The entire quote to which you are referring is this: “She set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition.”
At this point in the short story "Eveline," the title character is set to run away to Buenos Ayres and start a new life with her lover Frank, a sailor. However, Eveline is bound by duty to her father, whom she shops, cleans, and cooks for. This idea of her being bound by duty to her father conjures up a master-pet relationship, which can be seen in her inability to leave home.
In addition, there are a couple of images that suggest an animal-like quality to Eveline. Like a dog, the story begins with Eveline sitting in her front window watching the neighborhood pass by. Meanwhile, Eveline, whose father never actually hit her, "sometimes felt herself in danger of her father’s violence. She knew it was that that had given her the palpitations." This imagery, while not clear-cut dog-related gives the idea of someone who is afraid like a dog cowering in fear of its master with his hand raised ready to strike.
Joyce ties all of these ideas together with the simile at the end of the story comparing Eveline to a "helpless animal." For Eveline, this is an apt analogy not just at this point in the story, but throughout it as well.
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