"Eveline" is an early Joyce story, and though he has not
yet developed full stream-of-consciousness narration, he is interested in and centers on
character thoughts. During this period of fiction writing, narration shifted from
realistic narration centering on what happens in characters' lives, to omniscient
narration centering on how characters experience what happens to them. Fiction centers
on character thoughts in order to reveal how humans experience
existence.
Thus, "Eveline" is third-person omniscient.
The story centers on her thoughts. The reader reads of her inner conflict, her
attitudes, her memories. She's conflicted about her role as caregiver--a role usually
reserved for a mother, not a sister--and her desire for a better life. She thinks of
the neighbor's house--he's an invading Protestant from the North. She remembers her
mother.
In the end, the reader sees "Eveline" freeze,
literally and figuratively, as she fails to escape and chooses to remain paralyzed and
blinded in Dublin.
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