In James Joyce’s “Eveline,” Joyce
uses the symbols of dust and water to show the crucial decision[A1] of leaving home that Eveline has to make.
The symbol of dust demonstrates the time passing her by without change showing
her resentment for change. The evasive night represents the decision she
struggles to make, and the many factors that affect this tough decision. The water symbolizes the changing of her
decision and as the time comes to make this decision at the end, she
drastically changes her mind to stay. Joyce
uses the symbols of dust, night, and water to help us understand the challenge
faced by many to struggle to make an important decision and how difficult it
can be to venture out and leave home.
Joyce uses the dust at
Eveline’s window to symbolize her static lifestyle, which gives light on her
dislike for change making her decision more difficult. At the beginning of the
story, Eveline “[looks] around the room, reviewing all of its familiar objects
which she had dusted once a week for so many years, wondering where on earth
all the dust came from” (Joyce 20). She thinks back to the all the years she
spent in this house doing the same thing, dusting. Joyce mentions all the dusting
she had done once a week to symbolize how her life has been passing her by,
spending her years dusting, nothing more, just dusting. The fragment about
wondering where the dust came from reiterates the idea that her life has been
passing her by without change for so many years. She lives the same life for countless years
with the absence of change demonstrating her inner resentment to change. [A2] Her inner resentment to change affects
her decision making her want to stay. Later on in the story, as the time to
make her decision nears, she “[sits] by the window, leaning her head against
the window curtain, inhaling the odour of dusty cretonne” (Joyce 21). She just
sits at the window, wishing that the time would never come where she would have
to make her decision. Normally, when people smell something bothersome such as
dusty cretonne, they became irritated or get bothered by it. Joyce shows that
nothing can bother her or get her mind off of this decision she must make. The
odour of dusty cretonne symbolizes this idea of how she cannot be bothered by anything else
other than this life-changing decision she must make. The only thing on her
mind is this tough idea of venturing out into the world without anyone to
protect her. Venturing out alone into
the big world is a thing that many young adults struggle with. They are afraid
because they have had the same routines and same things their whole life, but
now everything is about to change as they leave. Eveline struggles with this idea as the night invades
her thoughts.[A3]
Night symbolizes invading her
time left to keep things the way they are and the past that affects her
decision. As her decision nears, “she [sits] at the window watching the evening
invade the avenue” (Joyce 20). Figuratively, Joyce uses the evening taking over
the avenue to demonstrate how, as the dreaded time nears, it tears her apart
because she runs out of time. Instead of being excited or happy about the
decision coming closer, it attacks her because she is torn on whether to stay
or go. In her bitterness for change, she describes the night as “invading” with
a negative connotation rather than something more positive, such as “filling”. In
general, people see everything in a negative way when they dread something
coming in the near future because time runs out. As she contemplates staying or
leaving, “she [remembers] the last night of her mother’s illness” (Joyce 22). The
night symbolizes her mother’s death and the thoughts that pertain to her
mother. This brings back sad thoughts about mother. With these thoughts
includes a promise to her mother, that she would “keep the home together as
long as she could” (Joyce 22). This promise
greatly affects her decision because she does not want to be treated like her
mother was, but she also wants to keep her promise and keep her life the way it
was, without change. [A4] She gets influenced because she values
her promise to her mother. As the story progresses, the night does not become
the worst symbol affecting her decision, water does.
The symbol
of water changes throughout the story as her decision changes from a positive
symbol to a negative symbol. As she thinks of the positives of going away with
Frank, she thinks how “She was to go away with him by the night-boat to be his
wife and to live with him in Buenos Ayres”(Joyce 21). Later on, she says how he
would “save her” (Joyce 23). Joyce uses the water and the boat symbolize how
she would leave overseas and escape from her home. The boat and the water would
save her from her father’s wrath, and she would find a better home in Buenos
Ayres. At the end of the story when the
time comes to go away with Frank, she cannot go and suddenly changes her mind
to think that Frank “would drown her” (Joyce 23), instead of saving her. The
water suddenly changes from symbolizing a way to escape and get saved to what
would make her make the wrong decision. Frank changes from a way to escape and take her
away from home into the new world and changes to someone who will take her away
from her home, which would be making the wrong decision at the end. [A5] From the beginning until the end of the
story, she is never confident with her decision, which is shown through how
much she changes her mind on whether she will go or not. Joyce uses the symbol of water to represent
the changes in her decisions and how unconfident she is about staying or
leaving. [A6] People should be confident with their
decisions and make sure that they don’t let objects change drastically to
change their decisions.
Joyce uses
symbols of dust, night, and water to demonstrate the challenge of venturing out
into the world and leaving home. The reason her decision is so tough for her in
the story is because she has never left home before, and she is scared to leave
and go out into the world. Joyce uses these symbols to help us understand the
true struggle for some to leave home for the very first time. Add personal
connection, a modern perspective. Just a suggestion, the eldest kid who helps
his single parent raising a family has to make the decision to go to collage or
not. The “individual” struggle of the modern “Eveline” to tie the knot.
[A5]Possibly
make Frank’s argument stronger, like not only “take her away from her home”,
but simply help her out of the fire and into the frying pan?? Or like , give it
a lot more “evil and regretful” feel
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