The setting is one of the most important elements of a story. It also fulfills various functions in literature. In general, it is a place where the sequence of events exists, where people live and then discover their own existence. However, by examining the setting of a short story, we can easily get a sense of the character's inner world, his emotions, his needs, his dilemmas. This helps us understand how people perceive their environment, their mental state, their economic conditions. It also affects story and character events; for example, different locations and objects in the story can impact the character's mood swings. Old pictures, thresholds, windows, waves, sea, all things have a control over people because some of these objects make the character understand that how much he misses the past or theirs and how much he seeks freedom, some of them between them only awakens their desire to escape. In other words, the setting has the power to channel the characters and the story in many ways. Eveline, by James Joyce, is one of these short stories. Besides the interior, exterior, houses, doors and walls, the story includes many small but important details that give us an idea of ​​the mental state of the character and the atmosphere of the story. In this essay, I will analyze the setting of James Joyce's Eveline in two parts: the domestic space and the public space to help the reader understand how the setting impacts Eveline's decisions and dilemmas in his life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay First, I want to start analyzing the story by first looking at the objects inside the house. The story takes place primarily in an old, bright brick house that is now faded with memories of its family. As we see Eveline's daily life in the house and with the objects found there, her limitations become clear. It also tells us about Eveline's inner self, since these limitations result from the depressing life she has to live with her abusive father and her financial difficulties, her memories, her family ties, her responsibilities, etc. She looked around the house, collecting all the familiar objects that she had dusted once a week for so many years, wondering where all the dust came from.'' As this line shows, she feels like she belongs at home but at the same time she has a feeling of strangeness towards the house. She knows the objects in the house but they are also harmful to her. The dust she smelled seems insignificant but it sneakily causes damage to her. She dusts and dusts but the dust doesn't go anywhere; dust represents the passage of time with uninterrupted physical movement. In fact, this is very similar to Eveline's situation, since the dust represents her own state and static way of life. This also ties into Eveline's desperation as she searches for what lies beyond the window; she always thinks about how to escape and how she ended up in this border house. She also mentions the interior of the house, in this sentence: "And yet, in all these years, she had never known the name of the priest whose yellowing photograph hung on the wall above the broken harmonium at side of the color printing of the promises made… » ''. The yellowing photograph could be considered significant for two main reasons: One of them is that the image is old because ofits color and that it is full of people who have left Ireland and Eveline might want to get involved with those people. On the other hand, we can understand how carefree she is. She doesn't know the name of the man in the photo but she just walked by without asking questions because she was used to it. She might be of the opinion that if something stays there, questioning it and trying to change it won't do any good. And from this we can conclude, as conformist as she is, that one side of her just wants new things in life. Even though one side of her is domestic, the other side that shines through is that of an adventurer. She expects new and exciting things from life, but she is not able to do so due to her current conditions. She is fed up with the order in her home and society, but she is unable to break the chains. These sentences show us the side of her that doesn't want to break the chains either: ''...perhaps she would never see again these familiar objects from which she had never dreamed of being separated.' Even though she complains about these familiar objects, she still clings to them because she is used to them. The likelihood that she won't be able to see these objects scares her. She doesn't feel ready to let go of these objects. Now another dilemma occurs between his mind and his house. Another context in the story connects the house to the outside world which are the doorsteps, the windows, and these lines show us: “She sat at the window and looked out at the evening. invade the avenue. Her head was leaning against the window curtains and in her nostrils the smell of dusty cretonne.'' The evening invading the house becomes the symbol of Eveline's sad soul. She sits down and leans her head against the window curtains. She craves emotional support from someone. Someone who can give her a sense of security, who she can count on without questioning and who she can see the future with. Yet, after smelling the dusty cretonne, she suddenly realizes the reality of life, while she is still sitting without acting, just passively imagining. After these quotes, come the active ones: ''...she heard his footsteps hammering the concrete sidewalk and then crunching on the ash path in front of the new red houses.'. This equation indicates the reality of her life as in the part smelling of cretonne that she has just heard the footsteps of men and the creaking of the road. She envies them because she can't be one of them; because they are active, they are the ones who live, do what they want. And all Eveline can do is watch the men as they walk, look at them and smell the dust they have made, nothing more. But later, she has the opportunity to be one of the passengers with a man, thanks to Frank's company. It obviously has to be with a man, since she has a domestic side that she gets from social norms, the genetic heritage of her family and her father's attitude towards her mother. Then, these lines help us see the outside from Eveline's window. “Then a man from Belfast bought the land and built houses there not like their little brown houses but light brick houses with shiny roofs.” We can conclude from these lines that Eveline needs a sense of novelty. Because she defines her own house as a regular brown house that she is already used to. But as she describes a new house, she mentions how bright, shiny and well-structured they are. They are made of bricks and these bricks represent the feeling of trust, which is when Frank appears. Frank is now Eveline's new home.’’ , 1904