Eveline is a young woman torn between staying at her stifling Dublin home and escaping with her lover, Frank, to the unknown. Her life at home is hard; she has many obligations to fulfill on a daily basis, like cooking and managing money, and two children were left to her to be looked after:
She had hard work to keep the house together and to see that the two young children who had been left to her charge went to school regularly and got their meals regularly. It was hard work -- a hard life...
In addition to taking care of the household duties, she has to deal with her often drunk and abusive father who she is scared of. Not only does she have to attempt to prevent him from squandering all the money he earns, but she also has to worry about whether he would physically hurt her:
She sometimes felt herself in danger of her father's violence. She knew it was that that had given her the palpitations.
Eveline needs comfort and safety, and she feels she is unable to find this at her home.
Also, one of the things that Eveline feels paralyzed by is the promise that she made to her mother while she was still alive. She promised her that she would "keep the home together as long as she could."
All these responsibilities seem to prevent Eveline from thinking that it is possible to escape and embrace a more fulfilling life. The possibility of a new life becomes, after much deliberation on Eveline's part, a goal not achievable.
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