James Joyce "Eveline" the Principle

¶ … James Joyce "Eveline" The principle conflict within James Joyce's "Eveline" is whether or not the protagonist of the story, Eveline, should run away with her lover to South America or stay with her family in Europe. The most compelling aspect of this conflict is that the author grants a number of extremely tangible reasons as to why it is in Eveline's best interest to leave.

Yet in the end, abruptly, she decides to stay despite the fact that she is walking hand in hand with her lover aboard the ship, her passage already paid for. A close examination of Eveline's character reveals that due to her harsh life in Europe she is faint-hearted, and it is this character flaw that prevents her from fully enjoying her life because she is too afraid. Eveline is faint of heart both literally and figuratively, a fact which Joyce informs the reader of fairly early on in the text.

Moreover, the author alludes to the fact that this condition was induced in her due to the harshness of the life she led. She was forced to take care of her father and two children that are not hers because of a promise she made to her mother on her mother's deathbed. In addition to giving all the money she earned at a thankless job to benefit her father, the man himself was cantankerous at best and dangerous far too often.

It was because of her father's presence, and the arduous nature of Eveline's daily existence, that she initially became faint-hearted. The subsequent quotation emphasizes this fact. "She would not be treated as her mother had been. Even now, though she was over nineteen, she sometimes felt herself in danger of her father's violence. She knew it was that that had given her the palpitations" (Joyce). This passage strongly implies that Eveline's father was violent towards both her mother and towards Eveline.

Furthermore, it suggests that her father's nature was responsible for a physical condition she incurred, "the palpitations," in which one's heart beats irregularly, particularly in times of stress and indecision. This condition is fairly synonymous with faint-heartedness, and would come to define Eveline's character as one in which she is flighty, unsure, and prone to fear -- especially when it comes to making major decisions in her life.

Once the reader is aware of this aspect of Eveline's character, her rashness and inability to make decisions without clear explains the reason that she stays in Europe despite the difficult life she is sure to continue there. Her decision was galvanized by fright. Interestingly enough, it was this same fright that led her to decide that she wanted to board the ship with her sailor-friend the day she was supposed to leave.

Eveline recollected the memory of her mother on her deathbed, and saw her own future in just such a position, a fact which the following quotation supports. "As she mused the pitiful vision of her mother's life laid its spell on the very quick of her being -- that life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness" (Joyce). The young woman realizes that her fate will mirror that of her mother if she remains in Europe, and becomes positively terrified of that prospect -- which the subsequent quotation indicates.

"She stood up in a sudden impulse of terror. Escape! She must escape!" (Joyce). The sudden of this quotation, and its transient fear, is readily apparent. Evelyn is not acting so much as reacting to this memory, and the "terror" it brings her. This quotation is demonstrative of the fright she feels due to her faint-heartedness. She cannot act but react, and it is this same inability to act due to fear (initially induced by her father) that drives her emotions and her behavior.

At the end of the story, Eveline's faint-heartedness causes another spasm of terror that prevents her from escaping her life in Europe and pursuing a better one with her sailor in South America. She is afraid of the unknown, and is afraid of leaving the only life that she has known -- regardless of how little she likes it or how debilitating an effect it produces on her.

Whereas just a few hours before, her faint-heartedness invoked the desire in her to flee, now her faint-heartedness makes her stay where she is. A careful analysis of the diction Joyce uses to describe the young woman in these fleeting moments in which she fails to accompany the soldier on the ship indicate that it is the same terror that grips her at this point which gripped her while she thought of her mother on her death bed. The following quotation proves this point.

"She felt her cheek pale and cold and, out of a maze of distress she prayed…She set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition" (Joyce). This quotation demonstrates the.