In this Dubliners narrative, Eveline herself symbolizes Ireland. Indecisive and inhibited by factors outside of her control, Eveline reflects the paralysis that Joyce identified with his native country. This issue is common in Joyce’s works, most of which he wrote while Ireland was a British colony and Irish nationalist movements were growing. This symbol also occurs frequently in Irish literature; Ireland is often represented as a woman, although she is not always represented as bleakly or impotently as Eveline. Eveline is also bound by filial and religious duty, just as pre-independence Ireland is, oppressed by both the British empire and the strictures of the Roman Catholic Church. Eveline’s major conflict, whether to stay in Ireland with her family and an unfulfilling future or leave in pursuit of freedom and possible happiness, echoes the same conflict that many Irish citizens faced: to remain and fight for one’s beloved country or flee and seek a better life in a foreign country.

The meaning of Eveline’s mother’s deathbed cry, “Derevaun Seraun,” is still debated in Joycean scholarship. Two interpretations were originally proposed by scholars: The first describes the phrase as corrupt Gaelic for “the end of pleasure is pain,” and the other says it’s corrupt Irish for “the end of the song is raving madness” (Tigges, Wim.