Eveline by James Joyce is a short story set in Dublin, Ireland, in 1914. The story was published together with Joyce's other short stories in a book called Dubliners. The main character of the story is the title character, Eveline. Eveline is a girl of about nineteen who still lives in the house she grew up in, with a physically abusive father. Eveline's mother dies due to illness while Eveline is still young. As Eveline gets older she meets a young man named Frank and they begin to like each other and begin a semblance of falling in love. Frank asks her to marry him and move with him to Beunos Ayres, Argentina, before they can start their life Eveline changes her mind and decides to stay in Dublin with her father. Eveline's theme is that her sense of duty is the most important factor behind her decision to stay with her father. When Eveline's mother is on her deathbed, she asks Eveline to promise her something that will create a sense of duty that Eveline can never escape. Eveline's promise to her mother on her deathbed creates in her a sense of duty that will not let her walk away honestly. As Eveline prepares to leave her home and her father, she remembers the promise she made to her mother: "Strange that that very night should come to remind her of the promise she had made to her mother, her promise to keep the house together as long as she could." ” (par. 14). In this promise is the major contributing factor to the sense of duty that prevents Eveline from leaving her home and her father. There is power in a promise made to a person on their deathbed. This power increases when the person is your mother. Both of these factors add up to create that sense of duty that won't let Eveline go. The sense of duty is born... at the center of an obligation towards her father who forces her to be with him. From the beginning of Eveline's story it is very clear that she is governed by her sense of duty to her home and her father, it is only in the final sentence that we see the true hold she has on her life. Eveline's sense of duty is the driving force behind her reasons for staying with her father. This is made clear to us by the promise he made to his mother on her deathbed. Then it is heightened by the fact that Eveline knows no other life but this one. Eventually Eveline's devotion to her family and to God combined to create a sense of duty. At the end of this story we see a young woman who has the chance to have a life full of happiness, joy and love but due to a false sense of duty towards a cruel father she turns her back on him and instead accepts a life full of pain, hard work and anguish.