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Eveline
A romance with a sailor gives Eveline a chance to escape from her dreary life caring for her widowered father, but when the time comes she hesitates to take the plunge
31 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1904
31 people are currently reading
1291 people want to read
About the author
James Joyce
1,702 books9,450 followersJames Joyce was an Irish novelist, poet, and a pivotal figure in 20th-century modernist literature, renowned for his highly experimental approach to language and narrative structure, particularly his pioneering mastery and popularization of the stream-of-consciousness technique. Born into a middle-class Catholic family in the Rathgar suburb of Dublin in 1882, Joyce spent the majority of his adult life in self-imposed exile across continental Europe—living in Trieste, Zurich, and Paris—yet his entire, meticulous body of work remained obsessively and comprehensively focused on the minutiae of his native city, making Dublin both the meticulously detailed setting and a central, inescapable character in his literary universe. His work is consistently characterized by its technical complexity, rich literary allusion, intricate symbolism, and an unflinching examination of the spectrum of human consciousness. Joyce began his published career with Dubliners (1914), a collection of fifteen short stories offering a naturalistic, often stark, depiction of middle-class Irish life and the moral and spiritual paralysis he observed in its inhabitants, concluding each story with a moment of crucial, sudden self-understanding he termed an "epiphany." This collection was followed by the highly autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), a Bildungsroman that meticulously chronicled the intellectual and artistic awakening of its protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, who would become Joyce's recurring alter ego and intellectual stand-in throughout his major works.
His magnum opus, Ulysses (1922), is universally regarded as a landmark work of fiction that fundamentally revolutionized the novel form. It compressed the events of a single, ordinary day—June 16, 1904, a date now globally celebrated by literary enthusiasts as "Bloomsday"—into a sprawling, epic narrative that structurally and symbolically paralleled Homer's Odyssey, using a dazzling array of distinct styles and linguistic invention across its eighteen episodes to explore the lives of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom, and Stephen Dedalus in hyper-minute detail. The novel's explicit content and innovative, challenging structure led to its initial banning for obscenity in the United States and the United Kingdom, turning Joyce into a cause célèbre for artistic freedom and the boundaries of literary expression. His final, most challenging work, Finnegans Wake (1939), pushed the boundaries of language and conventional narrative even further, employing a dense, dream-like prose filled with multilingual puns, invented portmanteau words, and layered allusions that continues to divide and challenge readers and scholars to this day. A dedicated polyglot who reportedly learned several languages, including Norwegian simply to read Ibsen in the original, Joyce approached the English language not as a fixed entity with rigid rules, but as a malleable medium capable of infinite reinvention and expression. His personal life was marked by an unwavering dedication to his literary craft, a complex, devoted relationship with his wife Nora Barnacle, and chronic, debilitating eye problems that necessitated numerous painful surgeries throughout his life, sometimes forcing him to write with crayons on large white paper. Despite these severe physical ailments and financial struggles, his singular literary vision remained sharp, focused, and profoundly revolutionary. Joyce passed away in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1941, shortly after undergoing one of his many eye operations. Today, he is widely regarded as perhaps the most significant and challenging writer of the 20th century. His immense, complex legacy is robustly maintained by global academic study and institutions such as the James Joyce Centre in Dublin, which ensures his complex, demanding, and utterly brilliant work endures, inviting new generations of readers to explore the very essence of what it means to be hum
His magnum opus, Ulysses (1922), is universally regarded as a landmark work of fiction that fundamentally revolutionized the novel form. It compressed the events of a single, ordinary day—June 16, 1904, a date now globally celebrated by literary enthusiasts as "Bloomsday"—into a sprawling, epic narrative that structurally and symbolically paralleled Homer's Odyssey, using a dazzling array of distinct styles and linguistic invention across its eighteen episodes to explore the lives of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom, and Stephen Dedalus in hyper-minute detail. The novel's explicit content and innovative, challenging structure led to its initial banning for obscenity in the United States and the United Kingdom, turning Joyce into a cause célèbre for artistic freedom and the boundaries of literary expression. His final, most challenging work, Finnegans Wake (1939), pushed the boundaries of language and conventional narrative even further, employing a dense, dream-like prose filled with multilingual puns, invented portmanteau words, and layered allusions that continues to divide and challenge readers and scholars to this day. A dedicated polyglot who reportedly learned several languages, including Norwegian simply to read Ibsen in the original, Joyce approached the English language not as a fixed entity with rigid rules, but as a malleable medium capable of infinite reinvention and expression. His personal life was marked by an unwavering dedication to his literary craft, a complex, devoted relationship with his wife Nora Barnacle, and chronic, debilitating eye problems that necessitated numerous painful surgeries throughout his life, sometimes forcing him to write with crayons on large white paper. Despite these severe physical ailments and financial struggles, his singular literary vision remained sharp, focused, and profoundly revolutionary. Joyce passed away in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1941, shortly after undergoing one of his many eye operations. Today, he is widely regarded as perhaps the most significant and challenging writer of the 20th century. His immense, complex legacy is robustly maintained by global academic study and institutions such as the James Joyce Centre in Dublin, which ensures his complex, demanding, and utterly brilliant work endures, inviting new generations of readers to explore the very essence of what it means to be hum
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 253 reviews
February 25, 2023
“Eveline”
A paralyzed priest in “The Sisters,” the first short story completed (in 1905) for his iconic 1914 collection, Dubliners, provides the occasion for a young boy, one of his parishioners, to contemplate the meaning of the word “paralysis.” This theme winds its merry way through all of the stories in Dubliners; Joyce declared his intention to “betray the soul of the hemiplegia or paralysis which many consider a city.”
“Eveline” is one of the stories that best reflects that intention. Eveline, at 19, lives with her miserable father after her mother dies and her siblings depart. The story begins,
“She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne. She was tired.”
Eveline works at a store for seven shillings a week, all of which she turns over to her ungrateful father. She secretly has a relationship with sailor Frank, who asks her to run away with him to Buenos Aires. Escape! Adventure! Release from her miserable life!
Yet she worries, “What would they say of her in the Stores when they found out that she had run away with a fellow?”
As “the evening deepened in the avenue,” she thinks of the “promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could. . . she prayed to God to direct her, to show her what was her duty.”
Frank takes her to the boat to leave; she will never be treated as her mother had been. They are separated from each other in the crowd, He calls back to her: “Eveline! Evvy!”
I won’t say what she does but you can read it for free here:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/...
My review of the collection, Dubliners, is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This story reminds me of lots of small town laments, such as this song, “Some Day,” by Steve Earle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qyi6m...
A paralyzed priest in “The Sisters,” the first short story completed (in 1905) for his iconic 1914 collection, Dubliners, provides the occasion for a young boy, one of his parishioners, to contemplate the meaning of the word “paralysis.” This theme winds its merry way through all of the stories in Dubliners; Joyce declared his intention to “betray the soul of the hemiplegia or paralysis which many consider a city.”
“Eveline” is one of the stories that best reflects that intention. Eveline, at 19, lives with her miserable father after her mother dies and her siblings depart. The story begins,
“She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne. She was tired.”
Eveline works at a store for seven shillings a week, all of which she turns over to her ungrateful father. She secretly has a relationship with sailor Frank, who asks her to run away with him to Buenos Aires. Escape! Adventure! Release from her miserable life!
Yet she worries, “What would they say of her in the Stores when they found out that she had run away with a fellow?”
As “the evening deepened in the avenue,” she thinks of the “promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could. . . she prayed to God to direct her, to show her what was her duty.”
Frank takes her to the boat to leave; she will never be treated as her mother had been. They are separated from each other in the crowd, He calls back to her: “Eveline! Evvy!”
I won’t say what she does but you can read it for free here:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/...
My review of the collection, Dubliners, is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This story reminds me of lots of small town laments, such as this song, “Some Day,” by Steve Earle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qyi6m...
September 24, 2014
A look inside the mind of a woman stuck in a psychological trap of guilt and obligation and when the opportunity arises to free herself from all of it, she can't make the leap, her wings were already clipped. A sad warning tale, poignant and leaves you feeling uneasy, how many of us have been unable to embrace a better life because we couldn't simply take the plunge into the unknown.
June 6, 2015
I've arranged my thoughts into a haiku:
"Drowning in the calm
Frantic in the sense of guilt,
Not able to move."
"Drowning in the calm
Frantic in the sense of guilt,
Not able to move."
October 23, 2021
When you finally get the chance to fly but your wings are already clipped.
June 24, 2021
امروز برای آزمون عناصر داستان خوندمش. داستان دوم مجموعهداستان دوبلینیها بود گمونم. و متعجب شدم راستش. فکر نمیکردم چنین نثر روان و راحتخوانی از جویس ببینم.
داستان خوبی بود. دربارهی دختری بهاسم اِوِلین که مادر و یکی از برادرهاش مرده و پدرش ازش سوءاستفاده میکنه. و مضمون داستان اینه که چهطور اون سوءاستفاده برای دختر وابستگی میشه. میخواد با پسری که باهاش آشنا شده فرار کنه، ولی نمیتونه. چون پدر مهربانش رو خیلی دوست داره. نمیتونه ترکش کنه.
فکر کنم بهزودی سراغ باقی داستانهای کتاب هم برم. میگن با خوندن این کتاب میتونید دوبلین رو طوری بشناسید که انگار خودتون سالها اونجا زندگی کردهین.
@QqlandarNameh
داستان خوبی بود. دربارهی دختری بهاسم اِوِلین که مادر و یکی از برادرهاش مرده و پدرش ازش سوءاستفاده میکنه. و مضمون داستان اینه که چهطور اون سوءاستفاده برای دختر وابستگی میشه. میخواد با پسری که باهاش آشنا شده فرار کنه، ولی نمیتونه. چون پدر مهربانش رو خیلی دوست داره. نمیتونه ترکش کنه.
فکر کنم بهزودی سراغ باقی داستانهای کتاب هم برم. میگن با خوندن این کتاب میتونید دوبلین رو طوری بشناسید که انگار خودتون سالها اونجا زندگی کردهین.
@QqlandarNameh
August 19, 2022
An impending sense of lingering dread follows this story & when the end of the tale is near, a nauseating unease of a familiar sadness & oppression is what remains.
Eveline is a young Irish girl who has been bolted into the life she leads. People she loves have died; promises she made suffocate her desires; the hope for a tomorrow that is different from yesterday eats away at her.
I think what makes this story so powerful is the fact that we have all found ourselves in either Eveline or Frank’s shoes. We have either gotten on the boat or we have been frozen solid with fear & guilt & sometimes, immediate regret. Some people have been in both positions, some still remain in one. This is the aspect of the story which makes it difficult to reflect upon. One can so easily imagine themselves leaning on the railing of the boat, calling for Eveline to step on.
I admit to hoping very deeply that she would not be consumed by the familial guilt that restrained her & yet, I completely understood how absurdly impossible it must have been for her to fathom stepping foot onto a boat that would lead her to a new life while the remaining members of her family suffered poverty & distress.
This is a short story but one which I think is worth the time it takes to read it. Joyce is a phenomenally efficient writer. Within the first few sentences, I found myself engaged with Eveline’s train of thought & understood the neighbourhood which had been her home since childhood.
What a talent it is to be able to convey so much in so few pages.
Eveline is a young Irish girl who has been bolted into the life she leads. People she loves have died; promises she made suffocate her desires; the hope for a tomorrow that is different from yesterday eats away at her.
I think what makes this story so powerful is the fact that we have all found ourselves in either Eveline or Frank’s shoes. We have either gotten on the boat or we have been frozen solid with fear & guilt & sometimes, immediate regret. Some people have been in both positions, some still remain in one. This is the aspect of the story which makes it difficult to reflect upon. One can so easily imagine themselves leaning on the railing of the boat, calling for Eveline to step on.
I admit to hoping very deeply that she would not be consumed by the familial guilt that restrained her & yet, I completely understood how absurdly impossible it must have been for her to fathom stepping foot onto a boat that would lead her to a new life while the remaining members of her family suffered poverty & distress.
This is a short story but one which I think is worth the time it takes to read it. Joyce is a phenomenally efficient writer. Within the first few sentences, I found myself engaged with Eveline’s train of thought & understood the neighbourhood which had been her home since childhood.
What a talent it is to be able to convey so much in so few pages.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2019
Uma história sobre uma jovem que sempre vivera uma vida infeliz, órfã de mãe, tutora dos seus irmãos e vítima dos sucessivos maus-tratos de um pai despreocupado, que vê num namoro a hipótese de fuga e de melhoria das suas condições de vida. A descoberta inocente por parte de uma jovem que sempre vivera atormentada, resignada ao seu desfado e em função dos outros, de que também é possível ser feliz, é o ponto alto do conto. A impossibilidade de viver os seus sonhos e a recusa (voluntária?) em, precisamente, ser feliz, no desfecho, é triste, estranha e profundamente melancólica, tal como todo o ambiente criado por Joyce nesta curta narrativa. Muito bom!
*******************
(Lido na colectânea de contos "Gente de Dublin" de James Joyce, de cujos contos favoritos escreverei opinião à parte. É o caso deste.)
*******************
(Lido na colectânea de contos "Gente de Dublin" de James Joyce, de cujos contos favoritos escreverei opinião à parte. É o caso deste.)
May 29, 2024
اِوِلینِ عزیزم!
تصمیمت قلبم رو تکّهتکّه کرد. میدونم شاید نتونه تسکینت بده امّا تو اوّلین زنی نیستی که چنین تصمیمی میگیره و آخری هم نخواهی بود. متاسّفم.
تصمیمت قلبم رو تکّهتکّه کرد. میدونم شاید نتونه تسکینت بده امّا تو اوّلین زنی نیستی که چنین تصمیمی میگیره و آخری هم نخواهی بود. متاسّفم.
August 25, 2017
Poor Eveline !!
July 22, 2023
Good enough.
August 28, 2022
Culpa, deber, responsabilidad, sacrificio son losas que arruinan la vida de la mujer mientras sus hermanos no tienen las mismas cargas para salir del infierno que es su casa. La buena mujer que se sacrifica por la familia es una idea que se inculca y perpetua. La mujer como metáfora de la parálisis política de Irlanda parece fácil.
December 27, 2018
It´s a well written short story about a woman trapped in a life filled with guilt and helplessness.
July 16, 2021
Do we go with what we know, even if it is horrible? Or do we take a chance and leap off into the unknown in the hope of a better life?
The choice made by millions of people in the world, and also the choice made personally by James Joyce when, with Nora Barnacle, they eloped.
In this short story Eveline has met a sailer, Frank, who wants to take her to Argentina. What will she do?
The choice made by millions of people in the world, and also the choice made personally by James Joyce when, with Nora Barnacle, they eloped.
In this short story Eveline has met a sailer, Frank, who wants to take her to Argentina. What will she do?
March 13, 2007
making decisions for a lost and hurt girl is too difficult.
October 30, 2016
An interesting short story. A cautionary tale of how abuse can stop action. How someone may feel stuck and without a future, even when future comes so clearly knocking. And as well written as you can expect from James Joyce. But I don't think that it was his preferred format. In the end this was another Irish story. 4 stars.
November 25, 2016
Wanted to love this short story but the ending didn't let me.
I JUST liked how author describes the feelings of leaving the place where you have been living for so long.
I JUST liked how author describes the feelings of leaving the place where you have been living for so long.
December 15, 2025
Oh Eveline!!!
I really liked and connected with this story.
Definitely on my revisit list and one I will remember a long time! 😍❤️🥰
I really liked and connected with this story.
Definitely on my revisit list and one I will remember a long time! 😍❤️🥰
April 23, 2011
i hereby submit that eveline is a neurotic who exhibits the characteristics of the self-effacing solution as outlined in karen horney's neurosis and human growth.
meh.
eveline is excessivly compliant....(if so, why doesn't she leave?) ah...ummmm, good question...perhaps the reader can explain that to me...
ha! looking at my paper from '86, my professor said, 'you have an interesting paper here...you might want to revise it (it needs cutting and some constructions rewritten) and try to publish it as a ote or article. '
also, my footnotes were horrendous. i am not a scholar. i am a carpenter. nails rarely argue with you. if they do, well, smack them again, i say.
eveline's sad life, the life of a woman who was subject to her inner dictates and her neurotic solution to life, entirely believeable and poignant...
she is tired, the result of her real self wrestling with her idealized image and the conflict she is feeling from having consented to go away...she sits at the window (nice, that, i should reread this) and apparently it has become common for her to inhale stertorously "the odour of dusty cretonne"
she should stay home...cause of her neurotic solution...because of the promise she made to her mother to keep the home intact...her old man is somewhat of a tyrant...she fears his violence...yet she begins to rationalize it..."sometimes he could be very nice."
still, she had consented to go away...frank had treated her nice...it was necessary for her to reciprocate...she tries to realize her potential as a person...but there is her old man...an obstacle.....he is probably neurotic, as well...he did something...like w/the blackthorn stick...
she remains at the window...this window imagery..sounds like a reread is in order. frank is maybe her saviour...little keogh, the cripple...w/her mother were here protectors before....but they...sploosh!
one of those spoiler situations...she associates going away w/death....
so....does she escape her father's violence...???/
yeah, good read...this may be one of the more approachable stories from joyce james....
meh.
eveline is excessivly compliant....(if so, why doesn't she leave?) ah...ummmm, good question...perhaps the reader can explain that to me...
ha! looking at my paper from '86, my professor said, 'you have an interesting paper here...you might want to revise it (it needs cutting and some constructions rewritten) and try to publish it as a ote or article. '
also, my footnotes were horrendous. i am not a scholar. i am a carpenter. nails rarely argue with you. if they do, well, smack them again, i say.
eveline's sad life, the life of a woman who was subject to her inner dictates and her neurotic solution to life, entirely believeable and poignant...
she is tired, the result of her real self wrestling with her idealized image and the conflict she is feeling from having consented to go away...she sits at the window (nice, that, i should reread this) and apparently it has become common for her to inhale stertorously "the odour of dusty cretonne"
she should stay home...cause of her neurotic solution...because of the promise she made to her mother to keep the home intact...her old man is somewhat of a tyrant...she fears his violence...yet she begins to rationalize it..."sometimes he could be very nice."
still, she had consented to go away...frank had treated her nice...it was necessary for her to reciprocate...she tries to realize her potential as a person...but there is her old man...an obstacle.....he is probably neurotic, as well...he did something...like w/the blackthorn stick...
she remains at the window...this window imagery..sounds like a reread is in order. frank is maybe her saviour...little keogh, the cripple...w/her mother were here protectors before....but they...sploosh!
one of those spoiler situations...she associates going away w/death....
so....does she escape her father's violence...???/
yeah, good read...this may be one of the more approachable stories from joyce james....
April 12, 2016
The stillness and dullness in Joyce's novels always captures me.. This blue feeling. Being bored of life's routine can destroy us and numb our souls. Eveline, why didn't you leave?
November 10, 2021
A woman with clipped wings could never fly!
James Joyce’s story, Eveline, is terribly depressing; yet it is awfully realistic!
James Joyce’s story, Eveline, is terribly depressing; yet it is awfully realistic!
July 2, 2025
Masterful economy of words . So much is left to the imagination with Joyce only elaborating on the key influences that have already bound this teenager to her fate : the death of her mother , a violent and controlling father , the church and it's patriarchy , no escape through employment, the drudgery of running a household with limited means .
What is saddest is that she has such passivity already . Her happy memories are few and she is easily beguiled by a handsome sailor who promises much with all his talk . Joyce leaves us to imagine his character but we are in no doubt that she won't go with him as even before she has left the house she is backpedaling .The chaos of freedom is overwhelming , she stays put .
What is saddest is that she has such passivity already . Her happy memories are few and she is easily beguiled by a handsome sailor who promises much with all his talk . Joyce leaves us to imagine his character but we are in no doubt that she won't go with him as even before she has left the house she is backpedaling .The chaos of freedom is overwhelming , she stays put .
December 30, 2016
a story of a young woman who has to choose between duty to her family and the potential for a better life abroad with her lover.
January 21, 2021
How can she fly?
Her wings were already clipped.
Her wings were already clipped.
October 14, 2022
that end let me in pieces.
January 9, 2019
Noklausījos The Guardian īso stāstu ciklā. Interesants psiholoģiskais portretējums nabaga meitenei, kura plāno izrauties no vardarbīgā tēva mājas, tomēr pienākums ir spēcīgāks par visu. Beigu teikumos kaut kas pietrūka līdz 4 zvaigznēm.
February 21, 2019
"She trembled as she heard again her mother's voice saying constantly with foolish insistence:
"Derevaun Seraun"'
"Derevaun Seraun"'
March 9, 2020
Heart-breaking, though rather confusing. Quite similar to the 1985 Chinese film “Dim Sum”.
September 20, 2024
for school 🫡
October 14, 2020
I read this for my Modernist Fiction module and I am surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Joyce describes the pain and the sense of duty once feels towards family splendidly, as well as the desire to live and love. I did not expect to like James Joyce, but I loved this short story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 253 reviews