Eveline's reasons for staying behind

A detailed Summary of Eveline's reasons for staying behind

James Joyce's "Eveline" tells the story of a teenage girl who has had a bad life and is given the chance to leave with someone who is seemingly the man of her dreams. He is nice to her, takes her places, and treats her like a queen. This was something she never got to experience during her childhood. Everything seemed to be going well until the very end of the story. In the end, Eveline decided not to leave. It was a last minute decision on Eveline's part. There was not really one particular reason for her staying behind. Several factors influenced her decision.

Her childhood was not a good one by any means. Her father was an alcoholic, and treated both Eveline and her mother with disrespect and cruelty. However, he did care for her when she was sick and was not totally unloving. She probably would have been a big help even if she wasn't forced to do so, but due to her father's sickness and inability to work and take care of the family, Eveline was forced to. She worked at a store, and took care of the brothers while her father drank away her earnings.

One of her reasons for not leaving was probably guilt. She would feel terrible if she left her family in such a state. Her remaining family would probably have sur

Before Eveline's mother had died, she made a promise to her that she would take care of the family. Eveline and her mother probably had a very good relationship between each other, and Eveline probably did not want to break this promise. If she just ran away with Frank, there would be no telling what could possibly happen to her father and the rest of her family. She felt obligated to stay, at least until the father got back on his feet, if that would ever happen. This need to stay is probably related to Eveline's religion, also.

Like stated earlier, Eveline had many reasons for not leaving. To the reader, it probably seems like she had every reason to leave, but if it's read a little deeper, it's obvious that not only did she want to stay, but she needed to. It wasn't any one particular reason that held her back. When she was about to get on the boat to go to Buenos Ayres with Frank, a lot of things were running through her head. She wondered if her family would be able to survive without the woman around the house that they got so accustomed to. The promise she made to her mother stayed sitting in the back of her mind. She realized that if she were to leave with Frank, she would be breaking her promise she had made to her mother. She didn't want society to have bad opinions and thoughts about her. After all, running away to a foreign country with a man you aren't married to isn't exactly great behavio

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Approximate Word count = 963
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English