Eveline

For any non-Irish-speaking 1914 readers of Dubliners, the deathbed cry of Eveline’s mother, “Derevaun Seraun!” (23), would be unintelligible, even as a corrupted version of an Irish phrase. With the meaning obscured, what is the effect of this exclamation on the reader? How does it affect the interpretation of Eveline’s reaction and subsequent flight?

Eveline describes her family life as “rather happy” when her mother was alive, and her father as “not so bad then” (20). The only other description of her mother is on her deathbed, and Eveline leaves her mother’s character, as a healthy woman, undefined. What might this lack of description indicate about her mother or Eveline as a narrator?

While observing the room, Eveline describes a photo of a priest hanging on the wall “above the broken harmonium beside the coloured print of the promises made to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque” (20). Eveline also recalls her father telling visitors that the priest is now in Melbourne. Why is this photo notable enough to detail? What might the priest or his location represent in Eveline’s story?