Psychosocial Development of Eveline in James Joyce’s short story “Eveline”: An Eriksonian Perspective

Abstract

The paper aims to study James Joyce’s short story “Eveline” from of Erick Erickson’s theory of Personality. This study is qualitative in nature and limited only to the character of Eveline in the short story. It was found, In the story, the main protagonist Eveline, a nineteen years old girl passes through hard and tough times as she is living in the conservative society. Eveline seeks refuge in her past life and she is stuck between loyalty to her family and free life offered by Frank. Eveline’s character that share fervent likeness with Erickson’s hypothesis of character Sixth stage of Intimacy vs. Isolation. In this stage of life, an individual develops social, emotional attachment with other people.  Eveline also develops this relationship but she cannot retain the relationship as she clings to her traditional values and customs of conservative family. The study concludes that a child like Eveline who has an awful childhood and mental issues will not move to next stage of life with confidence.  Likewise, this study exposes the evil practices of patriarchal society in which women are forced to obey their parents in matrimonial affairs. The negligence of female children by their parents tempt them to look for love and compassion outside their home and thus they fall prey to sexual predators lurking outside home.

Keywords:  Eveline, Personality traits, Theory of Personality, patriarchal society.