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#7 Eveline

   Eveline, By James Joyce(1904)

Rating: 8.8/10

    The contrast between darkness and brightness stood out the most throughout James Joyce's Dubliners series. Again, it was noticeable when the porthole, a magical portal where Eveline could escape from the brutally appalling reality, was described bright as in an 'illumined' place. Eveline's family background is bizarrely interchangeable with that of James Joyce's to call it a coincidence. Experiencing the loss of a mother in his 20s, James Joyce was devastated to live on with his hopeless father. Perhaps that 'illumined' porthole reflected Joyce's mental state, groping for the slightest thread that keeps him connected to his sanity.

    Eveline lost her only chance of joining the bright side and seizing freedom by choosing not to leave Dublin with Frank. She was choking under the responsibility of her family, the binding promise she had made with her mom. It was merely oppression rather than the strength of keeping her fractured family together. 

    Notwithstanding my personal analysis of Eveline's decision, may her beautiful soul have made the right choice.

-References-
Murphy, M. W. “DARKNESS IN ‘DUBLINERS.’” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 15, no. 1, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969, pp. 97–104, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26279206.



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