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49 pages 1 hour read

Isabel Allende, Transl. Margaret Sayers Peden

Eva Luna

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1987

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Character Analysis

Eva Luna

Eva is the novel’s protagonist and narrator. Readers see the world through her eyes, embellished by her prodigious talent for storytelling. Eva is born to a working-class single mother and raised in poverty but enjoys a happy and loving childhood. Described by some as a modern-day Scheherazade, Eva is a kind and compassionate person who uses storytelling as a survival strategy to make peace with her unfair lot in life.

Despite the constraints of her class and gender, Eva approaches life with unrelenting verve and romanticism. She does not dwell on the unchangeable aspects of her experience but finds ways to persevere despite them. Her life is greatly enhanced by reading books and imbibing stories, which in turn populate her imagination with original ideas. Her ability to change her own perspective is so strong that it comes across as a form of magic which mingles reality with the supernatural.

As she comes of age, Eva turns her talents out toward her community. She uses her words to mold a better reality for her loved ones, from inventing happy memories for Rolf to concealing the true story of the guerrilla escape in her telenovela’s script. Her ability to light up dark corners of the world allows her to foster a close-knit group of female friends who help one another in times of need. Eva’s stories become a tool for the survival of not only herself, but her community of marginalized friends.

Eva maintains her optimistic outlook as she grows into an adult, navigating love and her place in society. Her first love is Naranjo, but when she realizes that he holds latent misogynistic views, she ends their romance and marries Rolf. Even as the novel ends, Eva continues her habit of storytelling. Eva’s character is a testament to the power of storytelling as a survival tool and a way to fight back against oppression.

Rolf Carlé

Rolf is Eva’s friend and later, her love interest. Eva narrates Rolf’s life in parallel to her own, foreshadowing their eventual marriage. Like Eva, Rolf’s childhood is also marred by tragedy. His abusive schoolmaster of a father terrorizes the Carlé family before his murder at the hands of his own students. As a child, Rolf lives through the end of WW2. He is taken to a concentration camp and forced to bury the dead—an experience which leaves a deep impression of shame on him. In adolescence, he decides to become a news reporter, shining light on the world’s injustices.

Rolf initially seems like a foil to the imaginative and romantic Eva because of his “pretense of rationalism” (105) but he is soon revealed as “an incorrigible dreamer” (104). He is deeply moved by his traumas and sickened by the injustices of the world. He copes by pursuing objective documentation, a talent which he later uses to aid the guerrillas in achieving social change.

Rolf’s path crosses Eva’s when he begins covering the guerrilla faction led by Naranjo. The two bond over their difficult pasts, and Eva uses her storytelling skills to invent happy memories for Rolf. Through his relationship with Eva, Rolf learns to stop suppressing his emotions.

Huberto Naranjo/Comandante Rogelio

Huberto Naranjo begins as Eva’s friend, becomes her lover, and ends the narrative as a platonic friend again. Eva meets Naranjo when she is unhoused for several days after leaving her first employer. At the age of 9, Naranjo is already hardened by a difficult life. He knows how to fend for himself using unscrupulous means and is baffled by Eva’s melodramatic personality. Despite his rough exterior, Naranjo is kind to Eva, and she develops an infatuation for him.

Naranjo dips in and out of Eva’s life over the years, culminating in their reunion when Eva returns to the capital at 17. By this time, Naranjo is heavily involved with the growing guerrilla revolutionary movement, going by the name Comandante Rogelio. The two begin a romance which is interrupted by Naranjo’s frequent absences. Despite his good nature, Naranjo has rigid ideas about masculinity based in a culture of machismo. He does not see Eva as his equal and eventually the two end their romantic relationship, agreeing to remain good friends.

At the end of the novel, Naranjo’s guerrilla movement has been defeated, but Naranjo and his men are offered amnesty. Eva hints that Naranjo will become a politician, continuing his fight for change from a “velvet-upholstered chair” (344).

Naranjo embodies the revolutionary political spirit while demonstrating the way that good men can still uphold patriarchal ideals.

Mimí

Introduced as Melesio before her transition, Mimí is Eva’s closest friend. As a trans woman, Mimí is uniquely marginalized by her society, but she shares Eva’s resilience. Mimí is arrested on false charges during the red-light district raid and endures a stint at the Santa María penal colony. After being released, she moves back to the city and becomes a famous actress. Though there is an element of fetishization in the public’s interest in Mimí, she is also renowned for her talent and beauty. Seen through Eva’s eyes, Mimí is an almost mythic figure, blessed with enchanting beauty and inner depths that “no sorrow, no violence had touched” (242).

Mimí is a romantic like Eva, and the two often commiserate over their fraught love lives. Mimí struggles to meet a man who will love her without fetishizing her identity but remains hopeful, eventually finding happiness with Señor Aravena. Mimí and Eva’s friendship encourages Eva to think about the meaning of womanhood. In Chapter 8, she muses, “I had told myself so often it is a curse to be born a woman that I had some difficulty understanding Melesio’s struggle to become one” (240).

Mimí is one Eva’s greatest supporters in adulthood, encouraging her ceaselessly to pursue a career in writing. Mimí single-handedly convinces Señor Aravena to produce Eva’s telenovela.

Like Eva, Mimí is disinterested in politics, understanding that very little will change for people like herself and Eva until people like them gain true political power. Mimí knows that ingrained prejudices take a long time to undo, so she chooses to focus on providing her herself and her loved ones rather than advocating for wider social change.

Consuelo

Consuelo is Eva’s mother. As an infant, she was found wandering in a jungle region and taken in by missionaries. She was sent to a convent as a young girl but showed no interest in religion and was instead appointed a domestic servant in the home of the Professor. There, Consuelo met the Indigenous gardener with whom she conceived Eva.

Like Eva, Consuelo is a romantic and a daydreamer who sees the magic in everyday life. She tells Eva many stories as a child, passing down the knowledge that storytelling is a survival strategy. During their short time together, Consuelo showers Eva with love and imparts many lessons that are integral in shaping Eva’s strong self-worth, compassion, and determination.

Elvira

Elvira is the cook at the home of Eva’s first employer. She is a wry, resilient woman whose entire life has been spent in servitude. Elvira takes Eva under her wing and becomes her de facto abuela, teaching her lessons about good character and perseverance.

Elvira is realistic about the ways of the world but encourages Eva to fight back against oppression because “no one tries anything with mad dogs” (79). Her advice shapes Eva’s approach to dealing with the classist and sexist paradigms she encounters as a working-class woman.

Eva succeeds in life partially due to the attitude she learned from Elvira. After achieving financial success, Eva repays her abuela’s kindness by moving Elvira into her home. Elvira’s character embodies the virtue of resilience in the face of seemingly insurmountable power structures.

Madrina

Eva’s madrina is the cook at the home of Professor Jones. A biracial woman with a commanding presence and a “brain slightly addled from rum” (54), she practices an offbeat version of Catholicism influenced by her alcohol addiction. Eva’s madrina takes over of Eva when Consuelo dies. Though she is brusque and later abusive, Eva believes that deep down, her madrina loves her.

After giving birth to a two-headed baby, Eva’s madrina is dehumanized by the public. Her alcohol addiction worsens, and she suffers a rapid cognitive decline, becoming a senile shadow of the imposing woman she was at the start of the narrative. Her arc shows the depth of cruelty to which a misogynistic and racist society is capable of sinking.

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