Empathy And Sympathy In Eveline, By

James Joyce

Sympathy is a word countless hear, but few accurately understand. It is often confused with empathy, and many times true sympathy is occasional. Countless people take a moment to commiserate or feel remorseful for someone, yet they rarely give it another thought. As a class, we read a short story by James Joyce called Eveline. The first time reading this story, it was a bit confusing and quite irritating. As a woman of the 21st century, one whom is "fierce" and independent, I found it tough to sympathize with Eveline. "Stop your pity party and create a happier life." This is what I found myself saying, after my initial reading. However, I took a step back and actually looked at the story. I remembered the context, it takes place in. The year, country, and how different things were back then. Placing myself in Eveline's shoes, a woman from the early 1900's, assisted me in sympathizing with her. Eveline was a female that was brought up in a poor area of Dublin, Ireland. As with all underprivileged areas around the world things were harsh. There was a higher importance placed on morals and values. Eveline's job was to care for her father and the house after her mother passed. A promise she made to her mother on her deathbed, and promises are to be kept. She also had two children that she oversaw caring for. Her responsibilities were routine, comfortable, and safe. There is nothing that the human race likes more than routine. There is a comfort that comes with knowing how

The choices we make in life will always have an effect on us one way or another in our future. The choices at times can help benefit or in some way destroy of life and our future. Fears of the unknown and change have always found a way of rearing their ugly head and making us second guess ourselves. At times, fear of the unknown is so great that the choice we were supposed to make becomes unthinkable, unbearable, and even unreachable. Not many people can deal with the tension of the fear even if it means eventually having a better life for them or someone else. However, there are people who are strong enough to fight it with everything they have in their body,mind, and sprit. There are people like Eveline who find a decision too...show more content...

In the story, Eveline "sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue" (Meyer, 420). For most of the story she sat at the window just thinking. Thinking about how her life had turned out. Thinking about the promises she had made. Thinking about the two little children she had babysat. Sitting at the window just had her thinking about what could possibly be and the life she would be leaving behind. The window symbolizes many things in this story. Outside the window is a whole world waiting to be explored by her. Looking outside the window she can see many things she have never done before which is just a touch away. After her mother's death Eveline did not find joy in the life she was living. She wanted to escape the life however she had made a promise to her mother and even though she is dead it was hard for Eveline to break it even at the cost of not living her life the way she wants too. In the passage the author James Joyce describe how life in the house had been for her, how good her life was before her mother had passed away. Looking out the window expresses her desired to escape the life she is living. Eveline sat at the window for hours just remembering how good of a childhood she had. The joy she use to feel as a child is has found its way to her life through Frank. Frank wanted to show her there is more to life than what she is use to. Many people want the opportunity but are afraid to grab the Get more content

The heartache of losing a loved one is indescribable. Many people live out their lives based off how that one person would want them to live. James Joyce's short story, "Eveline," is an example of how promises are hard to break. As James Joyce writes his stories, his characters and themes share similarities within his own life, giving them more value and much more meaning behind the importance of the story. To begin with, "Eveline" is the story of a young teenager facing a dilemma where she has to choose between living with her father, who has beaten her in the past, and escaping with Frank, a sailor which she has been with for some time. This story is one of fifteen stories written by James Joyce in a collection called "Dubliners". The...show more content...

"Eveline" and "The boarding house" are two stories written by Joyce, where he writes about the effects of the Irish society on younger girls. "The heroin Evelyn, portrayed as a young girl burdened by responsibilities, represents the joyless life of the Irish." (The Explicator). Having lived through his childhood up to the end of his university education, Joyce has become aware of the life in Ireland and the ambition of young people to leave Ireland and be what they say, free. In these two stories however, there is a kind of weakness in the two different girls because at the end of the stories, they both choose to continue their domestic roles. "Eveline" and "The boarding house" offer two portrayals of women whose lives are structured and controlled by the stigma of femininity that are attached to them by the stigma of their patriarchal societies. Each ends up serving a domestic role, one realizing the gendered aspect of their fate, the other not aware of any other option (Ingersoll). In these stories, Joyce writes about the rigid society which he grew in and how it affects these two girls in each case. Another pattern, probably the most significant, is his catholic family background. Eveline comes from a strongly catholic family, her mother was catholic while she was alive, and Harry, her brother, is in the church decorating business. The picture of the priest which hangs on the wall in their house and whom she knew nothing about is also

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By James Joyce

Eveline loves Frank, but his love is not enough to free her from the cage of a dark, lonely, sad, tiresome life she has become trapped in. With her mother and brother having passed away, another brother moving away, the rest of her siblings being younger in age, and her father being a mean, abusive, controlling, alcoholic, Eveline finds herself alone and miserable. After meeting Frank, whom is described as a "kind, manly, open–hearted" guy, Eveline starts to think she too could live a happy life full oflove and adventures. She spends her time in sitting in one place, staring out a window, trying to convince herself why she deserves the life Frank could give her. All Eveline has to do is board the ship and sail away to a dream come true, but Eveline does not leave with Frank. Whether it is the promise she made her mother to take care of the family, or her father in general that stops her from leaving, Eveline clearly makes her choice based on feelings and thoughts of others and not her own. Eveline Hill is a nineteen year old girl longing for a fulfilling life, who comes face to face with inner and outer struggles, leaving her literally stuck within her mind and dark surroundings.

In the story Eveline by James Joyce, Eveline is portrayed as a sad, lonely girl who is longing for a deeper connection with not only the outside world, but also personal human contact in her life. The story begins with Eveline thinking back to happy childhood memories of playing with friends. The Get more content

Eveline by James Joyce was a part of the author's first published work, Dubliners (1914). The short story is centered around the main Character Eveline, whose name is speculated to be an anagram for "A small life" which certainly describes her situation. In the beginning of the story we meet Eveline who sits by the window recalling parts of her childhood. We get to follow her thought process from happy childhood memories to her abusive father and the hardship of providing for her family. Through her inner monologue we are presented with her dilemma; stay in her somewhat dull current situation as an obedient daughter, or follow her lover across the ocean for a life that promises freedom, yet uncertainty.

Throughout the ages humans have always...show more content...

When looking back to the state of Ireland during this time his choice to stay away is no surprise. Dublin was a place of massive contradictions, divisions of class, and diversity. Ireland was a country of instability and between 1919–21, the War of Independence broke out, later followed by the civil war. Due to the uncertainty many of the Irish emigrated, or at least struggled with the decision, and here is where we pick back up the Dubliners.

The Dubliners features fifteen short stories with different characters who all have one thing in common; they are all from Dublin. Of course this might be considered extremely obvious, nevertheless it is what Joyce meant to be defining the characters; their geography. It is the feelings, thoughts, dreams, hopes, as well as the failings of the characters which unify the collection, but the answer to why a character thinks or acts like she does will always be the place where she

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A Subjective Reader–Response Criticism of James Joyce's Eveline

The subjectivity evident in literary interpretation is hard to deny. Though one person may feel that James Joyce's writing proves Joyce's support of the feminist movement, another may believe that Joyce views women as inferior. What could account for such a difference in opinions? Schwarz explains that subjective reader–response critics would respond to a question such as this by answering that each reader uses the literary work to symbolize his or her own life and, therefore, each response is unique to the individual reader. He asserts that the reader will always find an identity theme in the particular text he or she is reading. Consequently,...show more content... Readers respond to "literature in terms of their own lifestyles," which have "grown through time" and is also any new experience the individual brings with them, including the experience of literature (Holland 973). Therefore, when people reread stories, they may interpret them differently from when they originally read these stories.

The changing interpretation that time and new experiences bring was evident to me after rereading "Eveline" a year after my original reading. In both readings, I found that because of my own desire to symbolize my life through "Eveline," I emphasized specific images and concepts in the story that most closely correlate with my own life and feelings. However, in reading the story a year later, my original interpretation of the story was altered due to new experiences in my life. Though in both readings I found as the theme of "Eveline" my own psychological need to overcome the paralysis of fear and obligation and take a chance for a more satisfying way of life, the causes of paralysis and obligation were different.

For both readings, the first image presented by Joyce that truly caught my attention was that of Eveline leaning against the window curtains, smelling the dusty cretonne and looking out upon a quiet avenue that had Get more content

By James Joyce

Motivation and Paralysis in "Eveline" Through symbolism, history, and allusion, James Joyce depicts a struggle between paralysis and motivation in the short story, "Eveline." The story shifts between the happenings of present day and past recollections. Early on, the protagonist, Eveline makes the decision to leave home in order to make a better life for herself. She wants to flee from her abusive, alcoholic father. Eveline determines that it is time to make her own choices. When it comes time to leave, Eveline is mentally unable to leave and face the unknown. Her feet remain paralysed on the dock in front of the boat headed for Bueno Aieres. The readers know that the options she has is to leave home or remain trapped in the miserable life she currently resides in. Maybe she does not leave with Frank because she is afraid of how he will treat her. There is the possibility that she is just too attached to her home, or that she is influenced by the mental and physical abuse she has endured. Whatever the cause may be, paralysis is indeed present, along with motivation, in "Eveline." As well as having reasons as why not to leave home, Eveline has motives pushing her to change her life. Based on information given at the beginning of the story, it can be assumed that Eveline's father was abusive. "Even now, though she was over nineteen, she sometimes felt herself in danger of her father's violence.(4). Eveline's father started taking his drinking aggression out on

By James Joyce

In 1914 James Joyce wrote a short story called "Eveline." The story is about a young girl who wants have freedom and happiness. Also for someone to be there and love her. Eveline is faced with a difficult decision of staying with a family that has practically already fallen apart, or leaving with her future husband, Frank.

Eveline lives in a place called Dublin with what is left of her family. Eveline has a big family with brothers and sisters, but one her brothers passed. His name was Ernest and the narrator said "Ernest had been [Eveline's] favorite." Another brother that had been mentioned in the story is Harry. Harry no longer lives at home. He travels a lot throughout the country with his "church decorating business." Eveline had also lost her mother, but when her mother was still alive she promised her that she will "keep the home together as long as she could." That was her mission according to Linda Rohrer Paige: "Her mission...is providing the glue that will hold together a crumbling family together (Paige)." When losing a mother can be challenging to undergo, but also promising to stay and keep the family together. That would be heart wrenching and that is exactly how Eveline is felling at the moment. Sense her mother had died Eveline felt she is "imprisoned in domestic, 'motherly' duties (Paige)." After all these tragic events that have occurred in Eveline's life, now she is living at home with her father. There are sometimes where Eveline "felt herself in danger of