Like the rest of the stories in Dubliners, “Eveline” takes place in early 20th-century Dublin, James Joyce’s place of origin. Published in 1914, it captures Dublin during the rise of Irish Nationalism, a time characterized by great change, transformation, and a search for identity. At the time, Great Britain occupied Ireland, and Irish Nationalists supported Irish independence. Ireland’s broader conflict between stability and change is reflected throughout Dubliners, as characters find themselves in moments of transformation that lead them to new realizations. In “Eveline,” the titular character must decide whether to leave the familiarity of Dublin for an unknown future with her romantic interest, Frank, in Buenos Ayres.
On a more specific level, most of the story takes place in Eveline’s family home. The story opens with her looking out the window:
“[...] watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne. She was tired.”
The setting in this passage reflects Eveline’s inner conflict. The window is, by nature, a kind of mediator between indoors and outdoors, which reflects her predicament of choosing between the past she knows (symbolized by her familiar home) and an uncertain future full of changes (symbolized by the outside world and the darkness “invad[ing] the avenue” to change day into night). Her passive position behind the window, still and “tired” while the world goes on around her, foreshadows the end of the story, when she feels paralyzed and can’t bring herself to get on the boat to Buenos Ayres with Frank.
Moreover, the street below triggers memories of landmarks and people from Eveline’s past:
“One time there used to be a field in which they used to play every evening with other people’s children. Then a man from Belfast bought the field and built houses in it—not like their little brown houses but bright brick houses with shining roofs.”
In this sense, Eveline’s window becomes a portal into a past that no longer exists, and her nostalgia contributes to her indecisiveness about leaving Dublin and eventual paralysis. And the avenue beyond Eveline’s window not only represents the passage of time—evident in the “new red houses” replacing the “little brown houses”—but also death:
“That was a long time ago; [Eveline] and her brothers and sisters were all grown up; her mother was dead. Tizzie Dunn was dead, too, and the Waters had gone back to England. Everything changes.”
It’s significant that Eveline lists people who have moved away interspersed with people who have died, as this suggests that—at least in her mind—leaving Dublin isn’t all that different from dying. This is largely because, as a Catholic with a strong belief in self-sacrifice and duty to her family, Eveline feels obligated to stay here. Yet Eveline’s surroundings in the room, like the “dusty cretonne” curtains and the “yellowing photograph” of a priest hanging on the wall, also subtly evoke death and decay. Together, then, both Eveline’s room and the avenue outside create the sense that she is trapped and fated to experience a kind of mental or spiritual death, regardless of whether she chooses to stay or leave Dublin.
This sense of confinement mirrors the general experience of women at the time, as roles and expectations for women were extremely limited. As such, women like Eveline often saw men like Frank as their only means of escape or access to greater opportunities. The references to death both inside and outside Eveline’s home, however, suggest that she will feel trapped and dissatisfied no matter where she decides to go.
