The choices we make in life will always affect our future, one way or another. Choices can sometimes help benefit, or in some way destroy, our lives and our future. Fears of the unknown and change have always found a way to rear their ugly head and make us doubt ourselves. Sometimes, the fear of the unknown is so great that the choice we should make becomes unthinkable, unbearable and even unattainable. Not many people can face fear, even if it means having a better life for themselves or someone else. However, there are people who are strong enough to fight whatever happens to them with everything they have in body, mind and spirit. There are people like Eveline who find a decision too difficult to make and end up missing out on a better future. Eveline is a 19-year-old young woman (Meyer, 420) who has faced countless challenges in her life. In this story, she faces one of her most difficult choices that has the power to completely change her life. Eveline had the chance to leave her home and start a new life with Frank, someone she truly loves. The closer the time came for her to leave her old life behind for a new life, the more difficult the choice to leave became for this young woman. At 19, this decision couldn't have been easy. No young woman at the age of 19 wants to face the decision to leave her father and run away with a gentleman, even if it's best for her at the moment. Eveline's greatest opportunity for “life and happiness” was right in front of her; however, fear prevented her from reaching out and grabbing it. Eveline's will to live wasn't as strong as she thought, she was too caught up in her life and wasn't really ready to give it up. When she was at the dock on the verge of... middle of paper... she would be left alone with no one to take care of him, especially with his drinking problem. The guilt of leaving those two children, for whom she was responsible, also crossed her mind. Who would take care of them when she was gone? Would they be better off without her? These were just some of the questions that ran through her mind as she sat. Fear is a problem that people face on a daily basis. Eveline's fear did not allow her to leave the life she had for a new life with Frank. Many things throughout the story showed how much Eveline was suffocated and wanted to run away from her life. However, when it came to making a decision, she froze. Eveline was overcome by fears and made her decision. Works Cited Meyer, Michael. "Evelina." Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking and Writing. Sl: Bedford Bks St Martin'S, 2014. 420-23. Press.