The Prose Work "Eva" by Gabriela
The prose work Eva by Gabriela deals with issues of young people's love lives, marriage, families, and religious principles. The unique social issues that are prevalent in his setting are revealed by Gabriela through the use of characters like Eva, Manek, Merissa, and Samko. As it represents the modern society of young lovers, Eva's message is currently one of universal concern for the phenomena Gabriel writes about: love, marriage, and family problems. There are always difficulties involved in starting a household. Many people confuse love with infatuation and skip the joy that comes with having a family. In Gabriel’s Eva, the family of Manek and Eva is a symbol of such a character who has messed up with their families. The results become disappointments, regrets, guilt and ultimate death. The internal and external forces of the family that jeopardize the relationship of the family members such as religion, friends and one's flaws are depicted in the text and portrayed as dangerous elements for a family that wish to settle. Therefore, love, marriage and family are the ultimate elements in Gabriela’s Eva.
Choosing Marriage Partners
Choosing marriage partners is influenced by parents, religion and social class. Gabriela Preissova was known for his writings about affairs of young lovers and the obstacles that stand on their way. Gabriela in his story Eva, presents to us the life of the main character, Eva, who is trapped between two lovers. Just as it is normal for people of different social strata in the society find it difficult to mingle with one another, Eva is reluctant to accept a hand in marriage with Manek because he belongs to a rich family while herself belongs to a low-income family. She says, “I avoided Manek for a long time because he is my social superior” (p. 114). Both Eva and Samko are Lutherans, and this sameness in religion coupled with Samko’s low social class and humble background pulls Eva to his side hence making them exchange marriage vows and promised to marry after the following Christmas. Parents would also try as much as possible to see their children getting settled in marriage with someone nice and perhaps who would prove suitable forever. To confirm the argument, we learn that Eva’s family (father and aunt) had a negative attitude toward Manek, and when at last they get the news that Eva has decided to wed with Samko, they support her and feel relieved of the anticipated danger their daughter would land into with Manek. Eva’s situation is just a replication of many societies of the world which hold control over the lives of their young generations, hence are very much concerned with the marriage rites of their children (Lauer and Jeanette, p.108). Gabriela presents to us a true picture of a love story of a beautiful young girl who, as a usual phenomenon, receives suitors of all sorts and from different families. The dilemma facing Eva and the predicament she falls into is similar to the lives of many young couples.
Establishing a Strong Family Foundation
It is challenging for a newly wedded couple to establish a strong family foundation. In the story of Eva by Gabriel, we find the newly wedded couples in Mikulec village coming together in a ceremony. The people who had “earlier met with bitterness and passion.” (p 121) Are once more together, Samko the husband of Eva and Manek husband to Merisa. The two families are still young and are still finding their purpose. The heart of Manek and that of Eva are bounded together though they have already ventured into married life. The feelings of these Eva young couples are deeply entangled together. They realize this when dancing together where they lose track of the music being played. Samko, the husband of Eva, still has the fear in him to give out Eva for a dance. It shows there is the feeling of insecurity among the young couples. Immediately wedded couples face a lot of challenges whereby they are still in between the youth life and adult life. The mind is usually not settled, and the individuals in the marriage life keep on asking themselves questions if they made the right choice in choosing the marriage partner. In this phase, the partner tries to learn the character of the other partner. In knowing each other, they work to form the principles governing their marriages. It becomes hard if the married couples don’t have the same mind, this can lead to divorce due to continued disagreement. Pressure from surrounding people to the married couple is key to the foundation. In this, it can either be positive or negative. Eva was facing a lot of pressure from people, starting from her father and aunt and also parents from Manek. It was profoundly confusing her mind, and she was unable to make up her decisions and even settle in her marriage. Newly established families face a lot challenges in building a strong foundation.
The Mistakes and Tragedy
The mistakes that some characters like Eva and Manek has made in the text result to tragedy. In Gabriela’s Eva, there is the portrayal or the occurrence of a mistake as Samko states in the last paragraph of the text. He implies on his wife Eva who had left his home to become Manek’s mistress. The mistake she does it to follow his heart without reasoning about the outcome of the step she takes to love Manek again. Samko response to anyone who asks him about Eva is that, “… everyone in the world makes mistakes” (139). In the family, people are prone to upheavals which can lead to family differences and divorce. The concern of Gabriella in this point is to show how prevention of such occurrences is important at early stages before things are completely uncontrollable. Considering the life of the two new couples of Manek and Eva, there was a possibility to avoid the tragedy which resulted in the death of Eva. However, it would have been avoided long before it was too late. The family is almost rendered desperate, and it is subjected to disappointments due to the actions that Eva takes to fall in love with Manek. People in Eva are making wrong choices and exposing themselves to the vulnerability of death. Eva dies of guilt of leaving her family; Samko and her daughter Katecta. The short story is full of characters who have made choices which are correct while some has made mistakes in choosing their ways. For instance, the notary couple of Hrozenkov is a product of a good decision whereas the decision of Manek and Eva results in a loss; the death of Eva. Therefore, Eva concerns the social lesson of making choices in the aspects of love, marriage, relationships and marriage and provides caution to all who may wish for a similar step of life.
Breaking Up in Marriages
However, people can break up in their marriages and still enjoy in their newly formed families. Eva depicts the case of a couple who broke up with their first marriage and started new ones successfully. Eve says, “That notary couple from Hrozenkov had children too, and yet they even managed to settle things well with them.” (p.127). It is a clear indication that not all people who divorce and form new families end up regretting or living a desperate life. The story of Eva has a tragic ending, after divorcing her husband Simko, she ended up missing and being found dead. The story of Eva is unlike that of the couple from Hrozenkov who after forming their new family after lived seemly a happy live. The couple upheld their respect in the society, Manek and Eva used them as their role models to their planned divorce from their current families to form their own. Many people in the society face difficulties by living they're entire live in painful and unreasonable relationships and marriages. They fear to divorce and be separated hence continue in their abusive marriages, and the result is a miserable life. Having children does not mean that a person is not allowed to separate. There is no reason for staying together among people having antagonistic minds always. It will hinder any growth in the family thus living a desperate life. People who know they are of different perceptions and their priorities are not similar when they separate they stand a chance of starting a new life which has a better purpose. They also give an opportunity for the other partner to get a person who is suitable for him or her.
The Position of Women in Society
In contrast, Gabriela is a woman who shows the position of women in the society. She portrays the incidents from the Czech Republic in the contemporary time through the art of writing. She is a feminist who makes the audience of her texts sympathize with the position of the women in the society filled with male dominance. In Gabriela’s text, women such as Eva, Melisa, Mrs. Mesjanova and Mrs. Kotlibova have passive roles in the texts where their husbands are mishandling them. Melisa for instance is left by Manek who takes Eva for a wife. Manek later disowns Eva as his wife and says that she is a fellow worker. It implies that Gabriela uses these characters with the experience of uncertainty in life, disappointments and subjection to men and later brings the woman; Eva, to a tragic incidence of death so as to caution the girl child and women on the social aspect over the feminine gender for them to be careful in the marriage rite of passage.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Gabriela Preissova covers a compact framework of the life of youth in love and marriage. She majors on the female character to open up to the society the dangers that may amortize the happy life of a young lady in a marriage. Her story implies that the youth, especially the girls, should take time and choose their lovers carefully to avoid future troubles and unfortunate landing. As a society, we should break ties that hinder relationships that may lead to a happy marriage (Bradshaw, 47). For instance, the issue of social class and religion should not be blocked to marriage between a couple of different origins of class and religion. Probably, a marriage between Eva and Manek would have thrived well if it were not for the differences between Lutherans and Catholics that made Eva lean against Manek’s side. Gabriela presents her work in a way that any critical reader would identify the failure on the part of the story’s heroine to identify the real character of Samko, who apparently was violent. Anybody can identify it from the beginning of the story when, on their way from the fair, where Mrs. Mesjanova agitated Eva. It is at this point where we learn that Samko was easily disturbed when he lifted his stick ready to hit Mrs. Mesjanova. “Lame Samko had reared up in front of her like an outlaw-he made as if to work her over the head with his stick….” Eva did not consider the action, and she later suffered brutalities from Samko. Before entering into a marriage, a couple ought to filter each other and learn the character of their partner and choose one who would not become a disgrace to their lives.
Works Cited
Bradshaw, Sarah T. Emerging adults' marriage expectations: The influence of a relationship's type of love or an individual's gender role. Diss. Illinois State University, 2015.
Jan, Pospíšil. Modern Czech Literature; Gabriela Preissová, “Eva,” (n.d)
Lauer, Robert H., and Jeanette C. Lauer. Marriage and family: The quest for intimacy. McGraw-Hill Companies, 2004.
