Eveline is about a nineteen-year-old girl who wishes to escape from the suffocating atmosphere of her present life. Although it seems like she finds escape from her Dublin life unavoidable, her observations and memories suggest that she is torn between staying and leaving.
Why does Eveline desire to escape? Her...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
life is hard because she is the only girl in the house who has to take care of all the household tasks, and she does not get the respect she needs at work. Then she has to deal with her abusive father, who she feels threatened by. She feels as if he could start abusing her not just verbally, but physically as well. She does not want to end up like her mother and be the victim of "that life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness."
Eveline wants to escape with her lover, Frank, who could provide her with all the fulfillment, love and respect which she urgently needs. Their life in Buenos Aires could be exactly what she has been missing all along.
However, her observations reveal that she is not entirely convinced that such a life would be promising at all. Moreover, she feels threatened that the unknown, embodied by Frank, her lover, could crush her:
All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them: he would drown her. She gripped with both hands at the iron railing.
At the end of the story, Eveline stays in Ireland, unable to fathom how her life could change at all. She becomes a typical Dubliner, deprived of hope and change.