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Summary
Characters:
1) Eveline A woman of 19 years who is the main character in the story.
2) Frank-Eveline’s lover who is a sailor
3) Harry and Ernest: Eveline’s brothers
‘Eveline’ is a short story written by James Joyce who was born in Dublin, Ireland. ‘Eveline’ was published in 1914 in Joyce’s collection of stories entitled Dubliners. This story is about a young woman’s failure to take action due to her lack of conscious will and a state of paralyzed existence. She is failure to manage her life at both the social and economic levels. This story is set in the background of Irish life where women greatly outnumbered (be more numerous than) men and there was a scarcity of good jobs for women. The story is about a young woman’s failure to take decision due to the lack of her conscious will, Eveline lives in Dublin, Ireland with her father and a brother. Her mother had already died. Her one brother, Harry was in the church decorating business and was away from home. Her another brother, Ernest had died. She sat at the window and looked outside continuously. She remembered the street where she used to play with her friends. She loved playing and everyone on the street knew each other. But her father wanted her at home where he could keep an eye on her. He behaved her well before her mother’s death. She worked in shop as a shop worker to earn money and supported her family. She provided her entire wages, seven shillings to her father. Harry also always sent money what he could. But her father spent salary unnecessarily in alcohol. Her father gave her money to buy only goods for dinner on Saturday.
Eveline was in love with Frank who was a sailor. She thought to leave home and elope with Frank because she was anxious due to her father’s behaviour. Once her father knew their relationship and warned Frank not to visit Eveline. Her father quarreled with Frank and after that she had to meet her lover secretly. She thought that if she moved far away from home, she could forget her past and would be happier. She thought that Frank was handsome, charming, friendly, kind, open- hearted and manly. He wanted her to marry him and lived with him. She had already agreed to elope with him in secret and become his wife in Buenos Ayres (Buenos Aires is the capital and most populous city of Argentina). She was to go with him by the night boat to be his wife. As she was ready to elope with, she recalled the promise given to her dead mother, thought about her old and sick father and future of her brother. She had promised her dead mother to unite her family members. On the other hand, she thought if she didn’t marry with Frank, she would spend a pitiful life like her mother. So she thought to elope with him because he could save her. He could give her life. She could be happy with him and she had also right to happiness.
She stood among the crowd in the station at the North Wall (North Wall is an area east of the inner north side of Dublin, along the River Liffey). He held her hand and she knew that he was speaking to her saying something about the way. But she answered nothing. She felt her cheek pale and cold. She prayed to God to direct her. Eveline faced a difficult dilemma: remain at home like a dutiful daughter, or leave Dublin with her lover, Frank. Finally she decided not to go with Frank and returned to her own home. He continually shouts “Come!” but Eveline remains fixed to the land, motionless and emotionless like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave no sign of love or farewell.
Questions
1) What is Eveline’s home life like? How does she expect her new life to be different?
Ans: Eveline’s home life is very sad and she feels loss of identity. She is passing miserable and poverty-stricken life. Eveline and her brother are badly dominated by her father. She gives her salary to her father. She expects that her new life will be different only after marriage with Frank. After marriage, people will treat her with respect. She thought that if she moved far away from home, she could forget her past and would be happier. She thought that Frank was handsome, charming, friendly, kind, open-hearted and manly. Only Frank can make her life happy and different.
2) What is Eveline’s duty to herself? to her father? What promises did she make to her mother? Does she have a “right to happiness”? Why or why not?
Ans: Eveline’s duty is to cook food, earn money and support her family. Her duty to her father is to care and provide him all salary. She made promises to her mother to keep together all family members. She has a “right to happiness” but she does not have a “right to happiness” forgetting her duty. She seems to forget her duty of caring her sick father. Her intention is to elope with Frank and be happy. Of course she has the right to marry and be happy but before that she should solve the problem of her house.
3) Do you think women in Nepal are trapped by passivity , fear, and obligations like Eveline?
Ans: In the past and even in present in some remote parts of Nepal, women are trapped by passivity, fear, and obligations like Eveline. Many women are not given the opportunities like men. So they remain passive and fall in the trap of problems. Sometimes women themselves don’t want to grab the opportunity thinking that is the opportunity only for men. There are many reasons to make the women passive. Nepal has patriarchal society where women are generally lower-ranking to men. Men are considered to be the leader of the family and superior to women. Also, social norms and values are biased in favor of men. Daughters are discriminated from their birth and did not have equal opportunities to achieve all aspects of development. Daughters are deprived of education, healthcare, parental property rights, social status, last rites of dead parents. They are thought to be other’s property. Fear is also one of the reason to trap the women in Nepal. Some women fear to catch the opportunity thinking it is risky. They think that only men can take the risk because the men are superior to women. Some women are dominated and tortured by their husbands and family.
But they fear to revolt against them. There are many events of women who are raped even by their fathers, grandfathers, brothers or other men. But they fear to revel the event of rape and fall in trap being silent.
Similarly, obligations also trap the women like Eveline. She thought her duty of caring to old and sick father and returned to home instead of marrying with Frank. There are also some girls like Eveline in Nepal who think their responsibility towards family and stay without marrying. When mother dies and father marry with step mother, the first daughter takes the responsibility to care her siblings and remain without marrying.
But now the situation has a bit changed. Our constitution has guaranteed some rights of women. We can see some improvements in the field of gender equality. The roles of women have changed in various ways in the modern Nepalese society.
Women’s representation in the Constituent Assembly has dramatically increased. Women are now taking leadership roles and participating in decision making at all levels. Today, Nepalese women are defying (go against) cultural traditions, and are becoming community leaders, politicians and business owners. Nepal elected its first female president, Bidhya Devi Bhandari.
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