How Does Eveline's Fear To Change

Eveline and Her Fear to Change
The story “Eveline”, written by James Joyce in 1915, describes the monotonous and conflicting life of a young lady who all her life has tried to look for others forgetting to decide over her own life. One may see how the environment affects Eveline life’s purpose, for she leaves the choice of her future to one man, reaffirming that her passivity hides her fear to change.

In Eveline's life there is a lack of purpose. When the Joyce describes Eveline's life he says, “She was tired,” suggesting there is no motivation for her, for she has a monotonous life. Furthermore, she does not have a goal in her life, but the necessity of keeping her promise to her mother: “Keep the house together” (Joyce). “She acts as wife

“She sometimes felt herself in danger of her father's violence,” says Joyce, suggesting the only parent figure she has on her life does not protect her as it is supposed to. In response to her lack of affection she develops an emotional bond with the only person in the story that cares for her, Frank. When Joyce says, “Frank would save her. He would give her life” (Joyce), implies she truly believes that Frank would change everything because she is unable to see the right path for her future and Joyce affirms, “She wanted to live.” After deciding to move to Buenos Aires the main character manifests how important is for her to leave her town, for she will have the opportunity she was waiting in order to change her life: “But in her new home, in a distant unknown country, it would not be like that” (Joyce). However, her passport to a new life implies a marriage commitment. The decision of getting married it is not based on her feelings for Frank, but on her willingness to run away, which means “Frank can be only a means of escape” (French 453). Repercussions of her past continue affecting Eveline’s present: she does not find herself able of leaving everything without putting the responsibility of her decision to Frank. Quite disappointing, the offer of the better future fails when Eveline’s passivity makes her lose the chance to a different

Conboy suggests, “Eveline’s passivity is explicit from the first line of the story” (410), as Joyce describes, “She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue.” A young lady that is not satisfied with life and find marriage as the only route to have a change. However, one more time someone decides where she is going because she could not decide for herself: “Her courage fails her in the confrontation with the unknown, and instead of taking the choice actively herself, she disclaims the responsibility and authority of her own life” (Boysen 161). Eveline could not understand her feelings and the idea of moving to Buenos Aires: “she always felt pleasantly confused” (Joyce). When the author ends the story says that “She set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition” (Joyce), what according to Boysen, “Since she is unable to follow Frank on the landing stage to the ferry, to have destroyed her individuality to such a degree that it reduces her to total an utter passivity” (161). Her body does not give her any response because she is terrified of changes more than to continue with her monotonous life. Joyce shows how Eveline gets used to certain things as people and places. However, the main character forgets to get to know herself and to build her future. The more she uses her past as an excuse to have an unsatisfactory life,