Topics for Further Study
The life of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque is detailed in The Lives of the Saints. How does Eveline’s situation reflect that of Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque? Joyce is always meticulously precise with his references. Why might he be drawing a parallel between the heroine and this renowned saint?
Sailors frequently appear in many of Joyce's works, often depicted as uncivilized and unhealthy outsiders, such as in Ulysses. In “A Painful Case,” another story from Dubliners, Mrs. Sinico is married to a merchant seaman who is seldom at home. Frank, the sailor in “Eveline,” is portrayed as the sole positive aspect of Eveline’s life. However, there is a darker side to being a sailor, rendering his proposal both risky and questionable. Investigate what life was like for sailors around the turn of the century.
Emigration has been a persistent theme in Irish history over the past two hundred years. Since the Potato Famine in the late 1840s, the Irish have been leaving their homeland in search of better opportunities. Have they succeeded? Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes describes a scenario where a family returns to Ireland. What might Eveline’s life have been like if she had gone with Frank?
Joyce faced significant challenges in getting Dubliners published. Some of the realistic scenes do not cast the Irish in a favorable light. Moreover, some stories explore themes of ambiguous morality and sexuality. Why might a publisher from that era have been hesitant to publish a collection containing “An Encounter” and “Two Gallants”? Does “Eveline” include any themes that might have been considered indecent at the time?
Gaelic is the native language of the Irish, not English, which is the language of the colonizers. In “Eveline,” the memory of her mother reciting “Derevaun Seraun” prompts the protagonist to take action. For years, critics struggled to accurately interpret the Gaelic phrase, dismissing it as an incoherent utterance. Professor John V. Kelleher identified the phrase as a West of Ireland dialect meaning: “Worms are the only end.” How does this fit into the story? Is it crucial for the reader to understand this? What is the significance of Mrs. Hill speaking in a non-English dialect?
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