Eva's Man: Analysis of Major Characters
"Eva's Man" is a novel that delves into the complex psyche of Eva Medina Canada, a 43-year-old Black woman imprisoned in an insane asylum following the brutal murder of her lover, Davis Carter. The narrative unfolds through Eva’s recollections as she navigates her memories and the inquiries of psychiatrists and her prison roommate, Elvira Moody. The story highlights themes of trauma, sexuality, and repression, particularly focusing on Eva's early experiences with sexuality that shape her silence and response to violence throughout her life.
Davis Carter, described as Eva’s appealing yet controlling lover, becomes the focal point of her violent act, while her husband, James Hunn, further illustrates her struggles with confinement and control in her relationships. Elvira, her roommate, acts as a catalyst for Eva's reflections, contrasting with her own violent past. The novel also introduces other characters, such as Alfonso, Eva's cousin with a history of domestic abuse, and Tyrone, a jazz musician linked to Eva's mother, providing a broader context of familial and societal influences on Eva's life.
Ultimately, "Eva's Man" presents a rich tapestry of character interactions and the haunting exploration of memories, leaving readers to ponder the deeper implications of Eva's actions and her quest for understanding amid her trauma.
Eva's Man: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Gayl Jones
First published: 1976
Genre: Novel
Locale: Primarily New York
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The mid-1940's to 1980
Eva Medina Canada, a deeply disturbed forty-three-year-old black woman who is incarcerated in an insane asylum after having murdered and sexually mutilated her lover, Davis Carter. The novel traces her response to the repeated requests of the asylum psychiatrists and her roommate, Elvira Moody, to explain why she committed this grisly act. Eva herself is not so much sincerely trying to understand this murder as she is browsing through memories that come back to her, some repeatedly and some with distortions, but most of which focus on her sexual history. As a girl, she learns to keep quiet after some very early encounters with sexuality, and the silence she maintains on these occasions recurs throughout her life when she is faced with problems. For example, when the police question her, as a teenager, about stabbing Moses Tripp, she lets Moses talk but says nothing herself. After being judged insane for the murder of Davis Carter, she is locked up with Elvira Moody, also a murderer. The novel ends with Eva acquiescing, after much resistance, to Elvira's desire to make love to her but with little reason to believe that Eva's memories will ever coalesce into understanding of her actions on her part.
Davis Carter, Eva's lover, the man she murders. He has been married, has been a gambler, and tells her that he presently works with horses. The tall, dark-skinned, and good-looking Davis reminds Eva a bit of what her husband might have been like as a younger man. He does not physically abuse Eva, but—as had her husband, James—he keeps her confined, not even allowing her to comb her hair. He continues to have sex with her after she develops a kidney infection. His comment that she eats food as if she is making love to it seems to plant the idea of emasculating him in her mind.
James Hunn, also called Hawk, Eva's husband, whom she meets in a police station after she has stabbed Moses Tripp and Hunn has been in a car accident. He visits her while she is in the reformatory and later in jail; eventually, she marries him. According to Alfonso, he once killed a man in a fight over a woman. In his two-year marriage to Eva, he lets her out of the house only to go to classes and even tears the telephone out of their house so she cannot make calls. She marries him when she is eighteen years old and he is fifty-two.
Elvira Moody, Eva's roommate, who has a more violent history than Eva but who controls herself better. She killed three men by giving them bad whiskey. Her constant questioning and propositioning of Eva provide much of the impetus for Eva's remembering. The novel ends with Elvira finally making love to Eva.
Alfonso, Eva's cousin from Kansas City, with whom she goes out a few times and who makes a pass at her. Alfonso habitually beats his wife, Jean, and only his brother Otis can stop him.
Tyrone, a short jazz musician who has an affair with Eva's mother and who badgers the twelve-year-old Eva with sexual propositions until Eva's father puts a stop to the affair.
Marie Canada, Eva's mother, a woman who conducts her affair with Tyrone very openly, having him join her, and Eva, for dinner every night while Eva's father is at work, so that Eva's father learns about the affair long before he puts a stop to it.
Miss Billie, a neighborhood woman who befriends Eva's mother when they first move to New York from Columbus, Georgia. When Eva begins school, she gives Eva a wooden bracelet, which Eva loses when she is eight.
The Queen Bee, a neighborhood woman whose male lovers all die under mysterious circumstances.