Redefining Space in Eva Luna

Abstract

The existing power structures in society are based on regulatory principles that are slow to change. The oppressive system of gender that is in practice even today solicits responses that should pave the way for progressive changes in the ideas and concepts regarding women. Colonial rule sought to establish male hierarchy where power and authority were concerned and there was a corresponding lack of interest in providing due recognition to female power. The postcolonial discourse is engaged in listening to those voices that have been rendered feeble by the onslaught of colonialist enterprise and patriarchy. Recovering the long-lost spaces of the self is crucial in breaking down the wide gulf that separates the male and the female. Gender asssumptions that are held in high esteem lose their ground and egalitarian principles become widely acknowledged. This paper is a study of the novel Eva Luna by the Chilean-American writer, Isabel Allende and it analyses the spaces in which the protagonist finds herself, the negotiation of which enables her to confront truths and half-truths, leading to the emergence of her real self.