Eveline

"All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them: he would drown her." pg 222
Eveline
James Joyce


Eveline is a character who has a led a difficult life, between her abusive father and low-income family.  After her mother died due to an illness, she was left with no one to protect her.  Eveline was then forced to be the main provider for the family and she had to cast all her well-earned money to her father. While working at the store, she meets Frank, who is directly characterized as, "kind," "manly" and "open-hearted." Being with Frank makes Eveline feel like there is hope to escape her hard life. Eveline's father, though, does not favor Frank because he is a sailor, meaning he most likely is unreliable and full of talk. Frank serves almost as a foil character to Eveline's father because they act opposite of each other; Frank wants to free Eveline of her current lifestyle, while Eveline's father would prefer her to remain confined with her father and brothers. At the end of the story, Eveline is forced to make a decision between freedom with Frank or the familiar route-staying with her family.  The above quote reveals Eveline's fear that Frank "would drown her." This means she did not really trust Frank and what he said he could do for her. Eveline chooses to go back to her regular lifestyle for two reasons: She made a promise to her mother that she would keep the home together as long as she could, and she also had a fear of the unknown, a fear that she might dislike this new life more than her current life. Eveline didn't know if she could handle the contrast of a completely different lifestyle with Frank so she decided to stick with what she knew, and what was familiar to her.