this short story functions as a precaution about morbidity. The antithesis of death, life, is highly prevalent and effervescent in this tale, always struggling to extricate itself out of the shadow of its more moribund counterpart. The titular charter in this work, Eveline, faces a struggle in which she attempts to assert her life and her volition to live against the diseased backdrop of her life -- as demonstrated through its past, present, and even future incarnations. Ultimately she fails, full acknowledging her mortality and evincing the limitations of the often harsh realities of life -- a fact which runs concurrent through other stories in this collection as well.

Mortality is largely represented within "Eveline" by the failure and even demise of the titular character's former life. Such a life was, at one point, vivacious. Eveline had a mother, a pair of brothers, a father, and numerous neighborhood friends who had all lived together. However, these facts are recounted to the reader in the past tense, because that life of effervescence, of playing outside as children and fully reveling in all of life's wonders and joys are over for poor Eveline. Dilworth refers to this time period as "the lost Eden of her childhood" (p. 457). The subsequent quotation indicates that the happiness and vitality of life that Eveline once readily embraced has past.

Still they seemed to have been rather happy then. Her father was not so bad then; and besides, her mother was alive. That was a long time ago; she and her brothers and sisters were all grown up; her mother was dead. Tizzie Dunn was dead, too, and the Waters had gone back to England. Everything changes (Joyce).

This quotation shows that the exuberance of life, as exemplified by a happy childhood filled with a lively family and friends, is over for Eveline. This passage alludes to the fact that Eveline's mother is dead, and that other family members and friends are also deceased. It also is an allusion to the death of one of Eveline's brothers. The fact that Eveline is estranged from the happiness that engulfed her family and friends is underscored by the length of time since all of them were alive, and by the fact that such things have changed for her ("everything changes"). Thus, rather early on in this narrative, Eveline's fragile morality is addressed by the author.

Another fairly important aspect of "Eveline" is the fact that the young woman has promised her deceased mother to watch over the family in the wake of her death. It is critical to realize, however, that doing so is really no longer an option for Eveline, due to the simple fact that other family members have died and the vibrancy of her once robust family has now eroded. However, Eveline's memory of this event and the promise she once made that is no longer fully applicable (since most of her family is gone, including her one brother who is still alive, Harry, who no longer lives with the rest of the clan) certainly reinforces the theme of mortality that pervades through this work, while suggesting some of "the feminist issues of the time period" (Barnes). The following quotation proves this point. "…it should come that very night to remind her of the promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could. She remembered the last night of her mother's illness; she was again in the close dark room…" (Joyce). The imagery in this passage is fairly morbid, as typified by the closeness and darkness of death in the room in which Eveline's mother died. It was there that Eveline promised her mother to attempt to keep the family together. Still, it is worth noting that the family is no longer together. With Eveline's brother Harry living apart from her, the family really only consist of Eveline and her father -- who has a propensity for violence. Therefore, Eveline has already fulfilled the promise to keep the family together for "as long as" is possible. Still, such a promise...

Doing so, of course, would require her to leave her morbid existence as caretaker of her father and the two small children living with them, and to start her life over afresh with her lover, a young sailor by the name of Frank. Were Eveline to remain with her father, she would continually be subjected to his verbal and occasional physical abuse. A life with Frank would mean just that -- a real life, in which the young woman could experience numerous sensations and the effervescence which typified her younger years. Additionally, she could incur the possibility of starting her own family with Frank, this time as a proper matriarch of a family that is growing and full of love, much like the Eveline's family when she was just a young girl. Eveline truly desires this possibility, since it is the only way to escape the stigma of death that has surrounded her present family. The following quotation illustrates this desire on her part. "Frank would save her. He would give her life, perhaps love, too. But she wanted to live. Why should she be unhappy? She had a right to happiness. Frank would take her in his arms. He would save her" (Joyce). This passage is key to understanding how the theme of mortality plays out in this work of Joyce's because it shows that in her current life, Eveline is unhappy despite the belief that she is entitled to such happiness. Moreover, Joyce's diction indicates that such happiness is akin to "life," and that Eveline herself fervently desires such life. Lastly, it reinforces the notion that the key to Eveline's escaping the morbidity of her present family is Frank, who can rescue her from her failing mortality at home with her father.
The reason that Joyce spends a great deal of time detailing varying aspects of mortality within this short story is that he emphasizing the fact that mortality is one of the limitations of the harsh aspects of life. As the fate of Eveline's mother and her brother readily reveal, mortality is something from which no one can escape. Eveline herself learns this lesson during the climax of this tale, in which, despite all of her fervent emulsions to live and embrace the richness of life, she ultimately fails to do so. When she is set to board the ship to Argentina with her lover, some compulsion prevents her from doing so. This compulsion, of course, is her own sense of mortality and a resignation to an unhappy fate which is akin to lifelessness. Not surprisingly, some critics regard Woman in Joyce as confined to her body" (Lawrence 71). The poor woman is afraid to live, and as such has difficulty overcoming her inhibitions and actually boarding the ship with her lover, which the subsequent quotation indicates. "All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them: he would drown her…"Come!" No! No! No! It was impossible. Her hands clutched the iron in frenzy. Amid the seas she sent a cry of anguish!" (Joyce). In this passage, the limitation of Eveline and her mortality become woefully apparent. Her lover, who before she believes will rescue her and free her from morbidity, is now perceived as the source of her morbidity and "drowning" Eveline in a sea of doubt and fear. Despite his urging to her to follow him aboard the ship into a new life, she cannot make herself do so. The torment and "anguish" she feels are those of enduring a lifetime of such feelings while her family members die, her father beats her, and her own life passes her by. The often alluded to mortality that Eveline has become so familiar with prevents her from fully actualizing her life, and limits her to a moribund fate with her father and the rest of her dead family which emphasizes the harshness of life.

The limitations of such harshness of life certainly abound in many of the other tales that populate Dubliners, in which Eveline's story is just one of the few that are circumscribed by this part of life. Although the theme in "Eveline" pertains specifically to mortality and death -- which functions as the primary limitation for the main character in it -- there are other limitations which underscore the harshness of life in the themes of many of the other stories…