Eva Luna Character Analysis

Out of all the characters in this novel, Eva Luna, I enjoyed reading about Melesio the most. Throughout the chapters, he has brought the pages alive with his strength and determination to change the course of his life, and write the end to his story.

Melesio, later referred to as Mimi, was the best friend of La Senora, and is a transgender woman, who later becomes a famous telenovelas actress. She also becomes a significant influence in Eva’s life by encouraging her to write down her stories. Not only did she become Eva’s good friend and roommate, but she was also the role model of determination and kindness that Eva needed in that stage of her life. Mimi has not only shown great kindness to Eva, but to her abuela, Elvira, by taking her into their home. “She needed an abuela, too” (Allende 259).

Mimi’s life was not always a happy story. She had to fight many obstacles, both physically and emotionally. As a consequence of her sexual preferences, and the somewhat unusual life for that time period, she was the victim of prejudices and exclusions. She

We read at the very beginning of this story of Consuela’s shame of being born female when the author writes, “…so they draped her in a diaper to cover her shame…” (Allende 2). This gender imbalance continues with the story of Lukas Carle and his opinion of his wife. “To Lukas Carle, his wife was an inferior being, closer to animal than to man, God’s only intelligent creation” (Allende 27). Towards the end of this story, even Eva could not understand why Melesio wanted to be a woman, when ironically she says, “I had told myself so often that it is a curse to be born a woman that I had some difficulty understanding Melesio’s struggle to become one” (Allende 212). Elvira’s words of advice, “you have to be tough, life is dogfight” (Allende