Synthesis of The Flea by John
Donne and Eveline by James Joyce
The Flea uses a metaphor ‘flea’ in this poem for an act of making love or having
sex. It has been compared with a flea because the writer wants to make its
importance trivial and shows that it is not a big deal. Those who engage in
sexual activities are not harmed neither physically as was the common belief in
olden times nor mentally. In Eveline, the courting with a young man who is a
sailor intrigues the central character of the story Miss Eveline. They have had
sex initially openly and later covertly from her father as he had an argument
with the boy.
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There is a commonality in the role of sex and the wooing or request from the man
to a woman in both the poem and the story. At the same time the two females are
shown to be hesitant in their agreement to make love considering it to be not a
trivial thing. It is true that sex brings more distress to a female than to a
male in a male dominated country. Females have the constant fear of becoming
pregnant and losing their virginity. The state of being a virgin is considered
to be a sacred state and religiously preferred in most of the religions. This is
the reason that most of the olden times’ sacrifices were made of virgin young
girls connoting their innocence through virginity. Sex destroys the state of
virginity and therefor a sex-spoiled woman is unacceptable to God and loses her
innocence. It is also the fear of the unknown that sex brings with it for sex
partners especially females that restricts them from entering into sexual
activities. Other dominant commonality is the dominating role of a man in the
sex life of a girl. The father in Eveline played this role as he whipped around
with Eveline and her mother and told Eveline not to tell Frank anything about
it. The man in The Flea is also dominating as he is open to have sex and
considers that it is a trivial thing for him giving a feeling of his physical
power which is quite unaffected by sex.
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Sex is supposed to bring reduction in ones life and this idea is common to both
the literary works. The woman being wooed in The Flea considers any involvement
in sex as reducing one’s life and orgasm is thought to be the death of a part of
one’s life. The character of Eveline perceives the same notion as she thinks of
‘drowning into the seas of the world’ and loosing one’s life. Eveline is also
after love and affection but more than this she is looking for life. In the end
she chooses life by staying in her place and also chooses life for the siblings
and her father, as she is the financial supporter in the family.
Both the poem and the story end up with a disappointment for the man and
ironically at the same time despair for the man. Like in Eveline the writer
says, “She set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal. Her eyes
gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition.” The idea of
non-recognition due to fear of getting hurt is not uncommon in the literary
world. And the lines of The Flea are, “Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
“How little that which thou deny'st me is;” The thing sex is being denied and
the man is in despair stating how little was that thing which is being denied.
The writers in both works give an impression that men do not understand why are
the women denying them love and sex. Both the women in The Flea and Eveline in
Eveline keep their reasons to themselves as a secret and do not let the men in.
Eveline kept her face passive without any recognition to the man who loves her.
The fear is so great and at the same time the desire of making love is also
considerable that the women need to act blunt otherwise they might get adrift
and slid into the world of sex.
The setting of both the poem and the short story is also common. The Flea is set
in a typical bar where every Saturday night sweat drenched bodies smelling of
alcohol and stench from every pore, exchange conversation, pleasantries and sex.
In the Eveline the place is also shown to be dusty and dirty. As is written, “in
her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne” in the very first paragraph of the
story Eveline.
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Water is shown as providing an escape for Eveline and fleas are also bred in the
water. In both works, water is providing life to both the flea, which is a small
insect as well as to Eveline since she is escaping through ship sailing on the
waters. Water resembles reliving and provides the possibilities of a new life
from the hard life of home for Eveline. In contrast to her present life full of
"hard work-a hard life," Eveline looks forward to exploring "another life with
Frank" and “anew her across the seas”.
John Donne in his poem uses the words ‘flea’, ‘blood’, and the ‘murder of the
flea’ as an analogy for sex. James Joyce in his story ‘Eveline’ uses escape,
courting, seas of the world and the odor of cretonnes as leading to or arising
out of love and sex. The dusty and dirty room and the business of animal work
flesh whereby Eveline earns her money gives a slight notion of her being in the
profession of prostitution by ill fate. As James Joyce writes about the time,
“when she had been laid up for a day” and the father “had forbidden her to have
anything to say to him (Frank)”.
The Flea describes sex is as a marriage temple and a means of carrying life in
this world. The speaker remarks that in the flea his blood and his lady’s blood
were mixed as it sucks their blood one by one. During sex the souls are mixed
and become one. Eveline describes sex as a means of giving life to the young
girl. The difference in the two works is that in one the thoughts and
perceptions of a man are portrayed and in the other the thinking processes of a
young and lonely girl is described. The two can be joined together as if the two
literary works are mingling as in sex. The synthesis is that of the feelings of
a man and a woman. Thoughts of the wooing man in The Flea are answered by the
thoughts of the young girl in Eveline as if the two are in direct contact. The
murder of the flea in the poem connoting rejection of sex from the woman
resembles the denying of love by Eveline. The man asks his lady not to kill the
flea or not to deny sex to him. The young girl Eveline was also asked not to
deny love to the man Frank.
Sex in the olden times was seen as leading to disease, pregnancy, spiritual
repercussions, and countless emotional issues, mainly affecting the more of the
feminine population. The same is true in the story of Eveline who is in
distress. The story presents the views of the female side of the poem The Flea
as we see through the thought processes of Eveline.
Another resemblance of the two is their treatment of a female and the style of
their treatment as well as the attitude men have towards women. The speaker does
not seem to be very respectful of the female he is pursuing in the poem. So is
the dejected condition of Eveline in the story. Her father treats her as dirt
and she is a means of earning for him. She is liable to false treatment.
Although Eveline made up her mind to go with Frank but later on decides not to
because of her fears. Through this the poet has shown that the women are not
only physically weak but also mentally unable to make a determined move. Eveline
fears that Frank that “he would drown her" in "all the seas of the world".
Eveline forsakes escape, life, and love for the past, duty, and death. Similarly
the woman in The Flea forsakes enjoyment for the innocence, virginity and death.
There is a commonality in fearing from death that leads to rejection of sex from
both the women. In the end James Joyce comes to the same conclusion as John
Donne that by failing to go with Frank, Eveline is actually accepting the life
of imprisonment like her mother's.
The feelings of association and belonging with the ones females know are
depicted as being more powerful than the feelings of being loved by a lover
through sexual relationships. Eveline is not certain whether she will be able to
find love with Frank though they have courted already. There is a feeling of
uncertainty on relationships based purely on sex. In other words, sex is an
unstable basis for making any significant future decisions about one’s life.
This concept is common in both works.
Works cited
Donne, John "The Flea" Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahn,
Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 2002.
493-494,
Joyce, James "Eveline." Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan,
Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 2002.
4-6.
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