`Eveline` and `Boardinig House` by James Joyce

James Joyce ' Short Stories

There can be many reasons why short stories that were penned by James Joyce endured to become classics . It can be his ability to bring the reader into a particular time and place , making them feel as if they are there like witnesses to a very interesting personal tale of people struggling to survive in a world that is full of challenges

Great like Mr . Joyce can guide a reader into discovering a lesson or truth that otherwise would not have been obvious without the help of the

wordsmith . This is made possible by Joyce 's ability to describe the feeling of a person when faced with a certain dilemma . The writer is obviously an astute student of human nature and when he begins to pain his characters so well that the reader is in for a treat

Eveline

The narrator sees the whole landscape from the eyes of Eveline the main character . The reader then gets a tour of her world through her eyes . It is clear that Joyce wanted the reader to first , empathize with Eveline Secondly he wanted the reader to see her need to go away . And finally Joyce wanted the reader to get a feeling that Eveline 's hometown is small , with very limited opportunities while the world out there is so big waiting to be explored

The plot construction is very admirable . Joyce was like a builder that started first with the foundation and then created a framework from which he can attach the major pieces and then finally the finishing touches as the story gets its resolution phase . Joyce began by letting the narrator describe Eveline 's world . In doing so Joyce achieved two things . He first showed that once upon a time , Eveline had a happy childhood . And then he showed that her world began to crumble

The happy past was described using the following line One time there used to be a field there in which they used to play every evening with other people 's children . And then with sudden force without warning the sad part came rushing with this excerpt , That was a long time ago she and her brothers ad sisters were all grown up her mother was dead

Then this gradually builds into a crescendo of pain and unhappiness as Joyce began to describe how Eveline 's father became a drunkard and alluded to his increasing violence towards the children . Joyce did not stop there . He began to paint a claustrophobic world where Eveline was reduced to being a slave for her father and two little siblings . If this was not enough Joyce added a few more villains into the plot by introducing Eveline 's employer Miss Gavan , whom Joyce described saying that , She had always had an edge on her , especially whenever there were people listening

The major catalyst for her idea to leave her hellish existence came in the form of Frank the sailor whom she fell in love with...