Eveline

"She sat at the window watching evening invade the avenue.  Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odor of dusty cretonne.  She was tired." - James Joyce.


For this blog, I am going to formally answer a question included in the text.  The question is this:


What in Eveline's present circumstances makes it desirable for her to escape her home?  Characterize her father and Miss Gavin, her supervisor.  What does the memory of her mother contribute to her decision to leave?

One good answer to the first question in this series of questions in given in the quote I have used above.  Eveline is tired of the life she is currently living.  In addition to this, another circumstance that makes it desirable for her to escape is the fact that her father, who was abusive to her brothers as she was growing up, has begun threatening her and telling her what he is going to do to her only for her dead mother's sake.  This also helps to characterize the father.  Her father is cold, abusive mentally and soon, maybe, physically, and unloving.  Miss Gavin on the other hand clearly would be happy if Eveline was gone.  Personally, I would not want to stay in a home where I felt unwanted or threatened.  The only reason, though, Eveline stays at the home is because of the memory of her dead mother.  Her mother made her promise to keep the home together for as long as she could.  This is probably the main reason why she decided not to leave with Frank.