English language Comprehension: Revision Ideas.
Eveline by James Joyce.
‘ in my beginning is my end.’ (T.S.Eliot)
Remember that any exploration of the structure of a text needs you to consider the impact of the resolution/ending. Think about the way the structure of the text leads to the ending, perhaps anticipating it clearly, perhaps surprising us with the unexpected.
Perspective, setting, tone, dialogue, sentence forms and temporal shifts should all contribute to the structure of the narrative and make the resolution/ending compelling.
Please read the story thinking about the way the writer explores the protagonist’s dilemma. Pay particular attention to the structure of the story and also how language is used in the opening two paragraphs.
Finally, consider the effect of the pronouns in the last paragraph and also the significance of both the simile and the triple. How is the protagonist’s psychological paralysis communicated by Joyce? Remember a character can choose NOT to act and this can be as powerfully affecting as acting upon a choice.
- When you are considering the structure of any text you must always consider how the text moves towards the resolution at the end. Endings are crucial and influence the entire organisation of any text. The effect on the reader is a crucial element of the resolution.
- The beginning of a text should establish the tone and situation of the protagonist. What are you expecting in this text and how is this reinforced by the structural techniques?
- The choice of register gives clues to establish the protagonist’s situation whether in terms of mood or profession.
- Look for contrast or conflict. This can be achieved through shifts in perspective. Whose head are we in?
- Identify any use of foreshadowing.
- Talk about denouement if appropriate. Or the penultimate paragraph too. Endeavour to use the language of a thoughtful reader.
Let’s look at Eveline, particularly in terms of its structure.
Joyce begins Eveline’s story with an apparently simple evocation of the eponymous protagonist ‘ watching’ from the window.’ This establishes the protagonist as a ruminative, potentially even nostalgic character, though such an expectation is undermined by the conflict communicated by the verb ‘invaded’ which suggests something unsettling and unresolved in the mind of the protagonist. It is a verb of warfare and violation and we sense the end of the day feels fraught because something important is approaching time-wise, perhaps where she may be compelled to make a decision. We sense she is in a crisis or state of conflict, despite the ostensible simplicity of the opening.
The second paragraph uses flashbacks to transport the reader into the protagonist’s past which appears relatively happy although there are hints at different losses. The isolation of the present is diluted through the expository details of her family and neighbours she once played with. Once again, an unsettling verb upsets the narrative and the verb ‘hunt’ communicates something violent about Eveline’s father and her family life. This reflection is specifically about the protagonist’s personal life which heightens the conflict when the Volta,’ Home!’ Is announced at the beginning of the next paragraph. The Volta brings the reader into the immediate vicinity of the protagonist with severe doubt cast on the emotional value of such an ambivalent domestic life when the dominant sense is one of neglect underlined by the ironically revealing mention of the ‘broken harmonium’ and then compounded by the use of direct speech to reveal how under-appreciated the protagonist is at work too.
‘Miss Hill … ladies are waiting’
The focus on the polite form of warfare at work precipitates her consolation in the projected future abroad represented through Eveline’s thoughts on her future marriage and the explicit acknowledgement of her father’s capacity for violence.
Contrast is shown between her father’s treatment of her brothers and herself and yet the end of the paragraph surprises the reader with the stoical admission that such a fraught life was not ‘wholly undesirable.’ How damned with faint praise!
This admission is juxtaposed to the protagonist’s reflections on Frank so again we are transported back into Eveline’s past perhaps suggesting her need to convince herself once more about her decision to elope.
The repetition of the pronoun ‘he’ establishes his new dominance in her life yet might indicate his unfamiliarity with her world and thus foreshadow their final estrangement at the end of the text when her uncertainty about the elopement is bleakly explored through the frantic dialogue where his imperative: ’Come!’ Is undermined by the repeated epiphany, ‘No! ‘.
The last paragraph resolves her dilemma through the contrast between his verbs of action and desperate decisiveness and her paralysed immobility which concludes with the detached disassociation of the triple: no sign of love or farewell or recognition. Eveline’s paralysis results in a steady rejection of her liver to the point where he is no longer even recognised and has lost his first name to Eveline’s detached pronouns which are repeated to reveal her decision not to accompany him abroad, not even to acknowledge him in any personal way at all. He is finally dead to her, seemingly forever. But is she dead to herself too in this negation of her one opportunity perhaps for happiness?
