Aye aye, Captain!

"Eveline" features the first female protagonist, revealing some of Joyce's ideas about early 20th century women in Dublin.  Beside the third-person narration, Joyce subtly changes the narration.  Instead of his complex diction, he reverts to simple, declarative sentences: "She was tired," "Everything changes," "He would save her." Eveline thinks in simple, concrete terms.

Illustration by Abigail Mckenzie. 

Like characters earlier in the collection, Eveline wishes to escape.  Specifically, she attempts to leave behind a home where women are almost exclusively homemakers.  From the start, Eveline weighs her choices, concluding with the necessity of her escape.  She desires to avoid being "treated as her mother had been" (26).  She also wishes to see some of the foreign world, while living in "Buenos Ayres" (27).  Her misspelling of the "Aires" as "Ayres" is interesting as it indicates her lack of formal education.  Instead she has only heard the word as "Ay-res."  This also is a play on words as sailors say "Aye." Perhaps this illustrates Eveline's ignorance of the outside world but––more importantly––the incorporation of something she is painfully familiar with (Aye, Aye!).  She underestimates the world outside Dublin and the difficulty of leaving.

Furthermore, Joyce characterizes Eveline as paralyzed throughout the story.  When she recalls her mother, who "laid [her] spell ... constantly with foolish insistence 'Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!'"she only awakes with a "sudden impulse of terror" (28).  Firstly, the use of "spell" and "constantly" indicates the narrator's insistence on a supernatural force that continually affects Eveline.  Moreover, this Gaelic expression means, "The end of pleasure is pain," creating a cyclical notion of
suffering.

Eveline again forgoes some personal responsibility as "she prayed to God to direct her ... moving her lips in silent fervent prayer" (28).  Prayer is important to Eveline as an escape, but also––more dangerously––allowing Eveline to be indecisive.  Ultimately, she does not get on the boat.  Her final description echoes the end line of "Araby."  The narrator describes Eveline as "a helpless animal," reminiscent of "creature" (29, 24).  Her indecision leads to a dehumanization, stripped of emotion ("love") and memory ("recognition") (29).

With Eveline's ambivalence, it's hard to determine if Joyce would deem this story to be one of "childhood" or "adolescence."  It seems Eveline is mature, ready to leave, and has the means to leave.  Even though she does not board the boat, we do not see her return to the domestic life at home.  Would this in-between represent an adolescent story? If so, what is Joyce saying about future generations with her bleak depiction in the last lines?