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An Open Letter to James Joyce’s Eveline
Ashley Sanchez
I wrote this for my English 100 class and it's written on the
story "Eveline," by James Joyce. I mixed a bit of my own life
story in with facts from the story for this paper. I worked very
hard on this paper and I got recommended to submit this
paper from my instructor, Michael Lake.
Editor’s Note: You may read James Joyce’s essay “Eveline” here.
Dear Eveline,
I am writing to you in hope that I can shed some light on the
situation you are currently involved in. As a female, I can
completely understand the desire to be important in your
mother’s eyes and the need to fulfill any promises asked by
her. The promise to keep a family together, however, is a
promise that cannot be fulfilled by any one human. Keeping a
family together takes the whole family. You are only nineteen
and cannot expect yourself to be able to take something broken
and make it stable. Any abuse in a family is a broken piece
that cannot be mended by anyone but the abuser. The only
thing you can do is stop enablin g the physical or emotional
hurt to keep happening. You have recently been introduced to
Frank, who wants to help you escape and protect you. I think