Eveline's Vision of Frank

The notion that Eveline somehow made an error in her decision to remain in Dublin, or that it was beyond rational thought and was truly only a frozen moment of shock is not one that can really stand up to Eveline's own description of her brief romance with the mysterious Frank. I'd argue that Eveline's romance was only ever superficial and even what she idealized, the adventure that Frank represented, might have been fake all along. 

In Eveline's first thought specifically about Frank, she uses the phrase "explore another life" instead of  'begin', 'experience', or even the classic 'spend the rest of our lives together' (49, Penguin Books edition). Her immediate inner musings reveal that her future hopes for a union between her and Frank did not actually center on emotion, but instead on the adventure which he might provide, ending the monotony of her Dublin existence. She describes him as manly, mentions the excitement of stealing away together, against her father's wishes, and most tellingly, thinks, "First, it had been an excitement...then she had begun to like him." (49).  Based on the evidence, it seems clear that she didn't love or idealize him at all. 

But that doesn't mean she can't idealize what he represents, adventure and new experience. Frank acts as  a glimmer of hope to Eveline, specifically because he was once in a situation not too different from her own. Dublin is his "old homeland" and "he had started as a deck boy at a pound a month."(49). We know from earlier in the story that, even with the tight finances of Eveline's family, she alone makes more than that sum in a month. Thus his discussion of exotic, far-off places seem all the more reachable because of his impoverished beginnings. And although Joyce is not explicit about it, the text implies a blooming sexual relationship between the two. The lines "then they had come to know each other" and "she felt elated as she sat in an unaccustomed part of the theatre with him" lets the reader draw his own conclusions.

But despite all this, staying at the end of the story may not have been a disaster at all. Matt points out that she believes Buenos Aires is spelled or pronounced Buenos Ayres, indicating a lack of education, but it might also be an entirely different location. As opposed to the wealthiest Argentinian city, Buenos Ayres is an impoverished area in Trinidad and Tobago. Both readings are possible, but Joyce gives further indication that the adventure offered by Frank might by false in either ways. He mentions the "terrible Patagonians", exciting her with his stories.(49). A Google search revealed that Patagonians were rumored to be enormous giants, mythical creatures in a land of magic (pictured). This rumor of magic can either be an invented tale or clear indicator of Frank's and Eveline's dual ignorance. (This also makes the comparison to Othello even greater because the tales with which Frank regales her are just as fictional as the beasts Othello talks about).

Did Eveline ultimately realize this at the end and balk? Was Frank only a passing distraction for her? A way to feel alive, without doing anything really dangerous?  Did she really ever expect to  leave? Or was she lying to herself about her own paralysis?