"Christ Figure"
Today in class Dr. Hanrahan described Eva as, "too good to live in the world," which is why she died... a sacrifice, if you will. I scoffed openly at this, as if Eva is some kind of Helen Burns-esque angel. Thinking more about it, I see Stowe's representation of a female Christ figure in our eloquent little six year old filled with ignorance and a complete misunderstanding of the individual, living in a house filled with so... much... love! "Love" that is forced to be there in the first place, love as a slave. I sound so bias. I so am. That's my main issue with Eva, that because of her youth, she cannot yet begin to undestand slavery or the seperation of self away from religion (why is it important that Topsy be granted Jesus' love? Why wasn't Eva's enough?). Her heart is in the right place; she's probably a humanist, and therefore a feminist, in the making. However, she doesn't deserve all of the death spotlight if we're talking sacrifices here. What about Tom?
Tom's death would be more significant to me; he really has the chance to die a martyr, to be a "Christ figure."
I think you have a good point about Eva. She is too young to understand the true evils of the world. After all, she has only been exposed to slavery in her own household. Stowe uses Eva to show what the evils of slavery can do to the heart. Little Eva is heartbroken when she begins to learn about the harshness of slavery, and she continues to deteriorate every time she encounters some other horror of the slave trade. Stowe does use Eva (it is hard to believe that one small child can be so perfect; she is another one of Stowe's caricatures.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Dr. H's "too good to live in the world" statement. No offense, but it just seems like a cop-out way of justifying a young girl's death. It reminds me of when people say "God needed another angel." No, he didn't. He has plenty.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I like Eva a lot. I think she's a sweet girl, even though she's naive. I do agree that she does not understand how to separate herself from religion. That bothers me :(
I think you misunderstand Dr. H's "too good to live in the world" statement. Stowe was using Eva as a tool to show the evil of slavery and how it affects the lives of everyone. Eva is the symbol of the manifestation of the evil. She is an angel on earth that has been hurt by the evil's of slavery. Eva is not a real person, she is a character in the novel. What else do you want people to say who have lost a child?
ReplyDeleteA great discussion going on here--keep it going! I will say, though, that it wasn't ME saying that Eva was too good to live in the world. I was saying that that's what the text is saying--or what Stowe is trying to say in the text. You can (and should) question that, but I don't think you can argue that that is Stowe's vision of this character.
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