English Litreture Responsibility, Obligation, Suffering and Sacrifice Thesis

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English Litreture

Responsibility, Obligation, Suffering and Sacrifice in James Joyce's Eveline

Eveline, by James Joyce, tells the story of a young woman with an unhappy life due to the responsibilities placed on her by others, as well as those she has placed on herself. Eveline's life is controlled and constrained by the responsibilities which have created obligations and suffering. Eveline's life has become inescapable, even when she has the chance to run away to Buenos Aires with the man she loves, she finds herself unable to run away from her responsibilities, accepting a life of obligation and suffering. Joyce appears to be showing the reader that responsibility causes suffering, and that despite the feeling of obligations, the suffering is eventually meaningless, bringing nothing but more misery.

Eveline is the story of a women reminiscing and reconsidering her decision to leave Dublin for a new life. Her life has not been happy, even in her childhood her father is portrayed as brutish, hunting his children down with a blackthorn stick when they played in the fields (Joyce 1). This is the past and the melancholy feeling the narrative provides is emphasized by with the accounting of those who have been lost, including her mother and eldest brother Ernest.

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The link between responsibility, obligation and suffering is seen with Eveline's mother before she dies. Eveline remembers her father and the beating he gave to his children, but also remembers he was not as bad when her mother was alive. The responsibilities and obligations of motherhood are vast, and Joyce may be alluding to the mother tempering the fathers' behavior, possible by providing another outlet for his frustrations, alternatively, the presence of the love and protection of a mother may have lessened the impact, especially when examined in hindsight. The responsibility of her as both a wife and a mother, running the house and looking after those around her appear to have had a negative impact as Joyce describes her life as one live where "commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness" (Joyce 3). As Eveline was now the women of the house there would be a natural progression for her to take on the responsibilities of her mother. However, this responsibility was not only taken on, it was placed on her; before dying her other died she had made Eveline promise she would keep the family together as long as possible. This promise….....

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