Eveline

In James Joyce’s story “Eveline” Joyce uses the protagonist Eveline to show how peoples reliance and attachment to the past prohibits their progress forward. Eveline is a young lady in Dublin Ireland. She has a very hard life. She supports her abusive father and herself by juggling two jobs. She has recently fallen in love with a sailor named Frank. Frank wishes for her to leave her old hard life and start a new life with him in Buenos Aires. Eveline is full of emotions and when the time comes for her to make a decision on whether or not to go to Buenos Aires with Frank she freezes. This epiphany of hers prohibits her progression forward. She is conflicted. She does not know whether she can make the leap of faith needed to start a new life. Eveline wishes to stay because that is what she is used to. She is stuck between the fond memories of the past and the adventure of new experiences. Her attachment to the past prohibits her life from moving forward.