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Prologue
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Stories of Eva Luna, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Men and Women
Memory and Storytelling
Love and Sex
Politics, Corruption, and Justice
Family
Summary
Analysis
Eva’s first story follows Belisa Crepusculario, another woman in the business of words. Born into extreme poverty in a barren land, Belisa gives herself her own name and makes the harrowing journey to the more hospitable coastline alone. When she finally reaches a town, she picks up a page from a discarded newspaper and discovers the written word for the first time. When she learns what the newspaper is, she realizes that there could be money in the mastery of words, and she sets out to learn to read so that she can start her own business selling them.
There are unignorable parallels between Eva and Belisa—first and foremost, they’re both storytellers by trade. Belisa’s command of words is so complete that she even chooses her own name, shaping her own identity. Her self-naming is symbolic of her self-determination as she fights for her own survival, journeying across the country and learning to read from scratch.
Themes
Belisa pays a priest to teach her to read. After consulting and throwing away a dictionary, Belisa starts her business and, within a few years, becomes famous. She “sells words” in several ways: telling stories, delivering news, reciting poems, writing letters, crafting arguments, and so on. For a larger fee, Belisa also gives customers a “secret word” to help them find happiness. One day, a fearsome military rebel known as “the Colonel” sends his most loyal officer, El Mulato, to abduct Belisa at the market. At his camp, the Colonel tells Belisa that he’s tired of being hated and feared by everyone he meets. He hasn’t given up on his quest for power, but instead of winning it by force, he now wants to win it by popular vote. The Colonel asks Belisa to write a speech that will help him be elected President.
As the story continues, more of Eva Luna’s stock characters start to take shape: the Colonel, the powerful man with a secret loneliness, and El Mulato, the military man who solves problems with violence. They’re two sides of the same coin. In Eva Luna’s stories, sometimes the desire to be loved—in this case, the Colonel’s wish to be democratically elected by the people he rules—is the only thing that separates a good leader from a tyrant. And, as is often the case, the Colonel can’t get what he wants without the help of a woman’s art.
Themes
Belisa is afraid of what the Colonel will do if she refuses to help him, but she also feels powerfully drawn to his lonely eyes and soft voice. More out of desire than self-preservation, Belisa sits down to write a speech for the Colonel. After many hours of writing, she reads it out loud three times for the Colonel to memorize. The Colonel and El Mulato are pleased with the final product, and the Colonel asks Belisa to name her price. She asks for a peso, and as a bonus, she offers the Colonel “two secret words.” Belisa whispers these in his ear, and El Mulato escorts her out of the camp. El Mulato looks at Belisa with desire of his own, but Belisa rebuffs him and goes on her way.
The Colonel has complete power in his camp, but his eyes and voice hint at a secret softness in him. More than anything, this inner tenderness is what seems to draw Belisa to the Colonel. It’s up for discussion what the two words Belisa whispered to the Colonel are, but the most common interpretation is that she whispered “te amo,” or “I love you.” The foil relationship between the Colonel and El Mulato becomes clearer in this section as they both become attracted to Belisa.
Themes
As months pass, Belisa’s speech for the Colonel works just as well as she promised. The Colonel becomes the top contender for the presidency, and his words inspire hope. However, the Colonel is too distracted to enjoy his success. He constantly obsesses over Belisa and the two words she whispered in his ear. El Mulato and the Colonel’s other men are distressed to see the Colonel so sad and reflective. Hoping to give the Colonel his “manhood” back, El Mulato rides out to find Belisa and orders her to come back with him to the camp. Bringing her before the Colonel, El Mulato tells his leader to give Belisa her words back so that he can be free of her curse. To his amazement, however, Belisa and the Colonel just gaze into each other’s eyes. The Colonel’s eyes “soften” as Belisa approaches him and takes his hand.
Belisa’s skill with words is proven twice over: her speech is extremely effective, and her two words affect the Colonel so deeply that he can’t even enjoy his own success. If one continues to read the two words as “te amo,” then the Colonel is dwelling on Belisa’s professed love and—it seems—beginning to fall in love himself. Belisa’s words are powerful enough to make a great man fall in love without her even being there, just like the newspaper tells people the news without the reporter being there to tell it in person. Here, the contrast between El Mulato and the Colonel becomes completely clear: while Belisa’s power and attractiveness threatens El Mulato’s masculinity, the Colonel is receptive to her unique power.
Themes
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