Narrative Consciousness and Character Psychology in James Joyce’s “Eveline”

This study holds an interest in the short story “Eveline” by James Joyce as a psychological story that projects a realistic description of an individual’s complex thoughts at moments of decision. A nineteen-year-old woman, Eveline stands by a window in her room watching the evening and listening to passing footsteps but meanwhile brings into her mind memories and thoughts about herself and her family, past, present, and future. By using the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud of the conscious and the unconscious, this article endeavors to elucidate Joyce’s narration of Eveline’s stream of consciousness as she decides to elope with her lover Frank. While representing the character’s psychological structure graphically, I demonstrate that her psychic activity consists of repressed energy and of activity of all levels of consciousness. Finally, this study ultimately presents a feminist and materialist analysis of “Eveline” that projects the conditions of early twentieth- century Dublin.