Zehra's Essay on Eva Luna
...scape from feeling trapped. “I would stand there with my hands behind my back, my eyes fixed on the irresistible seascape, lost in never-ending voyages and sirens and dolphins and manta rays that sometimes leapt from my fantasies and other times from Professor Jones’s books.” This demonstrates how she use’s her imagination to run away from reality. Allende’s representation of Eva’s imagination to escape reality is an important characteristic of Latin American women. In order for Latin American women to survive and stand strong in a male dominated society they use there imagination and creativity. An example in Eva’s case is when she would tell stories to Huberto Naranjo in return for protection and him teaching her how to survive on the streets, “I made myself comfortable and offered him a story in payment for being so nice to me”. Eva’s creativity helps her to endure through the tough times, and through this Allende positions the readers to see how Latin American women were forced to use their imagination in order to survive in a male dominated society. Creativity played an important role in the lives of Latin American women, not only did they use their imagination to escape reality but they also used it as an inspiration to be strong and tolerant. Allende uses Eva’s struggle for equality to demonstrate this. Continuingly changing jobs and not having a stable home, Eva’s journey through life presented her with many challenges. Her dreams and inspirations helped her get through these challenges and become a stronger female who could then stand up for herself. When Eva was pushed to her limit it was her inspirations and dreams of storytelling that helped her move on. One example is when her “patrona picked up a large vase from the sideboard and turned it upside down, dashing stinking water and wilted flowers to the floor.” ordering her to “Clean it up!” Eva’s overwhelming anger took over her as she fought back. She then found herself homeless but not surrendering, she used her inspiration through her stories to survive on her own. This is starkly seen when she states “Although I was young, I knew about love intuitively, and wove it into my stories. I dreamed about love… The radio was my source of inspiration… our only contact with the outside world.” Allende positions the readers to see how Eva’s use of imagination and the only source of contact with the outside world helped her to survive on the streets. This demonstrates how Allende’s use of magic realism in Ev...