“Everything changes.”

Through the use of third-person omniscient narration, Eveline’s perception of the world around her is conveyed through this direct and powerful sentence early in the story. Eveline has lost her mother and a brother, and she has helplessly watched her father grow increasingly violent over the years. Her neighborhood has expanded, and the field where many happy childhood memories were made has been replaced by new “bright brick houses” with “shining roofs.” Some families she once knew have moved away, and the carefree days of her childhood have been replaced by demanding responsibilities.

As she finds herself on the cusp of adulthood, Eveline’s life is monotonous and bleak, symbolized by the dust that seems to cover everything. She breathes in its scent as she sits at the window, and she spends time each week attempting to clear the dust from her life. Without fail, the dust collects again each week on the “familiar objects” in her home. In this way, monotony and comfort are intricately intertwined in Eveline’s sentiments.

Eveline is afforded the possibility of escaping the symbolic dust of her life when Frank, a man who is both “kind” and “manly,” purchases a ticket for himself and Eveline to Buenos Aires, where he already “ha[s] a home waiting for her.” He wants Eveline to become his wife and to leave behind her abusive father who has forbidden Eveline from ever speaking to Frank again.

Perhaps it is this vision of the new home, arranged for her and without her consent, that first causes Eveline to hesitate in moving forward with her plans. In effect, she would simply be transferring her workload from one house to another, and it would be necessary to leave behind the familiarity of her hometown to do so. Eveline becomes paralyzed as she considers her future, which no longer seems filled with Frank’s sense of “excitement.”

This sense of paralysis reveals that Eveline’s society has destroyed any hope that she might have of carving out a truly new life for herself. She is an emotionally shattered young woman who rationalizes that enduring a life of familiar hardships is easier than facing an uncertain future with a different man in charge of her life. While Eveline initially tries to convince herself that she “ha[s] a right to happiness,” her decision to remain at home indicates that she never fully accepts this truth.

Ironically, Eveline’s decision demonstrates that sometimes nothing changes. She seems to follow in the footsteps of her mother, who died young after enduring an abusive relationship. At only nineteen, her father’s violence has already given Eveline heart palpitations, which are indicative of high levels of stress, anxiety, and fatigue. Choosing to remain in a violent home will likely result in Eveline’s failing health and eventual demise.

Eveline’s decision reveals that women, particularly within the societal context of the early twentieth century, face many types of death as they navigate their lives. While death sometimes devastates women in a literal form, such as the loss of Eveline’s mother, it also takes other forms, which can be equally devastating. Eveline, for example, does not feel that marriage will save her in the end. Instead, she envisions “drowning” as Frank’s wife.

Eventually, Eveline succumbs to the realization that no one is going to “save her” and that she will never “escape” the limitations society has placed upon her. She therefore resigns herself to live out her days without ever really living at all.