Spiritual Paralysis

James Joyce uses an overall theme in his short story Eveline.  He admits that this and many of his other works featuring Dublin dealt with the spiritual paralysis of its citizens.  The subject of the story exemplifies this theme.  The title character seems to have to tough life with a particularly cold father.  Pertaining to money the narrator said, "She always gave her entire wages-seven shillings- and 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 wasn't going to give her his hard-earned money to throw in the streets..." (Joyce, 219).  She wishes she was able to go somewhere else and live a better life.  She actually seems to have found a way out, in the form of a rich man.  They made plans to escape this fate by going to Buenos Aires, a vastly different environment than Dublin.  Yet at the very last second, she decides to stay in her hometown, although she resents some parts of it.  This shows that although she desires to leave, she is unable to move on spiritually or emotionally.