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Servitude In Hardy’s The Son’s Veto And Joyce’s Eveline

The Son’s Veto, by Thomas Hardy, and Eveline, by James Joyce, both show the detrimental effects of service on a person’s life. Hardy uses a more general cultural restriction, created by the social class system, while Joyce’s story uses an intimate commitment, a mother dying promise. This paper explores the disdain of both authors for an obligation that an individual must serve others.

Both stories feature a kind of crippling. The Son’s Veto is about a woman named Sophy who, after serving Mr. Twycott as he requested, injured her ankle. She was then restricted in her mobility for the rest of her life. It was her duty to leave. She could no longer walk or move around, so it was impossible for her to do so. Her duty is to depart. Hardy portrays Hardy as a servant of the house, before he considers social compassion such as requesting a worker’s comp. In the novel, Hardy’s portrayal of service and its negative consequences foreshadows her later inability to marry because of her son’s desires. Sophy cannot express her free will in her marriages, not even her first. “No, Sophy, lame or no lame, you cannot leave me. “You must not leave me again.” (616). She does not choose to marry, but she does. She does not marry to improve her financial situation, but because she has a deep respect for him that is almost like veneration (Broadview, page 616). 616). Sophy’s admiration for him is a result of her inferiority. She is a victim of her position as the servant class.

Joyce constructs Eveline as Hardy did with Sophy. Dubliners is a collection of Joyce’s Dubliners that emphasizes his conception of Dublin. Eveline’s decision making ability is crippled even at the beginning of the story. The fields were once hers to play on, but “a Belfast man bought it and built houses” (20). Her father would chase them with his blackthorn sticks, even when the fields were still there. In this scene of economic service trumps individual enjoyment of land, her father’s physical threat and inability to take decisions are combined.

Eveline’s ability to act is also limited by the needs of her family. Her father began drinking heavily and her mother died. Her father’s behavior makes her “always give all of her wages-seven pounds” to feed her family. Eveline is forced to argue with father, and only last-minute rush out for Saturday night shopping for the whole family. She is also economically handicapped.

Sophy isn’t done with her problems yet. Her son, after her husband’s passing, refuses to allow her marriage an old friend, Sam, due to the cultural stigma it would put on him. He tells her that he owes it to his father to make her swear before God. Randolph, who is supposed to be a beacon of light, appears “black as a cloud” at his mother’s funeral. He claims, “I owe this to my father.” (621). The priest, whose position should make him a beacon for light, shows up “black as clouds” at the funeral of his mom (621). The darkness that he’s imposed on his soul is symbolized by his final appearance. He has long since lost his mother’s love and his relationship with his father. But the dark effects of serving society and his father are now blackening his face.

Eveline is ghost-like in comparison to her. She appears this way after she decides to “keep her home together” for as long a possible as her mother had instructed. Her white face, “passive and helpless like an animal”, makes her look paralyzed. Her eyes do not show him love, goodbye, or recognition. (23). Her mother’s death wishes have made her look like a corpse. Eveline would have been able to go anywhere for financial security, love or the tropics. However, her mother’s death grips her from behind.

Hardy and Joyce both demonstrate how service can negatively affect a person’s dreaming ability. Both characters are aspiring to marriage and stability as well as a happier life. However, the social, emotional, and financial servitude they are in restricts their freedom to pursue happiness. The two novels both suggest that true freedom can only be achieved by a person who is freed from the servitude of others.

Author

  • milesmitchell12

    Miles Mitchell is a 40-year-old educational blogger and professor. He has been writing about education and education-related topics since he was a teenager, and has since become one of the leading voices in the education industry. Mitchell is a regular contributor to many education-related websites, including The Huffington Post and The Daily Caller, and has been teaching college students and professionals alike how to write, think, and learn in an education-related setting for over 10 years.

milesmitchell12

Miles Mitchell is a 40-year-old educational blogger and professor. He has been writing about education and education-related topics since he was a teenager, and has since become one of the leading voices in the education industry. Mitchell is a regular contributor to many education-related websites, including The Huffington Post and The Daily Caller, and has been teaching college students and professionals alike how to write, think, and learn in an education-related setting for over 10 years.