Paralysis in Eveline

In James Joyce's short story, "Eveline," his protagonist, after a last-minute debate, decides not to partake of a long-term, life-changing move to Buenos Ayres with her potential husband. The protagonist, names Eveline, hesitates and ultimately does not board the ship that would tear her away from her home and her familiarities. Originally intending to get away from the life she thought she loathed, and a father she thought she hated, she looked to Frank to spare her and give her life. She hoped he would provide for her what her father couldn't since her mother died: a loving and unhostile environment. With these thoughts just hours before, it was set that she was going to go. Its was not expected then, that just minutes before the beginning of this new life, an epiphany would enlighten her with the reality of her actions. The nature of the epiphany was this: It was eventually obvious that her intention of having a loving life with Frank was merely a premise for her to convince her that a different life was even necessary. She realized that she really didn't love Frank, and going away would tear her from all that she knew and loved. She even reconvinced herself that her provocative and possibly abusive father was caring and loving by recollecting a time when he read her ghost stories. She realized that her only memories of her dead mother and brother were in the home that she was raised. She grew to need her life and her identity and running off with someone she didn't love wouldn't solve the problem. This epiphany is the cause of her last minute paralysis, causing Frank to board the ship while she watched helplessly from the rail.