Joyce, James - Eveline’s consideration of life

-An extract from Eveline: the first part of the story-

Title: Seeking for a new life/Eveline’s consideration of life.
Setting: the story begins on an evening in a residential section of Dublin in 1900 and the story takes place principally in Eveline’s room. It ends the same evening at a dock.
Description of the room: dark and dust characterize the room.
How Eveline feels: she feels tired.
The world outside the window maker her think about her childhood; she remembers the field where she and other children played until a man bought it and built houses there.
Eveline’s father used to interfere with their play in the field; she fears her father, because he’s a violent and uncontrolled man.
Eveline notices in her room the picture of a priest; next to this picture there are the promises made to blessed Mary Margaret Alacoque.
These objects share their being old and dusty.
Eveline considers her job dull and her superior abusive.

Eveline has agreed to become Frank’s wife and to leave her home for Buenos Aires; she wants to leave home because his boyfriend is a sailor and her father quarrelled with him since he disgusted sailors.
Frank is Eveline’s boyfriend and he’s a sailor.
Eveline remembers Frank’s vourtship, his being kind, open-hearted and lively.
Eveline’s father didn’t accept the young man (Frank), as he hated sailors.
The sound of a street organ reminds her of the night when her mother died and how her father had paid a street organ player to move off.
Eveline sees her mother’s life as a ‘life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness’; her last words were “derevaun seraun!”, which meant “the end of pleasure is pain”.
Eveline is caught between a future far from her family with Frank (escape) and the passivity of her home city (paralysis).
Frank represents to her the possibility to escape from her home city.