"," like other stories in Joyce's
, foregrounds the city of Dublin almost as a character in itself. It is
also portrayed as a city people are unable or unwilling to leave, even when the opportunity is
presented. The greater part of the story takes place by Eveline's window. From here, she looks
over the street and contemplates the miseries of her life. The story both begins here and ends
here: the reader almost believes that Eveline will succeed in leaving Dublin, as she plans to go
to the docks to leave with her sweetheart, Frank. Ultimately, however, Eveline is not able to
embark on the journey to Buenos Airescharacterized as somewhere almost as far from Dublin as it
is possible to beand the end of the story sees her immobile at her window. It is poignant that
what keeps Eveline from leaving is the song of an organ grinder that makes her remember a
promise she made to her mother: the secondary implication of this is that Eveline's life will be
exactly like her mother's: with no hope of advancement or escape.
"Eveline" was first written in 1904 and seems to be set contemporaneously
with the time in which it was written.
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