It has become clear in these past few stories that Joyce intended for there to be a loose continuity between characters, settings, and themes. In each of the past stories there has been a young boy as the protagonist and narrator who it seems is lost in the innocence of childhood and has no true conception of the world that exists around him. In "The Sisters" the boy is mystified by his real-world feeling of freedom at a time when he feels he should be experiencing grief, in "An Encounter" two boys go out looking for adventure only to squander it when it is truly found, and in "Araby" the narrator experiences lust for the first time while confusing the vulgarity around him for the sensations of life; I would argue that all three of these experiences and themes are present in "Eveline". As Hank already elaborated upon, paralysis is a theme throughout The Dubliners and is active in "Eveline" as well, as encapsulated by that final scene of Eveline staying behind, "She set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal." (last page of the story, 259 in my copy) For me, the key word here is passive. Rather than touch on Hank's point of Eveline's paralytic state rendering her unable to leave Ireland, I am going to harp on paralysis of a different sort - that is the passive nature with which Eveline understands a sensation of life, vulgarity that surrounds Irish culture of the time, and her own decision.
In "Eveline" Eveline's father is portrayed as a clear drunkard and scalawag, with Saturdays being his worst out of the seven days of the week. This means that beyond her father Eveline, only a 19 year old girl, has no real conception of what or who a good man is. She simply sees a good man as someone who will treat her "not...as her mother had been." (256) In this way, Hank, I will offer my answer to your question of whether or not Frank is a savior: No. I believe that Frank, within the context of Eveline's understanding of him, exists on exactly the same level as Mangan's sister from "Araby" and such is made clear in Eveline's description of Frank and their courtship on (for my copy) page 257. Throughout the story Joyce makes use of free and indirect discourse in narration and it is especially highlighted in this passage. Both Eveline's own thoughts as well as Joyce's authorial commentary are made available (and in some cases perhaps blur into one) and I would argue make clear the fact that Frank is nothing more than a blank slate and Eveline's yearning for him nothing more than passive indecision rather than any substantive feeling. Eveline never declares that she loves Frank and in fact never says anything more than that she had "begun to like him". Eveline's lack of education and experience with good men pushes her to believe that this man, with "his hair tumbled forward over a face of bronze", is the the one who can change her entire life. Now I am not saying that he necessarily cannot do those things, because Buenos Aryes is a big shift from Ireland; however Eveline, like the boy in Araby, is unaware of the fact that what she longs for is not love but an escape. Love is her escape, the only problem is she has fabricated that love and therefore rendered her escape and impossibility. If genuine passion had driven their courtship, Eveline would have gotten on that ship. But there was not passion or love. That is the reason for Eveline's lackluster description of Frank and for its similarities to an awful and generic E-Harmony page (i.e. "awfully fond of music and sang a little"(257), likes long walks on the beach, "has tales of distant countries"(257), can ride a unicycle, will sit you in an "unaccustomed part of the theater"(257), made millions in hedge-funds).
So, friends, I leave you with some closing questions after that far too long blog post:
Do Eveline's feelings for Frank equate to those felt by the narrator of "Araby", albeit in the realm of young adulthood rather than childhood? How do they differ?
What is it that causes Eveline's paralysis at the end of the story: being stuck in the traditions of Ireland? The realization that "[i]t was hard work - a hard life - but now that she was about to leave it she did not find it a wholly undesirable life"? Or the reason for her leaving, a new life with Frank, was not valid as her feelings for Frank were fabricated?
To respond to your final three questions Declan, I do not believe that the answer is any one of them, but both the first and the third. Being stuck in the traditions of Ireland is the root cause of her paralysis, as Justin and I discussed in comments on Hank's post. However, your third proposed cause is also valid, and arises from this root cause. You presented a strong argument for Eveline's feelings not being very real for Frank that I totally agree with. Much like with the narrator and Mangan's sister in Araby, Eveline views Frank as exciting and an opportunity for escape but does not really love him, so that certainly is part of the reason why she does not follow him in the end. This view of Frank arises from aforementioned root cause of her paralysis, as she views him in this way because of how unexciting the stagnation of her life in Dublin is. With regards to Eveline's realization (the second proposed cause), I don't think this is a cause of Eveline's paralysis as much as it is an example. This quote is clearly ironic in that the only optimism lies in the absence of absolute negativity. She is so paralyzed that even though she lives a burdensome and unappreciated life with an abusive father she still tries to justify staying to herself through very weak reasons such as this.
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