Eveline chooses fear and guilt
...g of guilt she has that her father will need her, she doubts her decision to leave. She plays tug of war with herself regarding the difficulties of her life and her question of “Why should she be unhappy?” (221). Eveline also agonizes over the fact that, although her life was hard, there had been happy times with her father and it was not a “wholly undesirable life” (220). These insights to her character help us feel her misery and why she struggles to make her choice. The author shows us the theme again by painting a very distinct picture of how poor and simple Eveline’s life is by presenting it to us in first person. The theme would not have been so clear if told from an omniscient perspective. Her inward struggle with wanting a better life versus the guilt of leaving this life behind can only be successfully described by the person living the struggle. We can feel her fear when she “stood up in a sudden impulse of terror” (221) and makes the decision to join Frank. We can feel her guilt when she is thinking of staying even “after all he (Frank) had done for her” (221). Then, once again we feel her fear when she realizes that by going along with Frank, “he was drawing her in and would drown her” (222). These journeys into her mind are what make the story interesting and they keep you invested in what happens to her. By being invested in Eveline’s plight, we are drawn into the author’s use of plot. Eveline is in person versus self conflict with having to make a decision throughout the story and this gives us a clear idea of how hard her choice is to make. He gives her a dilemma to deal with and by having he...