Character Analysis

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.