Not an Epiphany but an Inertia: A Feminist Reading of Joyce's Eveline as a Mother Figure

For most of the critics and readers, with the publication of Joyce's Dubliners (1914), the modern short story appears on the literary scene. Distinctively, the collection gained more and profound attention than any other volume because of the uniqueness of Joyce idiosyncratic prose style, in particular, the concept of 'epiphany' or revelation. The aim of this paper, firstly, is to argue that the so-called epiphany is not present in all of the stories. In some of them, like Eveline, the epiphany is mistaken for inertia. Secondly, I will read the story from a feminist point of view. Highlighting feminist episodes within the story, this paper delves more into Eveline's character as a woman socially suppressed, contextualizing the male-dominated Irish society. Furthermore, Eveline is a mother figure for the family and her character is deeply rooted in Ireland tradition. She vacillates not because she is paralyzed but because she cannot imagine a new life outside Ireland, and finally, she makes a decision, and that decision is to stay

کلیدواژه ها:

Epiphany ، Eveline ، Feminist ، Inertia