eveline.

1. Eveline is a short story about a girl name Eveline, who fears a new life and rejects escaping her hard life at home and going to Buenos Ayres with her love, Frank.

2. Leveled Questions
Level One
Who is Eveline’s lover?
Level Two
After all, why doesn’t Eveline want to go to Buenos Ayres with Frank?
Level Three
Why would one fear a new life?

3. Observation
The theme of this story is that fear can be larger than life itself. Eveline’s fears allowed her to shutdown this lover she had, Frank. Unlike the boy in Araby, she actually had a lover who loved her back and wanted her to go abroad to Buenos Ayres to live with him. The boy in Araby wanted Magnan’s sister to like him back as much as he liked her, thus, he wanted to go to the bazaar and buy her something nice. Eveline feared the start of a new life in Buenos Ayres. She also feared escaping this hard life home, which she was so used to. She was afraid that Frank “would drown her” (Joyce, 27).

Joyce gives us plenty of detail on Eveline’s life and how it was hard. I started to gain sympathy for Eveline as Joyce talked about her life. I found myself feeling sorry for her. However, the fact that she denied the opportunity of a new life lowered my amount of sympathy for her. I would not call Eveline stupid for not taking the opportunity because I can tell that she seriously does have a huge amount of fear of something new, which she never really had. Eveline feared something that she had never been able to do and she was never around someone like Frank who cared and loved her so much, thus, she could not find so much trust in Frank to go off and live with him.

Many times while reading the story I tried to put myself in Eveline’s shoes and think of what I would do if I were her. My decision would have been proudly starting a new life, but obviously it is not easy for Eveline to just go about it as easily as it may seem for someone like me to say. I can say that I have never been in a situation like Eveline, like living a hard life like her and having to make a decision to go to another country to start a new life. As happy as it sounds (yayyy, a new life!), it may not be that easy for others. I really do wish Eveline would not have been so fearful and taken the chance. She could not know the outcome unless she tried starting the ‘new’ life in Buenos Ayres.

Another thought I have is; how can you just start a completely ‘new’ life? There are always going to be memories you have that may or may not haunt you. It is impossible to just forget everything that you have came across before in your life. There are still things that are going to stick with you your whole life. I think this is something else to think about considering Eveline’s rejection of going to Buenos Ayres.