NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English (Kaleidoscope Short Stories) Chapter 2 Eveline

Ans : Eveline liked and loved her mother and Frank. They both had an important position in Eveline’s life. Her mother believed the family was above everything, she would provide them comfort and she would bear torture inflicted by her husband on her. Frank was her love and a ray of hope for a better future, away from the present misery.
She did not like her father and Miss Gavan, as they both added to her miseries and were harsh towards her. Her father would get drunk and behave inappropriately with her, while Miss Gavan made sure to criticize her at every occasion. 

Ans : When Eveline decided to elope with her lover, things were not easy for her as all the happy memories of her childhood, flashed in front of her eyes. She felt nostalgic and thought about Harry and Ernest who have left her house long ago. The music played by the organ player reminded her of her mother.
She was continuously fighting with her emotions, while on the one hand, she couldn’t wait to begin a respectable life with her lover, on the other, she was continuously haunted by the promise made to the mother. 

Ans : Her responsibility towards her family stopped her from eloping with Frank. The promise made to her mother to keep her family together and won’t let it separate, this  was the reason she dropped the idea to run away with Frank. Her duty towards family proved to be a greater force than escaping for her own happiness. 

Ans : When the hour of departure with Frank approached, Eveline started feeling distressed and turned pale out of fear if she is doing the right thing or not. She murmured a prayer for divine guidance to show her the right path and guide to her duty. She felt weak and cried out of anguish. 

Ans : The different symbolic terms imply different meanings, these are as follows :
Window- The world outside represents perception. We learn through the narrative that the outside world is totally new and unfamiliar to her. She is comfortable being with people whom she has known for a long time. She has accepted her life of misery so well that she doesn’t consider her to be a part of the outside world. She believes the world won’t accept her.
Gathering dust- Dust is a sign of lifelessness and end. Eveline lived a life of duty. She worked and paid the salary to her father and every day makes an effort to fulfill the promise she made to her mother. Eveline was leading a hopeless and paralyzed life and has surrendered herself to the dust. Dust gives a sense of familiarity as it always returned like her memories did, about home and her mother. She dusts it away and the next moment it comes back again.
Dusty cretonne and its odour- Cretonne is a heavy cotton fabric with a floral pattern on it. In the opening scene readers are told, “Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne”.The curtains were dusty for a long time as she was the sole caretaker of the house and could not pay much attention to clean every aspect of the house. In the same way, she was a lifeless being only surviving to make the life of her family easy and ignoring herself like the dusty cretonne.