“Eveline” is written from a third-person limited point of view, which means that the narrator is different from the protagonist Eveline but has insight into her thoughts. To create this effect, Joyce uses stream of consciousness. Instead of just describing how Eveline feels, Joyce uses language that mimics the flow of her thoughts. For example, after Eveline hears organ music and remembers her mother repeating the phrase “Derevaun Seraun!” during her illness, she:
“[...] stood up in a sudden impulse of terror. Escape! She [Eveline] must escape! Frank would save her. He would give her life, perhaps love, too. But she wanted to live. Why should she be unhappy? She had a right to happiness. Frank would take her in his arms, fold her in his arms. He would save her.”
Joyce uses associative thought to imitate Eveline’s mind as it leaps from thought to thought. The ideas in the passage are nonlinear, connected not by logical transitions but rather by Eveline’s feelings. First comes the feeling of terror, which leads Eveline to think of escaping Dublin, perhaps out of fear of ending up dead (whether literally or figuratively) like her mother. This desire to leave then makes her think of Frank and their potential marriage and life in Buenos Ayres, and the idea of this new future and the hope it inspires leads Eveline to insist on her “right to happiness.” Finally, her thoughts return to Frank again, ending with the resolute belief that he will save her. Each sentence follows Eveline’s developing thoughts, giving the reader greater access into her emotions and making her ongoing dilemma all the more dramatic.
In addition, repetition, a characteristic trait of stream of consciousness, occurs in the passage above. Eveline thinks that Frank will save her both at the beginning and end of the passage. Joyce makes use of repetition in general throughout the story to reflect the repeating, cyclical nature of Eveline’s thoughts as she struggles to decide whether to stay in Dublin or leave for an unknown future. For example, the word “home” appears 10 times in the story, emphasizing its significance to Eveline. Eveline is pulled between memories of her past at home (despite her confining circumstances) and fantasies of her potential future with Frank, and this indecisiveness eventually leads to her paralysis before boarding the ship for Buenos Ayres.
