proposal paper

Abridging Barriers in James Joyce’s “Eveline”

Many critics concur that Eveline, the female protagonist in Joyce's story of the same name, is a victim of patriarchal and familial dominance and that her decision to remain in Dublin, instead of fleeing with Frank to Buenos Ayres, is a product of that dominance.

 For the critics that agree with this interpretation, see Henke’s “Sex-Role Stereotypes” 8-9, Ingersoll 505-06,Tolentino 74-76, and Conboy 410.

While her effeminate passivity is evident through her silent reflection, her sense of obligation to her apatheticfather, and her belief that salvation and safety exists only in Buenos Ayres with Frank, Eveline grows “weary” of such constraints more and more throughout the story. Critics argue that these constraints chain her to the old and keep her from the new. Yet it is through reflection and maturation that she becomes able to first recognize maledominance and then resist it, thus equalizing the boundaries associated with that power.

I will discuss the metaphoric introduction [“the evening invades the avenue” (Joyce 20)] and compare the nomadic/static binary to the male/female binary throughout the story. This will set up my argument that introduces Eveline’s first step to overcoming the female stagnancy that other critics identify as an entity that remains her enemy until the end. This section will address the repetition of Eveline’s thoughts in regards to “going. . . away” with Frank. First, she thinks about leaving as “going to go away, like the others” (Joyce 20)—more like a feminine privilege. However, after she remembers “home” and what she would be leaving, the pragmatic meaning changes: “She had consented to go away, to leave her home” (Joyce 21, emphasis mine). The idea of consent is more of an emotionless passive agreement. I will argue that this begins a slight equalization of the male/female binary in Eveline’s mind. This binary mirrors the nomadic/static, active/passive, function/malfunction binaries as the story progresses.

I will discuss the change in diction to support my interpretation that Eveline does in fact physically go to the North Wall to meet Frank. The first part of the story, before the structural division, is entirely stream-of-conscious narrative and most of the action is described in the passive voice—remembering back and thinking ahead. However, the concluding scene is told in the active voice. While Eveline’s thoughts are still described, the dictions suggests that she moved from the room to the dock. This is significant to my essay because it represents a symbolic step in her maturation and proves her movement within the narrative—slowly overcoming stasis in the literal sense.

Annotated Bibliography

Conboy, Sheila C. “Exhibition and Inhibition: The Body Scene in Dubliners.” Twentieth Century Literature 37.4 (1991): 405-19. JSTOR. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.

Conboy adheres to the idea that it is male/familial dominance that keeps Eveline from “escaping” with Frank, but does not seem to add much more than that in her essay.

Henke, Suzette. “Through a Cracked Looking-glass: Sex-role Stereotypes in Dubliners.” International Perspectives on James Joyce. Ed. Gottlieb Gaiser. 1986. 2-31. Print.

Henke’s feminist analysis argues that Eveline is bound to repeat the life of her mother. Along with a gloomy characterization of Eveline, Henke also discusses the “home” motif and compares it to a “metronome” to signal a trance that makes change impossible for Eveline. I will refute this in my stasis argument.

Ingersoll, Earl G. “Confinement and the Stigma of Femininity ‘Eveline,’ ‘The Boarding House,’ and ‘Clay’.Engendered Trope in Joyce’s Dubliners. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1996. 55-83. Print

Ingersoll has a rather extreme interpretation of the concluding scene in “Eveline.” He discusses the possibility thatEveline never leaves her room and it is possible that everything happens in her imagined world. Ingersoll also states that Eveline does not experience the typical Joycean epiphany. I will refute both of these ideas as the narrative strongly states that Eveline’s stasis never changes.

Jones, Ellen Carol. “The Letter Selfpenned to One’s Other: Joyce’s Writing, Deconstruction, Feminism.” Coping With Joyce: Essays from the Copenhagen Symposium. Ed. Morris Beja and Shari Benstock. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1989. 180-94. Print.

This source discusses Derrida and Joyce to some extent and “the circle of language [around] deconstructive discourses.”

Joyce, James. “Eveline.” Dubliners. Ed. Stanley Appelbaum and Shane Weller. Mineola, NY: Dover, 1991. 20-23. Print.

Melzer, Sondra. “In the Beginning There Was ‘Eveline.’” James Joyce Quarterly 16.4 (1979): 479-84. MLAIB. Web. 25 Feb. 2011.

Melzer argues that Eveline’s final decision to stay in Dublin “destroys and preserves,” but then goes on to state that she chose “the ultimate ‘craziness’ and ‘commonplace sacrifices.’” I will refute what seems to be a false dichotomy. Her argument gives Eveline no hope.

Pound, Ezra. “Ezra Pound on Dubliners.” 15 July 1914. James Joyce: The Critical Heritage. Ed. Robert H. Deming. Vol. 1. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc, 1970. 66-68. Print.

Pound reviews James Joyce’s Dubliners and discusses Joyce’s ability to “present life” as opposed to submitting to the conventionality of just “writing stories.”

Tolentino, Magda Velloso Fernandes de. “Family Bonds and Bondage within the Family: A Study of Family Ties in Clarice Lispector and James Joyce.” Modern Language Studies 18.2 (1988): 73-78. JSTOR. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.

Tolentino discusses that it is the strength of “family bond” that ultimately causes Eveline to stay in Dublin, which I will refute.

Voogd, Peter de. “Imaging Eveline, Visualised Focalisations in James Joyce’s Dubliners.” European Journal of English Studies 4.1 (2000): 39-48. MLAIB. Web. 18 Feb. 2011.

Voogd states that it is “probable that Eveline’s final refusal to go with Frank has little to do with sudden paralysis or real helplessness” and that it is more of an “act of will” (48). I will agree and add further that Eveline does in fact have the Joycean “ephiphany” at the moment of decision and while it is possible only subconsciously, she sees that her supposed new and exciting life with Frank would, in truth, mirror her mother’s traditional and conformedlife.

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