What is Eveline's conflict and why?

struggles to
separate herself from religious and familial obligations.

In the story
"Eveline," Eveline suffers from what Joyce termed "paralysis." This is the
stultifying pull of external and moral forces, which are linked to the traditions of Catholicism
and the forces of the Irish culture.

In fact, the idea of this Joycean
paralysis drives the very narrative of "Eveline." From the beginning in which she sits
at the window, whose curtains smell of dusty cretonne, she is "tired." She mulls over
the pitiable state of her deceased mother, who was abused by Eveline's father, and she
"felt herself in danger of her father's violence," yet she feels an obligation to
honor her promises to her mother and the Blessed Mary Margaret Alacoque, and the need to stay
and protect her little brother from the abuse he may receive in her absence. Also, Eveline
reviews her subservience at work as Miss Gavan constantly admonishes her, "Miss Hill, don't
you see these ladies are waiting?" or "Look lively, Miss Hill, please."

That Eveline is paralyzed is evinced in her conclusion after these reflections at the
window that

[I]t was hard worka hard lifebut now that she
was about to leave it she did not find it a wholly undesirable life.

Further, there is no action in the narrative but that which takes
place in Eveline's mind. Her thoughts of leaving with Frank, a sailor (a man her father has
forbidden her to see), to the port city of Buenos Ayres, which at the time of this story
attracted many adventurers, end in inaction. For, "A bell clanged upon her heart,"
representing the duty evoked by Blessed Mary Margaret Alacoque, and Eveline cannot release her
grip upon the iron railing, which is symbolic of both the communion rail and her corroded ties
to her family. Finally, in her paralysis, Eveline is figuratively in irons, a prisoner of her
religious servility and her self-deception that she must stay to protect her brother and help
her father.