In James Joyce's "Eveline," what is it that renders Eveline paralyzed?

This is a
tough question, partly because there
is no clear answer. One of the enduring confusions about 's
"" is the 's
unwillingness to leave with her lover, Frank, and escape from the
miserable
life she so clearly detests. Eveline is clearly desperate to escape her
backbreaking
life caring for her younger siblings and living with her abusive
father - "Escape!"
she thinks to herself at one point. "She must escape!
Frank would save her." (41) -
and yet, when Frank urges her to leave with
him, Joyce says Eveline "set her white face to
him, passive, like a helpless
animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or
recognition" (43).
What are we to make of Eveline's paradoxical behavior?

While Joyce characteristically offers no definite answers to this conundrum,
there are
a couple of potential solutions. For one thing, it could be that
Eveline is unwilling to leave
her younger siblings. It's clear that her
alcoholic father is unable to take care of anyone or
anything, and so Eveline
functions as her younger siblings' only parental caregiver. If she were
to
leave, her siblings would probably suffer considerably. As such, it's possible that
Eveline's
paralysis at the end of the story might result from a selfless
desire to protect her family from
harm.

Alternatively,
Eveline's paralysis could be a result of her
unwillingness to rely yet again
on a man for salvation. One of the most important themes of
Joyce's short
story is the oppression of women in Irish society. Eveline is trapped in her
dour
situation because she is forced to rely on a man, even a man as
loathsome and useless as her
father, to survive. In that case, escaping with
Frank would only be more of the same; Eveline
would once again be relying on
a man to survive. It's possible that Eveline realizes this fact
and, even
though she has little to live for at home, decides not to leave with Frank in order
to
rebel against the sexist laws that govern her society. 

In the end, it's
impossible to say for sure exactly why Eveline is
paralyzed. However, the complexity of the tale
ensures that plenty of
possibilities exist, including those touched on in this

answer.