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Reading a Short Story

O ur lives are shaped by thousands of decisions. Some of them, such
as what to have for lunch, do not seem very important. Others,
however, such as where to go to college, which job to take, and whom to
W H AT S
AHEAD? marry, will have lasting consequences. Short stories often focus on a
In this section, you will moment of decision in the main characters life. The key to understand-
read a short story and ing peoples decisions is understandingthrough what they say and
learn how to dowhat kinds of people they are. The main character in James Joyces
analyze characteriza- short story Eveline, on the following page, faces a decision that could
tion
change her life forever.
make inferences
about characters

Preparing to Read
READING FOCUS Characterization When we breathlessly turn the pages of stories, it is
often because we care about the characters and want to find out what hap-
pens to them. How do writers make fictional characters seem so real? The
process by which a writer reveals the personality of a character is called
characterization. In addition to telling the reader directly what a character
is like, most writers also use action, dialogue, description, and the charac-
ters own thoughts and feelings to show who that character is. As you read
the short story on the following pages, look for ways the author tells and
shows you about the character Eveline.
READING SKILL Making Inferences About Characters When you meet new peo-
ple, you use information about what they wear, say, and do, as well as how
others react to them, to make inferences about them. That is, you apply
your knowledge of human nature to information gathered by your senses
to decide what kinds of people they are. For example, if you meet a man
who smiles constantly, you might infer, based on your experience that peo-
ple who smile constantly want others to like them, that the man is anxious
for others to like him. You can use the same process to understand charac-
ters in short stories. As you read Eveline, pay attention to what the main
character says and does. Then, try to guess what decision Eveline will make.

58 Chapter 2 Narration/Description: Harnessing Your Imagination Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

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Many consider the Irish writer James Joyce (18821941) to

be one of the most brilliant writers of the twentieth cen-
tury. The story you will read, Eveline, is from his first
major work, a short-story collection called Dubliners, pub-
lished in 1914. As you read Eveline, write down your
answers to the numbered active-reading questions.

Eveline by James Joyce

S he sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue.

Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her
1
nostrils was the odor of dusty cretonne. She was tired.
1. What does this
first paragraph
tell you about
Few people passed. The man out of the last house passed on his Eveline?
way home; she heard his footsteps clacking along the concrete pave-
ment and afterwards crunching on the cinder path before the new red houses. One
time there used to be a field there in which they used to play every evening with
other peoples children. Then a man from Belfast bought the field and built houses
in itnot like their little brown house but bright brick houses with shining roofs.
The children of the avenue used to play together in that fieldthe Devines, the
Waters, the Dunns, little Keogh the cripple, she and her brothers and sisters.
Ernest, however, never played: he was too grown up. Her father used often to hunt
them in out of the field with his blackthorn stick; but usually little Keogh used to
keep nix 2 and call out when he saw her father coming. Still they seemed to have
been rather happy then. Her father was not so bad then; and
2. What has besides, her mother was alive. That was a long time ago; she
changed? How and her brothers and sisters were all grown up; her mother
does Eveline
was dead. Tizzie Dunn was dead, too, and the Waters had
feel about these
changes? gone back to England. Everything changes. Now she was
going to go away like the others, to leave her home.
Home! She looked round the room, reviewing all its familiar objects which she
had dusted once a week for so many years, wondering where on earth all the dust
came from. Perhaps she would never see again those familiar objects from which
she had never dreamed of being divided. And yet during all those years she had
never found out the name of the priest whose yellowing photograph hung on the
wall above the broken harmonium3 beside the colored print of the promises made

1. cretonne (krtn): heavy printed cloth used for curtains.

2. keep nix: serve as lookout.
3. harmonium: small organ.

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to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque.4 He had been a school friend of her father.
Whenever he showed the photograph to a visitor her father used to pass it with a
casual word.
He is in Melbourne now.
She had consented to go away, to leave her home. Was that wise? She tried to
weigh each side of the question. In her home anyway she had shelter and food; she
had those whom she had known all her life about her. Of course she had to work
hard both in the house and at business. What would they say of her in the Stores
when they found out that she had run away with a fellow? Say she was a fool, per-
haps; and her place would be filled up by advertisement. Miss Gavan would be glad.
She had always had an edge on her, especially whenever there were people listening.
Miss Hill, dont you see these ladies are waiting?
Look lively, Miss Hill, please.
She would not cry many tears at leaving the Stores.
But in her new home, in a distant unknown country, it
3. Why do you
would not be like that. Then she would be marriedshe, think Eveline is
Eveline. People would treat her with respect then. She would daydreaming
not be treated as her mother had been. Even now, though she about her future?
was over nineteen, she sometimes felt herself in danger of her
fathers violence. She knew it was that that had given her the palpitations. 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 mothers sake. And now she had nobody
to protect her. Ernest was dead and Harry, who was in the church decorating busi-
ness, was nearly always down somewhere in the country. Besides, the invariable
squabble for money on Saturday nights had begun to weary her unspeakably. She
always gave her entire wagesseven shillings5and Harry always sent up what he
could but the trouble was to get any money from her father. He said she used to
squander the money, that she had no head, that he wasnt going to give her his hard-
earned money to throw about the streets, and much more, for he was usually fairly
bad of a Saturday night. In the end he would give her the money and ask her had
she any intention of buying Sundays dinner. Then she had to rush out as quickly as
she could and do her marketing, holding her black leather purse tightly in her hand
as she elbowed her way through the crowds and returning home late under her load
of provisions. 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

4. promises . . . Alacoque: the Lords promises to Margaret Mary Alacoque (16471690), French
nun who as a child suffered from self-inflicted paralysis but was miraculously cured when she
dedicated herself to a holy life.
5. seven shillings: A shilling is a former British coin worth five pennies, or one-twentieth of
a pound. Seven shillings would have been a low salary.

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their meals regularly. It was hard work a hard lifebut now that she was about to
leave it she did not find it a wholly undesirable life.
She was about to explore another life with Frank. Frank was very kind, manly,
open-hearted. She was to go away with him by the night boat to be his wife and to
live with him in Buenos Aires where he had a home waiting for her. How well she
remembered the first time she had seen him: he was lodging in a house on the main
road where she used to visit. It seemed a few weeks ago. He was standing at the
gate, his peaked cap pushed back on his head and his hair tumbled forward over a
face of bronze. Then they had come to know each other. He used to meet her out-
side the Stores every evening and see her home. He took her to see The Bohemian
Girl and she felt elated as she sat in an unaccustomed part of the theater with him.
He was awfully fond of music and sang a little. People knew that they were courting
and, when he sang about the lass that loves a sailor, she always felt pleasantly con-
fused. He used to call her Poppens out of fun. First of all it had been an excitement
for her to have a fellow and then she had begun to like him. He had tales of distant
countries. He had started as a deck boy at a pound a month on a ship of the Allan
Line going out to Canada. He told her the names of the ships he had been on and
the names of the different services. He had sailed through the Strait of Magellan and
he told her stories of the terrible Patagonians.6 He had fallen on his feet in Buenos
Aires, he said, and had come over to the old country just for a holiday. Of course, her
father had found out the affair and had forbidden her to have anything to say to him.
I know these sailor chaps,7 he said.
One day he had quarreled with Frank and after that she had to meet her lover
secretly.
The evening deepened in the avenue. The white of two letters in her lap grew
indistinct. One was to Harry; the other was to her father. Ernest had been her
favorite but she liked Harry, too. Her father was becoming old lately,
4. How does
she noticed; he would miss her. Sometimes he could be very nice. Not Eveline feel
long before, when she had been laid up for a day, he had read her out a about her father?
ghost story and made toast for her at the fire. Another day, when their
mother was alive, they had all gone for a picnic to the Hill of Howth. She remem-
bered her father putting on her mothers bonnet to make the children laugh.
Her time was running out but she continued to sit by the window, leaning her
head against the window curtain, inhaling the odor of dusty cre-
5. Why does the tonne. Down far in the avenue she could hear a street organ
writer repeat this
description of
playing. She knew the air. Strange that it should come that very
Eveline? night to remind her of the promise to her mother, her promise to
keep the home together as long as she could. She remembered

6. Patagonians: inhabitants of the southern part of Argentina; at the time of the story, Patagonia was
still a frontier area, similar to the American West of the nineteenth century.
7. chaps: fellows.

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the last night of her mothers illness; she was again in the close dark room at the other
side of the hall and outside she heard a melancholy air of Italy. The organ player had
been ordered to go away and given sixpence. She remembered her father strutting
back into the sickroom saying:
Damned Italians! coming over here!
As she mused the pitiful vision of her mothers life laid its spell on the very quick
of her beingthat life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness. She trem-
bled as she heard again her mothers voice saying constantly with foolish insistence:
Derevaun Seraun!8 Derevaun Seraun!
She stood up in a sudden impulse of terror. Escape! She must escape! Frank
would save her. He would give her life, perhaps love, too. But she wanted to live.
Why should she be unhappy? She had a right to happiness. Frank would take her in
his arms, fold her in his arms. He would save her.
She stood among the swaying crowd in the station at the North
6. In this para-
Wall.9 He held her hand and she knew that he was speaking to her, say-
graph, how
does the writer ing something about the passage over and over again. The station was
show Evelines full of soldiers with brown baggages. Through the wide doors of the
emotions? sheds she caught a glimpse of the black mass of the boat, lying in
beside the quay wall, with illumined portholes. She answered nothing.
She felt her cheek pale and cold and, out of a maze of distress, she prayed to God to
direct her, to show her what was her duty. The boat blew a long mournful whistle
into the mist. If she went, tomorrow she would be on the sea
7. To whom does
with Frank, steaming towards Buenos Aires. Their passage had the whistle sound
been booked. Could she still draw back after all he had done mournful? Why
for her? Her distress awoke a nausea in her body and she kept does it affect this
moving her lips in silent fervent prayer. person?
A bell clanged upon her heart. She felt him seize her hand:
Come!
All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into
them: he would drown her. She gripped with both hands at the iron railing.
Come!
No! No! No! It was impossible. Her hands clutched the iron in frenzy. Amid the
seas she sent a cry of anguish!
Eveline! Evvy!
He rushed beyond the barrier and called to her to follow. He was shouted at
to go on but he still called to her. She set her white face to him, passive, like a
helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition.

8. Derevaun Seraun: Some scholars suggest that the phrase is corrupt Irish Gaelic for the end of
song is raving madness or the end of pleasure is pain. Although it does appear to be based on
Irish Gaelic, the phrase as it stands is gibberish.
9. North Wall: wharf that is part of Dublin Harbor.

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First Thoughts on Your Reading

1. What adjectives would you use to describe Eveline? Why?
2. What did you predict the ending of the story would be?
What elements of Evelines character influenced your
prediction?
3. Name some other stories you have read or seen in a movie
or on television about a young person deciding whether to
leave home. How were those stories similar to Eveline?
How were they different?

Characterization READING FOCUS

The Life of the Story A short story with unrealistic characters

would be like a movie with bad actorsboring. How do writers bring
their characters to life? There are many techniques, but they can be divided
into two types:
Direct characterization: The writer tells readers about the character.

Indirect characterization: The writer shows readers how the character

acts, speaks, looks, thinks, and affects other characters and lets readers
make their own inferences, or educated guesses, about the character.
Refer to the chart below for more information about characterization
techniques. The examples are from D. H. Lawrences story The Rocking-
Horse Winner. This story describes one womans desire for money and
the disastrous effect this has on her family, especially on her son.

Characterization Techniques Examples

Direct: The writer tells the reader what the charac- There was a woman who was beautiful, . . . .
ter is like.

Indirect: The writer describes how the character . . . [T]he waving dark hair of the boy tossed, his eyes had a
looks, moves, or dresses. strange glare in them.

Indirect: The writer gives and describes the characters WellI suppose, she said slowly and bitterly, its because
speech in dialogue (both what the character says and your father has no luck.
how he or she says it).

Indirect: The writer reveals the characters thoughts . . . [S]he felt she must cover up some fault in herself. Yet what it
and feelings. was that she must cover up she never knew.

Indirect: The writer shows the characters effect on The little girls dared not speak to him.
other characters.

Indirect: The writer shows the characters actions. And he would slash the horse on the neck. . . .

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READING SKILL
T I P Information
about the character
text evidencemay be
in the form of a descrip-
tion, an action taken, or
a thought or piece of
dialogue attributed to
the character.
STEP 1 Read the story for information about the character. I notice
STEP 2 Relate this information to your own experience. What do you
STEP
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for an interactive activity.
64 Chapter 2 Narration/Description: Harnessing Your Imagination
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Making Inferences About Characters
Character Clues Since writers often use indirect characterization
techniques, readers of short stories must make inferences in order to
understand characters. When you make inferences, you add what you
already know about how people behave (your prior knowledge) to the
facts given about a character in a story (the text evidence) to infer what
sort of a person the character really is. Here is a formula for this process:
Prior Knowledge + Text Evidence = Inference
Making Inferences About Characters
Use the steps below to make inferences about characters. Look also at
one readers responses about Eveline in Joyces story.
that Eveline thinks now she had nobody to protect her.
know about people who are like the character in this way? My little
sister hides behind me for protection when she feels vulnerable and
helpless.
3 Make an inference, an educated guess, about what the char-
acter is like, but be prepared to change your opinion if you get new
information. I guess that, like my little sister, Eveline thinks she
needs protection because she feels vulnerable and helpless.
YOUR
TURN 2 Analyzing Characterization and
Making Inferences
On your own paper, create a three-column chart like the one below. In
the first column, list all the indirect characterization techniques given in
the chart on the previous page. In the middle column, write examples
from Eveline of each of the techniques. Finally, in the third column,
write down what you can infer from each of the examples.
Technique Example Inference
Indirect: The writer The little girls dared This sentence implies
shows the charac- not speak to him. that the little girls were
ters effect on afraid of Paul and that
other characters. he must have seemed
frightening or dangerous.
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MINI-
LESSON VOCABULARY
Using Figures of Speech as Context Clues
Short-story writers often engage their readers things, you can use the meaning of one of the
imaginations by using figures of speech. A fig- things being compared as a context clue to
ure of speech is a word or phrase that describes understand the meaning of the other.
one thing in terms of another and is not meant
Examples:
to be understood on a literal level. Here is a fig- The hedgehog was as hirsute as my hairbrush.
ure of speech from Eveline: (Since a hairbrush is bristly, maybe hirsute
She sat at the window watching the evening means bristly.)
invade the avenue. He strode into the room like a stallion. (Since
a stallion walks with long steps, maybe strode
Notice that this example compares two
means walked with long steps.)
seemingly unlike thingsthe evening to an
invader. Since figures of speech compare two

Using Figures of Speech as Context Clues

Take a look at the sentence below. Then, follow the steps to use the figure of
speech in the sentence as a context clue.
The obelisk towered over us.

1. Determine whether the phrase makes or
implies a comparison. If so, it may be a
figure of speech. The obelisk is compared to
a tower.
2. Consider the meaning of the part of the
comparison that does not contain an
unfamiliar word. Towers are tall, narrow
structures.
3. Guess the meaning of the unfamiliar
word based on the meaning of the thing
to which it is being compared. Maybe an
obelisk is a tall, narrow structure.
4. Check to see that the meaning you
guessed works in the sentence. The mean-
ing I guessed makes sense.

PR ACTICE

Use the figures of speech in the following
sentences as context clues to determine the
meanings of the italicized words. Write your
answers on your own paper, and then check
them in a dictionary.
1. A tonsure wreathed the monks head.
2. Bridget is as tenacious as a bulldog.
3. The ice covering the river was opaque, like
frosted glass.
4. His virulent tongue poisoned every conver-
sation.
5. His face was as placid as a still pond.

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MINI-
LESSON TEST TAKING
Answering Inference Questions
As you read a short story, you make inferences
constantlyabout the characters, as well as
about what might happen next. You will also
be called upon to use this skill to answer infer-
ence questions on the standardized tests you
will take for high school graduation or accept-
ance to college.
Inference questions require you to read a
passage and to find ideas that are implied
rather than directly stated. These questions
often use the word implied or inferred. Read
the passage below and the practice question
that follows it.
When you think about literature, what
picture comes to mind? If you are like
most Americans, you think of a book. In
Africa, however, literature is often spoken
and is sometimes accompanied by music
and dance. This oral literary tradition is
much more than just people telling stories
Answering Inference Questions
Use the following steps to work through inference questions.
1. Eliminate all answers directly stated in
the passage. Answer A is stated in the
third sentence of the passage, so it cannot
be a real inference.
2. Eliminate answers that are unsupported
by the passage. The following answers
are unsupported by the passage: C (the
passage says they sometimes sing and
dance), D (the passage doesnt say any-
thing about a royal family), and E (the
passage says literature is often spoken,
not always). A clue to evaluating answers
C and E are the words all and never.
66 Chapter 2 Narration/Description: Harnessing Your Imagination
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to their friends. African oral artists, such
as griots, iintsomi, mbongi, and babala-
wos, must train for years, often with a
master artist, before they are ready to
perform professionally. There are even
formal schools in which oral artists pre-
pare themselves to make their living cre-
ating and reciting folk tales, epics, poetry,
and other types of literature. In Africa, lit-
erature comes alive.
1. It can be inferred from the passage that
A. in Africa, literature is often spoken
B. being an African oral artist is a demand-
ing and highly specialized profession
C. all African oral artists sing and dance
D. African oral artists are usually members
of a royal family
E. in Africa, literature is never written
down
Words that suggest absolutes, like all and
never, often indicate answers that are
overstated and, therefore, incorrect.
3. Decide which of the answers still remain-
ing is best supported by the passage. If
only one answer remains, check to make
sure it is supported by the passage.
Answer B is the only answer that has not
been eliminated. It is supported because
the passage states that storytellers train
for years (demanding), sometimes even
going to formal schools (specialized).
Answer B must be correct.
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