Do the words at times urge her toward a better life, at others urge her to remain within a life like her mother’s?
1. Derevaun Seraun. In James Joyce’s “Eveline,” the title character’s mother on her deathbed mutters words that may be translated “the end of pleasure is pain.” Or they may just be the singsong nonsense of dementia. How can Eveline’s experience in this story be understood as in part a paralyzed response to her mother’s ambiguous […]