What does James Joyce mean by the name Eveline? From his collection of stories, Dubliners, “Eveline” is the tale of a young women at the moment of her decision to stay or leave the town of Dublin. At first glance, sure, the name “Eveline” is just a name for this character. It can be interpreted as simply letters strung together on paper to create a word. However, Joyce is well-known for his tendency to select names in his writings that relate to a larger universe around him. Names are significant for their power to construct identity for a person. It is crucial in providing social history and context, especially for human-beings. The name Eveline is therefore significant in understanding “Eveline” because it solves literary identity, symbolism,
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The name Eveline must have an artistic value as well. Edna O ' Brien emphasizes Joyce 's artistic value in constructing a name as she comments in a biography about the intelligent author, “[h]e would pore over each word not only for its rhythm, its sense, its aptness, its beauty, its vulgarity, its myriad association, but [also] for its prophetic core” (99). Joyce’s style provides elemental sound, sight and feeling for the reader to understand more clearly the significance of the story. He takes ordinary events and characters and gives them significance through his prophetic words. In the story of “Eveline” Joyce notes each place in Dublin very distinctly. He does not omit their title, nor create a name for the place out of thin air. “Pim’s retail store on Grant George’s Street” is an actual place that provides meaning to the author and shows the significance that Joyce desires for each aspect of his story (Joyce 28). If this is how it is for a place, then why not also Eveline’s name? The “Hill of Howth” where Eveline’s family goes to have picnics on nice days is also a place where Joyce could have visited in real time in Dublin …show more content…
Joyce’s identity is illuminated through Eveline’s name and its associations in Dublin and how she connects to the world around her. Joyce’s knowledge is established through his efforts to find meaning in each occasion and encounter with others. Eveline’s symbolic meaning as the life and light of the story draws her nature for being very affectionate and giving, romantic and intuitive, passionate and confused. For the reader, Eveline’s name is significant as the name becomes the “human being’s social identity” (Rytnes 163). The name sholds social history, power and context as a “powerful linguistic means of asserting identity and inhabiting a social world” (Rytnes 165). I also felt the elemental sound, sight and feeling of Eveline’s name as I discovered what a name can mean, personally, socially, and in so much more context than just simple letters fittest together to create a sound of a word. “Eveline” has
The name Eveline must have an artistic value as well. Edna O ' Brien emphasizes Joyce 's artistic value in constructing a name as she comments in a biography about the intelligent author, “[h]e would pore over each word not only for its rhythm, its sense, its aptness, its beauty, its vulgarity, its myriad association, but [also] for its prophetic core” (99). Joyce’s style provides elemental sound, sight and feeling for the reader to understand more clearly the significance of the story. He takes ordinary events and characters and gives them significance through his prophetic words. In the story of “Eveline” Joyce notes each place in Dublin very distinctly. He does not omit their title, nor create a name for the place out of thin air. “Pim’s retail store on Grant George’s Street” is an actual place that provides meaning to the author and shows the significance that Joyce desires for each aspect of his story (Joyce 28). If this is how it is for a place, then why not also Eveline’s name? The “Hill of Howth” where Eveline’s family goes to have picnics on nice days is also a place where Joyce could have visited in real time in Dublin …show more content…
Joyce’s identity is illuminated through Eveline’s name and its associations in Dublin and how she connects to the world around her. Joyce’s knowledge is established through his efforts to find meaning in each occasion and encounter with others. Eveline’s symbolic meaning as the life and light of the story draws her nature for being very affectionate and giving, romantic and intuitive, passionate and confused. For the reader, Eveline’s name is significant as the name becomes the “human being’s social identity” (Rytnes 163). The name sholds social history, power and context as a “powerful linguistic means of asserting identity and inhabiting a social world” (Rytnes 165). I also felt the elemental sound, sight and feeling of Eveline’s name as I discovered what a name can mean, personally, socially, and in so much more context than just simple letters fittest together to create a sound of a word. “Eveline” has