Eveline

“Eveline” is a short story about a 19 year old girl named Eveline who is about to leave to Buenos Aires with her lover, but then comes to a realization that this is not what she wants or what her mom or family would want.


Level One Question:
Where is Eveline supposed to go with Frank?

Level Two Question:
Why do did Eveline decided not to go with Frank?

Level Three Question:
If you were put in Eveline’s place, what decision would you make?

The theme of this story is that people, whether they want to or not, can sometimes feel tied to their families and cannot break away. They can feel like the have a duty to them.


This story has James Joyce’s main themes. The young woman, Eveline, lives in the declining middle-class of society. Her family has to struggle and work hard just to make it through. Eveline and Harry rarely got any money from their dad since he wasted it on alcohol. Any hard earned money was used in a pub, instead of for food, a better home, or a raise in the social class. She had to live a life without much happiness and money.

Eveline tried to get about from this boring life of “self denial and drab duties” because she wants something more. Frank becomes her escape from this environment when he asks her to go the Buenos Aires with her. She believes that if she goes with him that she will be happy and will not have any worries. However, once she is about to leave with Frank, she keeps thinking about how she promised to her mom that she would “keep the home together as long as she could” and this causes her to have an epiphany. She realizes that tradition and respect for her family is important. When she has to choose between happiness and her home, she chooses her home. She knows she has to do her duty to take care of her family as she promised. She thought she would have chosen happiness, but in reality, she had too many tires to her home and Dublin. She cannot free herself and perhaps she is afraid of uncertainties and insecurities of the outside world.