In the in the novel The Gilda Stories written by Jewelle
Gomez, in chapter 2 called “ Yerba Buena: 1890” the character Eleanor is introduce
to the reader. She is a vampire who is seen as royalty because her family has
lived in Yerba Buena longer than anyone else. Anthony introduces Eleanor to
Gilda, which she is described as a skinny, tall, red hair, provocative and
elegant woman. Eleanor becomes right away interested in Gilda and starts to
question where she comes from and soon after tells Gilda to let her dress her.
Eleanor takes Gilda shopping and takes control on what clothes looks good on
Gilda. Through the story Eleanor starts having problems with Samuel because he
does not want her being with Gilda.
Eleanor
is the character that only cares about herself and no one else. She is the type
of character that will do anything that will benefit her. On page 95, Sorel
quotes “I love her as my own, but you will see she has only her own interests
in her heart. There’s no room for any other.” This shows that the only thing
that matters to Eleanor are her interests. Eleanor cannot care for anyone else
but herself and in her mind all that is present are her needs. Also, since she
likes to make other peoples life miserable since she is not happy with her life
and likes to enjoy others stuffer. When she sees others suffer its like she
feels satisfy because she is not the only one unhappy at that moment.
A struggle that
Eleanor faces in this chapter is that she is not able to control Gilda. Eleanor
seems to think that Gilda will do whatever she commands her to do, since Gilda
did dress the way she told her to. Eleanor manages to make Gilda believe that
she was not part of Samuel’s wife death, until Anthony and Sorel worn her not to
fall into Eleanor’s trap. Eleanor tells Gilda some of her personal memories
about her childhood, in order to get closer to Gilda and make her think that
she is not like everyone says she is. Also, in this chapter comes a time when
Eleanor kisses Gilda making her believe that she has feelings towards her.
Eleanor takes this attention because she is aware that Gilda is attracted to
her. Even though Eleanor helped Gilda dress better and took her to one of her
special places that has meaning to her in life, Gilda manages to keep herself
from commenting a crime. Eleanor thought that Gilda’s feelings that she had for
her where going to be strong enough to make Gilda murder Samuel.
One flaw that is
seen in Eleanor is wanting to have power over the people. Having too much power
will make Eleanor abuse it, which will lead her into doing dangerous
things. Eleanor is a lonely
vampire because she always wants to have power over the person, who makes the
person not be around her or makes the person dislike her. Eleanor’s strength is
the confidence she has in herself. The confidence she shows when she wants
something and manages to get it.
A conflict that
exists in this chapter is inner conflict. Eleanor experiences inner conflict
with the character Samuel. Samuel accuses Eleanor of killing his wife. In this
chapter Eleanor tries to get rid of Samuel, since he will not stop bothering
her. The way that she tries to handle this conflict is to get Gilda to kill
Samuel, by telling her that they need to get rid of him in order for them to be
free from him. Even though Eleanor sees that Samuel is trying to kill Gilda for
being with her, Eleanor does nothing to help save Gilda. In this situation
Eleanor tries to use Gilda, in order for her not to kill Samuel herself. Eleanor
struggles in order to get Samuel eliminated from her life, which does not end
up happening in the end. Eleanor becomes aware that she could not control
Gilda, as she has been able to control Samuel and other people.
I do not feel any
empathy for the character Eleanor because in my point of view it is not fair to
make others suffer. Also, I think it is not right to try and control other
people and use them just for ones own benefit. People are not like toys where
one can make them do whatever one wants hem to do. Persons have their own brain
where they can decide what they want to do and Eleanor seems to see people like
toys. I think that just caring about ones own desires and going after them
without thinking if someone else is going to get hurt, is incorrect in a
person.
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