Eva Luna
...e living with Riad Halabí she receives inconsistent information about her role in life. First he tells her, “you must study so you can look after yourself child. It isn’t good to have to depend on a husband” (186). However, Eva Luna knows the only role allotted to women is that of a wife and mother. When Eva Luna asks Riad Halabí why she should marry he says, “women need to get married, because if they don’t they’re not complete. They dry up inside, their blood sours in their veins” (187). Although it is expected that women will marry, Eva Luna cannot see a reason to. She knows that marriage will not complete her. By staying with Riad Halabí and Zulema, Eva Luna is able to avoid getting married thus freeing her of the traditional ties to women’s roles. It is during this time with Riad & Zulema that Eva Luna first sees her own life through her stories. Although she has been writing for a long time, she suddenly realizes that she can create a world “populated with living people, a world where [she can] impose the rules and…change them at will” (188). It is this enlightenment that gives Eva Luna the freedom to create the life she desires through her stories for many years to come. The connection and solidarity that people have to endure under the weight of oppression is reflected in the lasting friendships Eva Luna forages over the years. First with Elvira, a servant in the house Eva Luna goes to work in, who takes her under her wing. Elvira teaches her how to do the domestic chores and aids her in her work, but more importantly, Elvira teaches “her to barter words for goods” (70). Eva Luna’s ability to use words serves her well in many situations and starts her life long friendship with Huberto Naranjo when she tells him a story. At the end Huberto says, “that’s a stupid story…But, all right, I [will] be your friend” (66). This friendship takes Eva Luna through many stages in her life, and although she is not ready for it when they first meet, she can see the freedom in Huberto’s life that she longs for in her own. Although Eva Luna was not yet ready for the freedom offered by Huberto, by the time she goes to live with Melesio she is. It is during her time with Melesio she “[becomes] a woman, and for the first time [steers her] own course” (212). Melesio, on the other hand, has steered his own course but wants to become a women. When Eva Luna considers this she thinks, “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” (212). Even though Eva Luna does not identify with Melesio’s desire to be a woman, she supports his plight just as she does later for Elvira and Huberto. Melesio, Elvira and Huberto come from very different backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common with Eva Luna, they are on the fringes of traditional soc...