Religion and Circumstance in James Joyce’s “Eveline”

Like many of the stories contained within James Joyce’s Dubliners, “Eveline” is about realization and disappointment. The story begins hopefully, but through Eveline’s thoughts and actions, the reader learns why that hope is quickly cast aside. Eveline is a young woman who leads a fairly sheltered life; her father is controlling and abusive, and she was raised Catholic These facts cause Eveline to at first seek out, and then reject, the promise of a better life.

“Eveline” begins with the title character reflecting on her past as she waits for the time she must leave her home in order to run away with Frank, the man with whom she is having an affair. The reader learns quickly that Eveline’s life has been, up to this point, fairly sheltered. Eveline fondly remembers a time when she would play with her siblings and neighbors in a field across from her home. That is, until “a man from Belfast bought the field and built houses in it—not like their little brown houses but bright brick houses with shining roofs” (Joyce 3). Eveline’s fond memory of the field is marred by the unwelcome addition of the man from Belfast—who is foreign to her—and the bright houses which were unlike her own. This association of foreignness and the unknown overtaking what is familiar to her is not a positive one, so it follows that Eveline may feel some trepidation when it comes to leaving her home for a new, unknown life with Frank.

For an individual with little experience outside of their own small world, a major change such as the one Eveline contemplates is extremely daunting. Eveline herself has had very little exposure to the outside world. Her life is full of routine. Looking around her home she examines the “familiar objects which she had dusted once a week for so many years” (Joyce 1). Eveline has lived in this home her entire life. The fact that Frank has “tales of distant countries” may be exciting for Eveline, but it is also likely terrifying (Joyce 2). As Eveline reflects, “In her home anyway she had shelter and food; she had those whom she had known all her life about her. Of course she had to work hard...” (Joyce 2). Even if her current life is less than satisfactory, it is at least familiar. This fear of the unknown is likely a contributing factor to Eveline’s decision to stay behind when Frank leaves.

Throughout the story, the reader sees many examples of the controlling way Eveline’s father has behaved throughout her life, and these instances may help explain why it is so difficult for Eveline to leave for what is most likely a much more fulfilling life. She remembers, “When they were growing up he had never gone for her like he used to go for Harry and Ernest, because she was a girl but latterly he had begun to threaten her and say what he would do to her only for her dead mother’s sake” (Joyce 2). While her father has never physically harmed her, Eveline has seen that he is very capable of physical violence, and so the threat is very real to her. For a young woman who knows little about the size of the outside world, it probably feels to her as though her father’s control will stretch as far as she can run. The fact that he has already found out about—and forbidden—the affair only adds to Eveline’s fear of leaving.

It is not only the threat of physical violence from her father that causes Eveline to stay behind when Frank boards the boat, but also a sense of loyalty. Eveline considers the fact that “her father was becoming old lately...he would miss her. Sometimes he could be very nice” (Joyce 2). Eveline knows that, with her mother gone, there is no one left to care for her father. The promise she had made to her mother, that is, “her promise to keep the home together as long as she could” is a contributing factor to Eveline’s decision not to leave Ireland (Joyce 3). She feels bound to her father through a promise made to her dying mother. It is easy to see why this promise, when considered in terms of Eveline’s religious upbringing, was so difficult for her to break.

Growing up in an Irish Catholic home during the time of Dubliners came with a very specific rule set. Religion was to be feared, and religious figures were to be respected. Eveline was raised religiously, as evidenced by the fact of the religious pictures hanging and the prayers she sends out as she becomes more and more conflicted. The fact that “during all those years she had never found out the name of the priest whose yellowing photograph hung on the wall above the broken harmonium” reveals much about why Eveline is unable to leave her family and home behind (Joyce 2). The photo of the unnamed priest hanging in the home serves as a symbol of the ever-present Catholic Church in Eveline’s life. The priest is there to remind Eveline that her indiscretions will be found out and judged, if not by her father, then by God. The same goes for the “promises made to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque,” whose picture, as the footnote explains, hangs in Eveline’s house as a reminder to “maintain devotion” and “domestic security” (Joyce 3). In a time and culture that very strongly believed in the power of the Catholic Church, it would have been near impossible for a young woman like Eveline to even attempt to defy it.

“Eveline” is a story about a young woman who, despite her best efforts, is unable to leave her unsatisfactory life behind her in favor of the promise of a more fulfilling one. When one considers certain aspects of Eveline’s life, it becomes clear why she doesn't exercise free will in her favor. Eveline is afraid of the unknown; she is living under her father’s ruling words, (and possibly hands) and she fears retribution from God. Taking all of these issues into account it is clear that Eveline is unable to leave her current life behind for something unfamiliar.

Work Cited

Joyce, James. "Eveline." Dubliners. 1914. New York: Norton, 2003. Google Books. Web. 6Feb. 2014.