Eva Luna

After years of ineffectual attempts at rebellion in the unnamed country, the budding guerrilla movement provides hope of a real, lasting change. Within the novel, the guerrillas cite the real-life Cuban Revolution as their inspiration. Venezuela has its own history with guerrilla warfare: The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional, or FALN, was a guerrilla group formed by Venezuela’s Communist Party. FALN were unsuccessful in their objective to incite rebellion against the Venezuelan democracy, but Naranjo’s guerillas seem to be making progress against the standing government.

Eva definitively comes of age in these chapters. Through the sexual awakening of her protagonist, Allende explores the topic of female sexuality in a misogynistic society and The Role of Women in South American Patriarchy. Just as Zulema’s aggressive pursuit of Kamal subverted a common power dynamic between men and women, so too does Eva’s encounter with Riad. Despite their age difference, Eva’s first sexual experience is an empowering moment for her as she takes ownership of her body and learns about pleasure.

Zulema’s death by suicide illustrates the most tragic outcome of a society which suppresses female sexuality. Though Zulema suffered from mental illnesses, her stifled desire and spurned love were contributing factors in her death. Her fate suggests that women in this patriarchal society encounter many obstacles in attempting to exercise their sexual agency.

When Eva begins a relationship with Naranjo, she encounters a troubling attitude toward her sexuality. Despite being a full-fledged revolutionary, Naranjo holds a regressive view of sex informed by the machismo culture he has grown up in. He sees sex as degrading for women and would rather believe Eva lost her virginity to rape than to a consensual encounter. His viewpoint calls back to an earlier declaration by Eva’s madrina, who described virginity as a girl’s “only treasure.” This prevailing attitude is the symptom of a patriarchal society in which female sexuality is taboo. Eva once again uses her gift for storytelling to alter reality when she invents the lie that she was raped by police to soothe Naranjo’s ego.

Naranjo’s latent misogyny extends to his plans for the revolution. He believes that it is “a man’s war” (264) and will not allow Eva to materially participate in his plans. Eva realizes that, though the guerillas promise a “free and equal” society for all, they will never see women and other marginalized people as their equals. She is therefore right to believe that the struggle playing out at the highest level will have little effect on her. As long as men hold exclusive power, they will continue to subjugate women.

Naranjo’s conversation with Eva shows that he, too, understands the power of words. When she refers to the murdered policeman, he retorts that the men were executed, warning her to “choose [her] words more carefully” (261). His careful diction absolves the guerrillas of murder and places the blame back onto the police. By controlling the language around the murders, Naranjo hopes to control the narrative. In contrast to Eva, who only uses her words to uplift herself and others, Naranjo hopes to obfuscate his misdeeds and sway public opinion. The guerilla forces are therefore just as oppressive in their tendencies as the dictatorship they oppose, reflecting Power and the Inevitability of Corruption.

Eva continues to navigate the world with her characteristic acceptance. She seeks out and forgives her madrina. Here, her gift for storytelling shines again, as she allows her madrina dignity within the narrative, painting her as a sympathetic figure despite the abuse Eva endured at her hands.