"Eveline" by James Joyce

Within James Joyce’s short story “Eveline,” the theme of “spiritual paralysis” becomes apparent. While many places and countries today spark hope and excitement for the future, Joyce described Dublin within this story as a town full of people frozen into “spiritual paralysis.” They have no hope or no expectations for things to get better, and just like the word describes, they are paralyzed, or unable to move or change. This theme comes to life especially for Eveline. Even though she does not have an easy life and has been abused by her father in the past, she cannot, in the end, bring herself to leave Dublin. The story states, “Her father was becoming old lately, she noticed; he would miss her,” (Joyce, 220). She cannot get past the idea of disappointing her father and straying from the norm, and it prevents her from leaving. The city and the troubles she faces are all Eveline knows, and she becomes too stuck in that state of security with what she knows that she cannot escape it. She is truly spiritually paralyzed. The final expression of spiritual paralysis within “Eveline” is at the close of the story, when she chooses not to leave for Buenos Aires with Frank, a sailor. The uncertainty of the future is too much, and Eveline remains in Dublin.