(Tom Cruise as seen in Mission Impossible 2)
Pat, Henry, and Justin all seem to assert
that Eveline is trapped by paralysis. They continue to say that, because she is
ensnared by Dublin, she is unable to escape its influence and make the so-called
right choice, which is to sail away with Frank.
While I agree that Eveline does suffer from a form of paralysis and that
her situation is tragic, I disagree on the nature of her paralysis and tragedy. She is not a tragic figure because her passivity
causes her to make a mistake and throw away the possibility of a life with
Frank. Rather, what makes her situation
so tragic and what renders her a “helpless animal” is the inherent unfairness of
the choice she has to make.
On the one side, there is a life
with Frank. I disagree with Declan that
Eveline’s love resembles that of the boy in Araby; she has not idealized Frank. If anything, she is more like Desdemona from Othello, who is smitten by Othello’s
exotic nature and the excitement he affords her. For Eveline, Frank represents something
completely foreign to Dublin as a whole.
He has been to Canada and the Straits of Magellan and tells her stories
of the “terrible Patagonians.” He has a “peaked cap pushed back on his head and
his hair tumbled forward over a face of bronze.” Frank does, without a doubt,
present Eveline with a life entirely unlike the one she experiences in
Dublin. While on the surface it may seem
like this life would be more fulfilling, the choice of a life with Frank is
filled with uncertainty. Through his
stories, he clearly means to dazzle her in an overwhelming fashion, and, based
on the fact that he is only back “in the old country just for a holiday,” they
don’t appear to have known each other for that long. There is also no promise of marriage, and she
says that Frank would only “perhaps” give her love. Thus it appears that Frank may be only toying
with her, attempting to seduce her and ultimately providing her with a life no
better than the one she already has. The
only thing that would be definitely different about a life with Frank is that
it would be in Buenos Ayres.
Therefore, it is entirely
unreasonable to say that Eveline is in the wrong to reject Frank. How is she supposed to understand what a life
in Buenos Ayres is like? It is so
completely foreign to her that she cannot comprehend what that world is
like. Although her life at home in
Dublin is not perfect, she still has duties that she can fulfill. As other people have posted, she has a job,
she earns a wage, and she has two kids in her charge. In sum, she is placed in an awful situation,
and what makes it so tragic is that she is not given a fair choice. Is Joyce trying to say that Eveline never had
a choice, since she didn’t have a good option?
Is the real tragedy that she is dependent on two untrustworthy men (her
father or Frank)? Is Joyce asserting
that freedom must come from within?
Sam, although I think your argument is well delivered I don't really agree with your assumptions about Frank. While I do think that Eveline's attraction to Frank is purely from his separation from Ireland, I do not think he is merely seducing Eveline. She even says, "First it had been an excitement for her to have a fellow and then she had begun to like him" (27). Through this comment I think we can see that her primary concern was not love. Even in the points you highlighted about her discussing how he would "perhaps" love her, I think we can read her meaning as more unconcerned. Eveline is not looking for love and romance, she seeks a new life outside of the monotony and abuse of her home. She even says, "She must escape!Frank would save her" (28). I would say that for her the choice truly is between remaining in her stagnant life or taking a leap and starting a new life elsewhere, and her inability to leave highlights her paralysis.
ReplyDeleteSam, your point about Eveline's not having a fair choice in no way conflicts with what I said. I noted that her role as a woman in Dublin makes her entire situation, including the final decision at the dock, unfair. The deck is stacked against her. We agree on this point.
ReplyDeleteYour reading of Frank is off base though. Henry has comprehensively covered the response to your reading, but I would just continue a bit to say that the indisputably better choice for Eveline is to leave. This story is one of adolescence, the transition from being a girl to being a woman. Joyce makes it clear that Eveline will have to carry out the monotonous and enervating duties of a woman in Dublin if she stays. The only way she can escape this is to physically escape. Her paralysis ultimately grows out from a duty to her role as a woman, a duty which Dublin has ingrained in her mind. This is a problem with the society in which she finds herself, and, in my opinion, she will never be able to break free from her sense of duty to her role. Thus, she had to leave with Frank, the savior, in order to make a very legitimate and much larger choice to abandon the society which has only done her disservice.