Module 3 - #2 - Why is it in this unit?

2/8/2014

In a well-organized response, discuss why “Eveline” by James Joyce is part of the Death and Loss unit. Be sure to use textual reference to support your ideas.

Response: Choose one student to respond to regarding his/her post.

13 Comments

Cole

2/10/2014 05:45:26 am

"Eveline" is in the Death & Loss Unit because the story is about her losing the man she was going to go away with. Even though in the end of the story, it was her decision to not get on the boat with him, she still lost him. Not only did she lose him, but she also lost the seemingly wonderful life that he was offering to her. Another reason the story is in this unit is because the reason her dad is the way he is,is because he lost his wife, Eveline's mother, to an illness. Before that, he never treated her the way he does now.

Alyssa Saggio

2/13/2014 01:22:07 pm

While I do agree with some of your interpretations, I do not agree with the beginning of what your blog post was about. Although Eveline did lose Frank, she knew that she was not in love with him. In my opinion, this does not really contribute to the Death and Loss unit as a whole. You stated yourself in your response that she is, in fact, the one who chose to stay in Dublin with her loved ones, therefore this should not matter because she is able to weigh out the pros and cons of leaving, choosing what was most important for herself. On the other hand, I do agree with the topic of Eveline's mother passing away. On the other hand, I am pretty sure that her father was not only abusive after her mother passed. The author states, "People would treat her with respect then. She would not be treated as her mother had been," so I immediately thought of this as his abusiveness. But that's just my opinion.

Devin Blattner

2/10/2014 06:20:00 am

Like I learned in one of the hyperbook sections, death and loss leads to grief. Grief doesn't only happen when someone dies. It can also happen when you lose something you love, when you're missing something or someone dearly or when a person has to give something up and move on. In my opinion, 'Eveline' by James Joyce is in the Death & Loss unit because she is leaving behind her childhood and losing the house where she has grown up in because she is moving on to the next chapter with her life. Eventually everyone experiences this type of situation but each person may react differently. Some may be happy to leave and start a new chapter in their life but others may grieve it and not want to leave behind their childhood and the house that they grew up in. Also there might be feelings of both excitement and grief when faced with a situation like this.

Mrs. Erdman

2/10/2014 06:33:45 am

Devin,
I really like that you are connecting the activities in this unit. Completion of the hyperbook at the end of the unit doesn't allow for that connection, so I'm happy to see that you are working on the hyperbook and the topics throughout the unit. This really adds another dimension to the discussion. Well done!

Kasey Gallagher

2/13/2014 09:52:59 am

I agree with Mrs. Erdman! The connection to loss leading to grief was really clever. I think you pointed out a lot of things in a different way than the rest of us did.

Alyssa Saggio

2/10/2014 04:00:59 pm

Overall, it seems to be that not only has death been an inconvenience for people in the stories that I've read throughout the Death and Loss unit, but I also found that it changes a person's everyday routine. "Eveline," in particular faces major struggles in her life as a small child. Once her mother passes away and her older brother dies, she is left to take care of her family as much as she can for as long as possible, due to her mother's dying wishes. Although Eveline seems to be miserable living her new life as the entire support for her father, herself, and the small children she looks after while dealing with her demanding boss, she respects what her mother asks of her. She knows that it is unreasonable and simply wrong to run off with some man who she is clearly not even in love with in order to escape her problems. It seems as though she grieves not only for the loss of her mother and brother but also for her happy childhood memories. Similarly to "A Shocking Accident," Eveline loses a parent whom she is very close with and must face this for the rest of her life. Just as the character Jerome in "A Shocking Accident" lived his life in fear of what people would think of his new life without his father or how his father had passed, Eveline too fears that making the wrong decision will leave a detrimental impact on her family, scarring her for life. I believe the story, "Eveline" is a large contribution in showing readers that no matter how hard a person may try, they will never truly be able to escape the death of loved ones nor can they escape death themselves.

Alyson Picione

2/14/2014 01:10:51 pm

I agree that Eveline feels weighed down by her mother's wishes and feels obligated to stay around to take care of her father for her mother's sake. I also feel as though she is using this obligation as an excuse to get of leaving with Frank because she doesn't really love him.

Kasey Gallagher

2/11/2014 06:18:00 am

I think Eveline can be considered a story of loss and death because Eveline is held back by her past and all the people she has lost.
In the beginning of the story she is looking out a window, thinking about her childhood. She recalls all the times she played in the big field with the other kids in her neighborhood. She says that it was a different time and her father had not been so bad. But now her mother and brother are dead, as well as some of the children she used to play with and others have moved away. She says that "When they were growing up... only for her dead mother's sake." She also tells us that her brother Ernest is dead and her other brother Harry is always away from home because he works for the church. When her mother died and Eveline made a promise to her and her promise was "to keep the home together as long as she could". Through the whole story, we see how the losses and deaths in Eveline's life have affected the way she grows up and the way she sees the world. I think this is why Eveline belongs in this unit.

Brian Burke

2/11/2014 08:27:09 am

"Eveline" was actually a very interesting story. It was not clear if she was going to immediately die or move on to something different in her like. I’d assume she was about to die. The story fits into our unit with ease. Joyce as an author is able to present a story of which relates to himself. “Eveline” shows the life of this troubled individual. The character is facing death in the story. It is not the actual death, but most likely the days building up. Eveline in the story reflects on many aspects of her life. She explores her childhood and the lasting effect of her drunken father. Eveline also faces the death of her mother which leaves her stuck with her father. The death & lost unit not only deals with just the passings(death) but the interpretations of them. A large part of the unit is how different individuals portray death in works of literature. Eveline’s thoughts had her looking at her unwholly past. She was preparing to say goodbye to what she knew. Eveline began to let go at the end of the story. This can be seen through the quote, “Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition”. At this point of the story, Eveline shows her acceptance with moving on. Her “Once lover” cries out for her and reaches out, yet Eveline keeps both hands on the rail. This part of the story can strongly relate to the death & loss unit showing that death can come in different forms. Such as the letting go of something from the past and moving forward.

Cole

2/13/2014 08:51:35 am

It's interesting how you assumed that she was dying in the beginning. I really didn't interpret that at all. I'm curious as to what made you think that right off the bat. But I'm a little confused as to what you mean when you say "It is not the actual death, but most likely the days building up." Do you mean that her tough, stressful life is slowly getting to her? Also, I agree with you about the main character being closely related to the author. I did that other blog post on this story and when I was reading the author's biography, I almost felt like i was reading the main characters biography. In the end of the story when you said that she's accepting that she's moving on, I think it's the opposite. I think that she accepted the fact that she can't quite move on because of her responsibilities at home.

Devin Blattner

2/13/2014 09:01:55 am

Brian, in my opinion and from what I understood from reading 'Eveline', it didn't seem like the character Eveline was anywhere close to dying. I'm not really sure if I'm understanding your post fully but I don't believe that Eveline was going to die anytime soon after the story ended. I guess everyone interprets stories differently which is totally normal since we all have different thinking processes but I don't really agree with anything you said.

Alyson Picione

2/11/2014 09:18:00 am

Everyone has their own unique way of dealing with death and loss. I believe that "Eveline" is part of this unit because it is about how Eveline and her family deal with the death of her mother. Evelne deals with her mothers death by taking on her mother's role and stretches herself thin to do everything her mother would normally do. That is shown in this quote, "She had hard work to keep the house together and to see that the two young children who had been left to hr charge went to school regularly and got their meals regularly. It was hard work -- a hard life -- but now that she was about to leave it she did not find it a wholly undesirable life." Eveline finds a man that she loves, but she is not able to put her mother and life behind her to leave with him. On the other side of the coin, her father deals with her mother's death by lashing out towards Eveline. He was not normally that way with Eveline because in the story she says, " When they were growing up he had never gone for her like he used to go for Harry and Ernest, because she was a girl but latterly he had begun to threaten her and say what he would do to her only for her dead mother's sake. And no she had nobody to protect her."

Tori McCaslin

2/11/2014 09:53:38 am

I think that the short story “Eveline” is part of the Death and Loss unit because everything that Eveline goes through is all connected to death and loss. She is constantly being held back by the people she has lost and it has kept her from living a full life. When her mother passes away and her brother dies, she is left to help support and raise her younger siblings. She also needed to become her father’s main support. Although she honors her mothers wishes, she wishes that she could run off with a man that she doesn’t seem to love, but would help escape her problems.

You begin to realize that Eveline doesn’t only grieve the loss of her mother and brother, but for her childhood as well. She had to grow up taking care of her family instead of living a normal childhood with friends. Growing up with the loss of a parent is never easy and that took a huge toll on her. The story Eveline shows readers that no one can escape death and you must deal with it, you can’t run away from it. That is why this story is in the Death and Loss Unit.

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Module 3 - #2 - Why is it in this unit?

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