Vying for Ownership: Eveline

In Women In Joyce, Suzette Henke and Elaine Unkeless note that “Joyce pits men against women in his tales, [and] it can be proved that drastic economic and social pressures actually forced Dubliners into such situations of frustration, deprivation, and hostility” (53.) In Joyce’s “Eveline,” father and lover are pitted simultaneously against Eveline, vying for ownership of her. Through her thoughts and memories Eveline realizes that she can chose neither Frank nor her father- both …

…this incident, as well. This final deprivation of self, is in fact, perhaps not so simple: it seems to be an actualization of self, of Eveline’s own needs which are totally different then what her father and Frank make them out to be. In the battle for control of Eveline, neither man wins, but Eveline stands completely alone at the end of the tale, clutching an iron railing and frozen within her own thoughts.