James Joyce often portrays women as insignificant background characters due to the role of women during the period in which he writes, but there are some cases where a woman is essential to the story. "Araby", "Eveline" and "Death" are all those cases in which a woman is indispensable to the story. In "Araby" there is only one female character. As a love interest, Mangan's sister pushes the narrator to go to the Bazaar. It symbolizes the familiarity of Dublin, as well as the hope of love and the mysterious allure of new places. In a way, the story is about her, but we don't know her name. The narrator idolizes Mangan's sister and sees her as an object of his desire rather than a human being. Joyce rarely describes what Mangan's sisters look like, and since we never learn her name, we can assume that Joyce implies she is a minor character, without much significance. In “Eveline”, there are two rather important female characters. This is a rarity in Joyce's work as he primarily writes men as main characters. The protagonist, Eveline, must decide whether or not to leave with her love, Frank, or stay where her father and his house are. Eveline wants to go with Frank because she thinks that once she gets to Argentina; she will be respected more as a wife than as a single woman. During this time period, women were considered more valuable as wives than as independent women. She has difficulty making a decision because even though her father is abusive, she needs to take care of him, implying that as a woman she feels she has to take care of everyone. Frank loves Eveline and would have treated her well if she had gone to Argentina with him. In the end, Frank doesn't matter much to the story... middle of the paper... he has caused personal frustration through cunning and manipulative behavior." (Henke, 1986) The women of the Dubliners are clearly portrayed as victims of the community. James Joyce often depicts women as minor characters because of the role women played during the period in which he writes, but there are some instances where a woman is central to the story. Works Cited Mays, Kelly J. "The Introduction by Norton to literature." New York: WW Norton & Company, 2013. Book. 592-638. October 27, 2013. Henke, Suzette A. "Through a Cracked Mirror: Sex Role Stereotypes." International Perspectives on James Joyce. Ed.Gottlieb Gaiser. Troy, New York: Whitson, 1986. 2-31. October 27, 2013. Ingersoll, Earl G. "Lo stigma of femininity in James Joyce's "Eveline" and "The Boarding House." Studies In Short Fiction 30.4 (1993): 501. Literary Reference Center. Network. October 27. 2013.