The show of self confidence and stability she puts on in public and often in private makes me feel further sympathy for her as she is a very unstable character. Two of the main events that have caused me to think this are: when she lies to her landlord about her getting a job, and the fact that she is desperate enough to audition for acting jobs although she is a contralto singer.
I feel the utmost sympathy for the character of Eveline who is created by James Joyce. She is a weak minded and easily influenced character who is in suffering because of the demise of her mother, one of her brothers and the constant absence of her other brother. She is not suffering only because she misses them but she is forced to take on all of her mother’s responsibilities by her father. Before the demise of her mother and brother she was never treated violently by her father but since then his aggression has been directed towards her even above the age of nineteen.
Similarly to Miss Moss she has dreams and hopes for her life, as she has known better times. In the story she has planned to escape from this life and live with her secret boyfriend, Frank. Despite the prospect of a better life, when the time comes to leave she is not able to do so because she feels bad for her father despite how badly she has been treated. I think that it is not Eveline’s fault that she is in this situation but she is still suffering, and she is stuck as she is not strong enough to leave and give her father what he deserves.
The information I have been given is only from Eveline’s own thoughts and therefore may be exaggerated in her favour, these suspicions will not be confirmed, but it is possible that she is receiving some undeserved sympathy.
The Winters and the Palmleys by Thomas Hardy is much more complex than Eveline and Pictures, as it four main characters but they just have one.
The first two characters we are told of are Mrs Winters and Mrs Palmley. After the first page I had decided who I liked and disliked. Every one reading the first page would want to sympathise with Mrs Palmley as it was her who lost her lover to Mrs winter and then her son because of the same person. For the same reasons most people would feel spitefully towards Mrs winters.
By the end of the story we are introduced to a Miss Harriet Palmley and a Jack Winters. Told of their love affair and feel sympathetic towards Jack and feel dislike to Miss Harriet. Jack may not be the brighter one but he is sensitive and is able to control himself from resorting to violence to get back his letters even when he feels it is his right. We feel dislike towards Miss Harriet because she is very quick to change her feelings towards Jack when she sees his Handwriting and she ends the affair purely for this reason.
When Miss Harriet does not come forward to save Jacks life I felt this was very selfish of her, as despite their disagreements, she should have still come forward to save his life because she knew the truth.
All the sympathy I felt for Mrs Palmley was reconsidered as she was willing to let this innocent person die just because she wanted revenge, so she discouraged Miss Harriet from stepping forward.
In this story our opinions of the characters change as the story progresses which I feel has an effect of making it more interesting.