"The Story Of An Hour" by Kate Chopin and "Eveline" by James Joyce share similar themes about a call for freedom, and both stories end ironically. Although both stories are about victims, they differ in setting and imagery. One of the similarities between the stories is that both are written from a third person central point of view. Both are set around the turn of the century and both of the female protagonists are stuck in their house's desiring to escape from conventional patriarchal duties. .
The setting in "Eveline", is in the city of Dublin in the evening, where we find Eveline leaning against a window in her house, watching people pass by on their way home. Eveline is a woman "the other hero" who has a very miserable life. Eveline is not content with her job or happy with her father and her burdensome duties. In order to be happy, she secretly desires the opportunity to escape with her lover to Buenos Aires where she can be married, live in a beautiful house, and forget all about her suffering. .
Joyce gives us no detailed description of Eveline's physical appearance, stating only that she is tired. It is interesting to note that Joyce doesn't even let us know Eveline's name (other than from the title of the story) until the very point when she first talks about getting married. "But in her new home, in a distant unknown country, it would not be like that. Then she would be married "she, Eveline" (Joyce115). We also never learn her mother's name either, although Joyce tells us both of her brothers' names. When Frank departs at the boat dock he takes with him, upon his lips, her name Eveline, Evvy' (Joyce 117). After this point, Eveline--like her mother--has no name, just as she has no life of her own. The story is about one's sense of identity. Eveline's sense of who she is will be forever thwarted by her antagonistic father's power and authority.
The imagery that Joyce uses in the beginning sets the tone for oppression and gloom, "Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odor of dusty cretonne" (Joyce 113).
