"Eveline"

In the short story, "Eveline" by James Joyce, the narrator, Eveline, debates whether or not she wants to run away with her lover, Frank, to live in Buenos Ayres. When he tells her to come along onto the boat she realizes that, "All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them: he would drown her. She gripped with both hands at the iron railing." This statement shows how the author uses irony to demonstrate Eveline's internal struggles. In the beginning of the story, the mood was dark and depressed and the narrator described her family life to be like a prison. As she spoke about Frank, he became the one hope for Eveline and the only escape route from having the same fate as her mother, death. Now that Eveline is staring at her final decision to have a new life, she realizes that it would be a mistake to go with him and her guilt overwhelms her heart. Earlier in the passage, she states her realization that her father would miss her, despite his cruelty and her fear of his violence; she would feel bad leaving him. This is ironic considering up till now all Eveline was thinking about was her new journey with Frank and how adventurous and amazing it was going to be.

It is interesting that the author writes that the seas “would drown her” and Frank would be “drawing her into them,” this diction exposes Eveline’s fears of the future with Frank as being similar to her father’s past actions. Just before Eveline makes this connection Frank says to her to “come” as if she were an animal. Frank’s shift in his tone changes the reader’s attitude towards Frank to be skeptical; this was Joyce’s way to trigger Eveline’s epiphany. The imagery Joyce uses to describe how Eveline was holding the railing symbolizes her clenching onto her last strands of dignity. She did not want to go with him because she did not want to leave to get herself into the same situation; which was exactly what the author wanted the reader to predict would happen. The quote makes a large contribution to the story as a whole since it is used as a turning point in the plot and contradicts most of the reader’s insights.

"An Encounter"

In the story, "An Encounter" by James Joyce, the two main characters come across a strange man during their journey for adventure and excitement. The narrator of the story reveals that he is frightened by this man through various references in the text to obsessive behavior. After Mohony returns, the speaker describes Mohony's running as "He ran as if to bring me aid." The narrator also states that, "...for in my heart I had always despised him a little." The only reason Mohony would have to bring the narrator aid is because of the old man. This then demonstrates that Mohony had understood the unusual characteristics the man was displaying which prompted him to nonchalantly distract himself so he could be away from the old man. When he left, the narrator felt defenseless and alone because his companion abandoned him. The narrator channeled that panic on Mohony and revealed to the reader that he did not like Mohony’s personality. The language used intensifies the tone of the narrator when he says he “despised him” as opposed to disliked him. The use of such a strong word as despised confirms that the narrator has an opposite personality than Mohony and that they must disagree often.
When the narrator realizes that Mohony “runs as if to bring aid,” he realizes that Mohony had known that the man was strange the entire time and did not tell or ask the narrator to come along with him to leave the man. This exposes the question of: why would a friend leave when their comrade is in or near danger? This discovery reveals a lot about the narrator and Mohony’s character. Since the author wrote “for in my heart” it shows that the narrator is one who will not confront problems and who sometimes denies the truth. Earlier in the text the narrator had turned down a fight and advised Mohony not to fight either, which further exhibits that the narrator is not confrontational. During the last two lines in the reading, the reader is asking themselves why Mohony had seemed to intentionally leave the narrator alone with the man. Earlier on in the story, Mohony brings a catapult to shoot at birds and tries to start fights with kids. These ruthless actions are examples of how the character does not care for other beings and therefore could not care about the narrator’s safety. The fact that the narrator had secretly disliked Mohony and Mohony did not care about the narrator reveals that there is an unspoken tension between the two characters. This can let the reader infer that there had been a previous disagreement between the two or that the author is foreshadowing a possible argument. Therefore, the quotation at the end of this story enhances the character’s personalities and exposes the untold relationship between the two main characters.

"The Sisters"

In the story "The Sisters," in the novel "The Dubliners" by James Joyce, one of the sisters speaks to the narrator and her aunt about a deceased priest they have been taking care of. The sister describes some memories of the priest, Father James Flynn, and about when he first started acting strange. "It was that chalice he broke," she remembers, "that was the beginning of it." A chalice is a cup that the communion wine is held and it is ironic that a priest would break a cup that holds "the blood of Christ." Although the chalice had nothing in it, it is suppose to contain the Holy Spirit and since Father Flynn dropped it, he subconsciously dropped his faith in God. In the story, it says that James felt guilty for dropping something that symbolizes Christ and that is so important to his faith. Due to Father Flynn's regret he began wandering around by himself and sneaking into the church at night, which demonstrates that James did not consciously intend to drop the chalice. Since he dropped the chalice, it symbolizes that he unconsciously no longer had faith in God and that his life-long occupation no longer seemed to have a foundation. Earlier in the novel, the main character has a flashback to when Father Flynn was explaining to her the Catholic faith and tried to get her to become more interested in her religion. Since James did not consciously believe in God this scene seems to have contradicted its purpose to the story, which demonstrates the irony of a priest unconsciously losing his faith. Therefore, the quote in this scene tells us that the author's intentions for the reader was to reconsider their attitudes of the priest from being dependable and trustworthy to being skeptical and deceitful.