7. Eveline, By James Joyce (1914)

7. Eveline, By James Joyce (1914)

Rating: 7/10

Eveline, as a 19-year-old girl, had so many things to manage only by herself. She had to earn money for her family, and also endure the pain that her father gave. So there's no wonder that she wanted to escape. She tries to leave her homeland with her lover, Frank, but finally fails to. What could be the reason for her behavior? I focused on that point. First, she didn't really love Frank. She had a weary mind and body, suffering, so Frank was just an escape way for her to be free from reality. She had mistaken the sense of freedom for love. The only reason she chose Frank to leave with is that she loved him, but dimly noticing that she doesn't really love him, she couldn't follow him. Another reason is related with her mother said; "Derevaun Seraun", which means "At the end of pleasure, there is pain". If she had followed Frank, she would probably have had a better life even though it's quite uncertain. She will anyway be free from her aggressive father, and don't need to support her family all by herself. However, after the temporary pleasure, we don't know what kind of pain would have tormented her. Since she had kept hearing her mother repeatedly saying that word, she would have felt anxiety at the leaving moment and failed to leave. There is no certain reason to explain her behavior, but this is the way I thought. (244)

6. Araby, by James Joyce (1914)

6. Araby, by James Joyce (1914)

Rating: 8.5/10

This is the second time for me to read this story. The reason why I gave high rating to this story is because the hero's journey is well depicted in it. It talks about the boy's obstacles on the way to Araby, like uncle coming home late or train moving very slowly. At the end, the boy reaches Araby, but experiences failure and meets ephiphany. Like the other stories in Dubliners, Araby also has a theme of Ireland's paralysis and failure. Instead of that point, I want to focus on the boy's procedure of love. He had a very pure and naive feeling of love towards Mangan's sister, even having hardness to start conversation with her. So going to Araby and buying her a present would be a great pretext for him to be close with her. Unfortunately, he couldn't buy anything there. The story says that "Gazing up into the darkness I say myself as a creature driven and dereded by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger". I wondered why he would be so furious about failing to buy just a single present. I think it meant more for him than being sad about it. By this event, he had realized his position that he is just a feeble young boy not even being able to buy a present for his lover. (226)