In "Eveline" by James Joyce, the title character vacillates between staying in her Irish homeland and moving to remote Buenos Ayres with her sailor boyfriend, Frank. As she ponders the decision, she recalls a childhood memory which she chooses to remember happily despite her father's violence and control. Attempting to escape the same fate as her mother, a life of sacrifice and abuse, but hesitant to explore a loveless life with Frank leaves Eveline uncertain of her engagement plans. After promising her dying mother that she would care for her younger siblings, Eveline recoils when she contemplates the idea of leaving home but eventually gives in and attends to her abusive father. Through Eveline's relationships with her father and mother, Joyce exposes Eveline's fear of change - the only measure that could spare her from the unhappiness she chooses for herself.

Eveline's memories of her father always characterize...