This story written by James Joyce is about Eveline, a woman who wants to escape from her abusive father. When her mother died, she took care of her brother and later on, she fell in love with Frank who wants to take her to Buenos Aires. Because of her abusive father and love for Frank she always wanted to leave her home.
One day she gets chance to leave her home with her fiance when she heard a street organ playing which reminds her of her mother’s word. At the end of story she took a painful decision of not leaving her home and sacrificed her love for Frank.The main theme of the story is the fact that women are treated unfairly. As we look at the character, we can say that Eveline has a sense of responsibility for her family. For example, she works hard both at the business and in the house for her family.
“She had hard work to keep the house together and to see that the two young children who had been left to her charge went to school regularly and got their meals regularly. ”(Joyce, 388) It is ideal for a family that the parents are a bread winner, but she works and cares of her family with sense of responsibility.Another illustration of the idea is that she keeps her mother’s word about her responsibility to look after the house. As written in the story, “Strange that it should come that very night to remind her of promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could.
” (Joyce, 389) This part of the story suggests that she has always kept her mother’s word for her family. It also shows to the readers that her responsibility to her family is her top priority.The strongest example of her sense of responsibility is when she can translate her dream as bright future lines; but the sad thing is, she sacrificed her happiness because of her deep sense of responsibility. She followed her conscience more than her emotion.
There are three symbolic elements in illustration of how women are treated unfairly. First, the story originates from bible. The name Eveline is a symbol of evil and Eve as the original sin. We can notice that the root word of Eviline is evil.
On the other hand, there are such things as total equality to take punishment both men and women. But in the story, only women like Eveline take the punishment for the sin of men. Her miserable life served as the punishment for the sin of her abusive father. Another symbolic element is the house.
We can conclude from the story that Eveline’s house is symbol of jai. As a prisoner of the house, it is impossible to decide about her own life. “Her time was running out but she continued to sit by the window, learning her head against the window curtain, inhaling the order of dusty cretonne. (Joyce 389)At the end of story, she was not able to leave her house and escape from her miserable life as if God pronounces a life sentence on her. When the time comes for her to settle down and start her own family, she faced a tough decision whether to leave her responsibilities or not. As written in the book, “All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart.
” (Joyce 390) By not getting into seas of the world, she gave up her dream to go to Buenos Aires with her fiance where they can start their own family. She always comes out on the losing end in her life.All through her first thought in the story is to escape from her house, her love for her mother has changed her mind. Her extreme emotion changed through her life under difficult circumstances. For instance, after her mother died, she lived under difficult condition and experienced a hard life because of her farther.
“Even now, through she was over nineteen, she sometimes felt herself in danger of her father’s violence. ” (Joyce, 388) Her farther is not a bread winner for his family. Rather, he is a terrible fellow because he used to hurt Eveline.If only her farther performs his duties for his family, Eveline can experience a happy life. Instead of providing for his family, it was Eveline who made an effort to produce money. But still, she can’t use her own money because of her farther and family.
“Besides, the invariable squabble for money on Saturday nights had begun to weary her unspeakably. ” (Joyce 388) She always received unfair treatment by men such as her farther. Another point that supports the idea that Eveline can experience happiness is the following passage from the book, “Her eyes gave him no sigh of love or farewell or recognition. (Joyce 390)When the time comes time to make her dream a reality, she realized that it is an impossible to choice because she really loves her family. She was plunge into depths of despair, and she has no choice but to choose her miserable life.
The story, the author tells about the reason why only women receive unfair treatment in the society. Moreover, to help the readers in understanding the unfair treatment of women in our society, Joyce used different symbols. Those symbols such as house and root word of the character’s name is easy to understand and any reader, regardless of their background can relate to the.Most people are familiar with the word evil and most Christians are aware that our original sin had originated from the sin of Eve. It became part of our culture to see women as the cause of sin.
Be often blame women for the sin of lust and adultery. The sad thing is, they are also the one who suffered a lot for the sins of men. Until today, we still blame Eve for causing the entire mankind to sin against God. The fact is, it is not only Eve who is involved in that crime in Eden but also Adam.On the other hand, using the symbol of a house a prison is very common and every house wife can relate to it.
Since the beginning, women were locked in their houses doing only household chores and baby sitting. They served as slaves for their husbands without even enjoying the beauty of life outside their home. Denying their right to enjoy their freedom to explore the outside world is worst than a capital punishment. This book is highly recommended for women for them to realize how they are unfairly treated in the society and probably they can take some action to solve this kind of social problem.
