¶ … Eveline" by James Joyce
Leaving for an unfamiliar territory: Reinforcing Eveline's fear through setting in "Eveline" by James Joyce
In the short story "Eveline," James Joyce presented a thought-provoking narrative of the life of Eveline, a woman who refused to let go of the world she had long lived in and pursue other opportunities and challenges life has to offer her. Her story had been established in two phases. The first phase involved a narrative of her family's history, the life she led long before her mother died. The second phase began with her mother's death, wherein most of Eveline's childhood friends had moved on to live separate lives. Even her brothers had moved on, Harry pursuing a career outside their hometown and Ernest dying soon after his mother's death. It became evident that Eveline was not the only one who refused to move on with life: her father, too, ceased to live life at the present...
Eveline's and her father's life was significantly interspersed with the physical environment they lived in: the world, evidently, had already moved on, migration was increasing, and people were exploring possibilities and opportunities the world has to offer for them. This paper posits that in the midst of the increasing expansion and mobility of human societies all over the world, Eveline failed to live on with her life by choosing to stay in the place of her childhood. The story's setting reinforced Eveline's fear because it signified and reflected the memories of her previous, happy childhood life; in effect, her physical environment restrained her from leaving because she equated leaving her…
