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Literary Analysis of Eve’s Diary

Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Outline:
1- Introduction to the Author
2- Introduction to the Short Story “Eve’s Diary”
3- Plot and Structure
4- Setting and Tone
5- Conflict & Climax
6- Characterisation
7- Themes of the Short Story
8- Analysis of the Short Story
Conclusion

Introduction to the Author :

 Samuel Langhorne Clemens known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an
American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was
lauded as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced."
 William Faulkner called him "the Father of American Literature".
 His most famous novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and
its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), the latter of which has
often been called the "Great American Novel", which are loosely based on
Twain's boyhood experiences in Missouri.
 Mark Twain’s writing style is characterised by humour, strong narrative and
evocative descriptions, as well as a brilliant control of vernacular speech. His
writing about his own adventures, such as The Innocents Abroad (1869), was
also celebrated and marked by a distinctive writing style.
 Mark Twain’s characters often have a fully realised vernacular dialogue that
can surprise readers. Mark Twain’s writing is also characterised by his vivid
descriptions.

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Introduction to the “Eve’s Diary” :

 “Eve's Diary" is a comic short story by Mark Twain. It was first published in
the 1905 Christmas issue of the magazine Harper's Bazaar, in book format
as one contribution to a volume entitled "Their Husband's Wives".
 The diary started when the first woman in the Bible named Eve was one day
old. Eve felt that she was just an experiment and nothing more. She kept on
wondering about such things. She was so curious about God’s creations that
surrounded her, and all she did was to observe the moon, the mountains and
most of all, the stars. Eve was trying to reach the stars and get even just one
of them for her to put something on her hair.
 Until she knew that there was another human being named Adam and came
up with the idea of following him around. At first, Adam ignored her but she
did her best to get his scrutiny. Then they became friends and she began
designing everything in her surroundings. When Adam ignored her, Eve seeks
comfort with her so called “sister” – her reflection in a pool of water.
 After that, she then made some examinations or experiments with the fire.
Unfortunately, she accidentally set a fire all over the forest. Suddenly, there
was something strange that struck her, and it was an unusual discovery for
her – it was the feelings of fear.
 Eve was going on such long expeditions away from Adam with her friends –
the animals. She was again being extremely curious about all she saw around
her.
 Then her diary bounded forward to the future, after they sinned against God
(The Fall of the Garden Eden). Adam and Eve became an affectionate couple
and Eve considered on the essence of her intimate love for Adam.

 She determined that she loved him because he was hers and he was macho.

 The diary ended after 40 years later, when Eve was believing about her
death. She said that she would like to die first because Adam was stronger.
She said that she will be depressed and couldn’t live without him. After all,
Adam had a thought at eve’s graveside. Even where so ever she was, there
was still Eden.
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REVIEW :
First, Eve’s Perspective:
In this story, I found out how Eve see such things that surrounds her. I think I felt
that she was weird, because she was just one day old then she was too stressed
about all she sees. I am just amazed by how she think because she even want to
get the star (just to put some decorations on her hair).
With this, I realized that we can really easily learn from such things that surround
us if we’ll just going to be creative and explore.
Second, Her Intimate Relationship with Adam:
Even I didn’t witness their relationship with each other, but based on what I’ve
read, I can really sense that they really had a very intimate relationship with each
other.I am really fond of the part that Eve insisted that she should be the one who
will die first. And her reason, because she couldn’t live her life without Adam.
I realized what love can do for people involved in it.
PLOT & STRUCTURE :
The "plot" of this story is the first-person account of Eve from her creation up to
her burial by her mate Adam, including meeting and getting to know him, and
exploring the world around her, Eden. The story then jumps 40 years into the
future after the Fall and expulsion from Eden.
As you would expect from the title, the story is arranged like a diary. Since it is set
at the beginning of the world, there are no dates, but there are days of the week.
The story begins on a Saturday, the day after Eve is 'born,' and it moves
chronologically, meaning it moves forward in time as Eve lives her life.
SETTING & TONE :
The majority of the story takes place in the Garden of Eden, a vast, glorious garden
filled with beautiful creatures and vegetation that God is waiting for Adam and Eve
to discover. Eve’s Diary” takes place in the beginning of time, directly after God
has just created the universe and everything in it. Basically, it takes place at the
genesis of time many years ago.
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Twain, being a humorist, uses a lot of dramatic irony in Eve's diary and the overall
tone of the story is humoristic, light and ironic.
CONFLICT & CLIMAX :
This story has a “Man vs Nature” conflict.
The “man” being Eve and the “nature” being fear and other negative things.
The conflict in Eve's diary is the fact Eve experiences rejection from Adam,
uncertainty about her environment, and fear of the fire that burned her. This causes
Eve to become uneasy and stressed, creating conflict within herself.
Climax is a decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning
point in the plot. The climax is when Eve discovers fear.
This discovery ensues when Eve builds a fire. She is initially surprised & afraid
when the fire starts to burn, then the fire is intensified when she tries to touch the
fire and gets burnt.
CENTRAL THEMES :
The main themes in “Eve's Diary” are misogyny, the importance of beauty, and
the human need for companionship. Misogyny: By giving Eve a voice, Twain,
who was a supporter of women's suffrage, satirizes sexist ideas and draws attention
to women's struggles to have their contributions recognized.

 Gender Stereotypes
A lot of the gender-related conceptions could be found in Twain’s book. The
woman talks a lot and doesn’t allow for the man to come to word. The man is
insensitive and doesn’t understand the female attempts to decorate a home or to be
a caring mother. However, what the book states is that although males and females
have had their differences since the beginning of the human kind, they can work
through their problems and create as well as sustain life.

 Love
Love is hard even if you’re the only two living people. Twain’s piece suggests that
love comes with time by doing compromises and not trying to change the other.
Love is full of disappointments and one feels lonely from time to time, but the point
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is to never give up on one’s soulmate and fight for love with passion, because this
feeling is what makes life exciting and beautiful.

 Parenthood
The woman has had a maternal instinct since the beginning of time – or this is what
the reader can conclude from the early episodes with Eve trying to tame dinosaurs.
And the man has always been curious – trying to understand his children rather than
raising them without questions. By giving names not only to their babies but to all
animals and plants, Adam and Eve are presented like the parents of all living things.

 Curiosity
The world is a riddle and in order to connect the pieces, one has to be curious. And
so, curiosity has been one of the profound traits of the human kind which has led to
important discoveries such as fire. However, curiosity shouldn’t go too far – as the
episode with the serpent suggests, curiosity might also be the greatest flaw of the
human race.

 Companionship
The human has also always been communicative. Although Adam prefers his
solitude at first, he soon learns that it’s better to share every new experience with
someone else rather than spending time completely alone. In the process of getting
to know Eve better, he doesn’t only learn new things, but conceives the idea of
process, of becoming a better man. In the same way, fear evokes in Eve’s heart –
she's afraid that he might get hurt or she might lose him. Adam and Eve grow in each
other’s company and only become well-rounded persons by living together.

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Analysis of “Eve’s Diary”

 “Eve’s Diary,” written by Mark Twain, is a first-person narrative of Eve, the
first woman according to Judeo-Christian belief. Through her innocence and
curiosity, she learns about the world around her. Eve’s introspective diary
entries give an intimate understanding of her character and journey through
hardship and ultimately love. Throughout “Eve’s Diary” two contrasting
views of love are developed: innocent love represented by Eve’s admiration
of nature, and complex love, represented by her relationship with Adam.
These two contrasting views of love contribute to the theme that love
between humans is a dynamic, subjective, and personal experience.
Eve’s first diary entry is fittingly the day after her “arrival” to the Garden of Eden.
She is able to articulate her thoughts with a mastery of language while expressing
her ultimate innocence, being quite literally born yesterday. This blend of
expressive ability and purity is unique to this story. On Eve’s first day in the Garden
she expresses how she spent the afternoon watching bees, butterflies, and flowers
in their natural place (Twain para. 31). Eve is so enthralled with the natural world
that insects and flowers are enough to keep her entertained throughout the
afternoon. Throughout the story Eve’s love of the natural world is depicted as one-
dimensional and static. The early entries of Eve’s diary effectively display the love
she feels towards nature by highlighting her innocence and curiosity at her
surroundings.
In Eve’s first diary entry the reader is introduced to Adam, whom Eve describes as
the other “experiment.” Eve gravitates towards Adam in the same way that she
does towards nature, but the outcome is different. Eve recalls that “By and by I
found it was only trying to get away, so after that I was not timid any more, but
tracked it along, several hours, about twenty yards behind, which made it
nervous and unhappy” (Twain para. 9). Even in their first encounter Adam
provides a challenge to the notion of love that Eve has developed. Eventually Eve
discovers Adam’s interests and shortcomings, which give her a greater
understanding of his character and indicates that the relationship will continue in
the same fashion as Eve’s relationship with nature: static. This indication is
shattered when Eve informs the reader of “my first sorrow. Yesterday he avoided
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me and seemed to wish I would not talk to him… and my heart was very sore.
I did not know why very clearly, for it was a new feeling; I had not experienced
it before, and it was all a mystery, and I could not make it out” (Twain para.
19). Twain usurps the reader’s expectation of how the relationship will develop by
allowing Eve’s innocent character to experience emotional pain for the first time.
The flipped perspective that experts from Adam’s diary provide gives the reader
insights into his character. Adam states that “none of the [colorful objects] is of
any practical value, so far as I can see, but because they have color and majesty,
that is enough for her, and she loses her mind over them. If she could quiet
down and keep still a couple minutes at a time, it would be a reposeful
spectacle” (Twain para. 48). Adam’s perspective enlightens the reader to the
shortcomings of both characters and that the rift between them is caused by a
failure to communicate. Through Twain’s purposeful use of both characters’ diaries
he presents to the reader the personal shortcomings of Adam and Eve and provides
an explanation to why innocent love is not applicable to their relationship.

The section entitled “After the Fall” catalogs Eve’s diary after leaving Eden with
Adam. Eve reflects on why she loves Adam and how this love is different from
others she has experienced. This is best articulated when she states “If I ask myself
why I love him, I find I do not know, and do not really much care to know; so I
suppose that this kind of love is not a product of reasoning and statistics, like one’s
love for other reptiles and animals.” (Twain para. 68) Eve’s reflection on her
relationship expresses how love between humans can be messy and complex.
Compromise and understanding are necessary for Eve and Adam to coexist in the
irrational love they have developed for one another. Through introducing the
reader to Eve’s personal thoughts, the complexity of human nature is exposed as a
limiting factor in human love.

Throughout “Eve’s Diary” the theme of contrasting love is developed. One static
view of love is represented by Eve’s admiration of the natural world, and a more
complex view of love is developed through her relationship with Adam. Twain
achieves these two contrasting views of love by carefully constructing Eve’s diary
as her personal, introspective journey. Imagery is used to express Eve’s innocent
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love of nature, and her innocent love is used in conjunction with reflection,
comparison, and excepts from Adam’s diary to convey Eve’s complex love towards
Adam. This story expresses a subjective view that love is a unique and personal
connection between an individual and the subject of their love. This connection
articulates the difference in an individual’s love for the natural world, which is
based on the material, and an individual’s love with another, which is intangible
and sometimes illogical.

Literary Analysis Essay on Eve's Diary

Introduction

Eve's diary is a dynamic literary piece that presents a naive course of a first person
on a planet. Eve, who is the first person to inhabit the earth, shows an
unprecedented form of creativity, aggressiveness, and admiration of nature. She
likes everything that she comes around where she tries to make it better. For
instance, she is seen to try to foster a better relationship with the man. In cases
where she cannot affect a course, she only wishes good for the subject item hoping
her wish will come to be. Moreover, numerous events take place; some which she
has control while she lacks control in others. As noted, the events that take place
have their causes with effects that can be intertwined. An analysis of the cause of
the events and their resultant impacts can unravel the nature of society which Eve
inhabited.

Eve's Diary depicts Eve as a caring, compassionate, emotional, and loving

person. She admires nature and can name the things around her. At some point, she
meets a man with whom she is fascinated since she had never seen such a person
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before. She begins to feel attracted to him, though the man shows no interest in what
she loves disappointing her considerably (Twain 13). She wants him to understand
her feelings, which she entices using elements of nature. Unfortunately, the man's
unresponsiveness to her enticements discourages her that she feels like giving up.

One of the aspects that is evident from Eve's diary, is the self-awareness that
she exhibits in the way she carries herself. She understands her whereabouts and
is informed regarding the animals, plants, and the sky. In the first instance, she
confirms to be wise by realizing that time is essential; hence, she decides to record
it for future purposes. Her realization that naming of animals was necessary for
identifications also proves that she was bright. In essence, she can differentiate
between various types of animals, such as reptiles and fish. Furthermore, she
teaches the man how to identify the animals and plants by their names. She also
understands that some animals are wild while others are tame. For instance, she
saved the man from the dodo, which would have hurt him. Most beneficially, she
tries to understand the man to exploit his presence so that he can keep him
company. Indisputably, her wisdom makes her outstand above the rest of the
creatures in the environment.

On the other hand, Eve is seen to be creative and innovative from time to time.
Her skill to understand and interpret her surrounding makes it easy for her to
interact with nature and man. Besides, he attempts to hit the stars were futile
leading to the realization that the stars were far away than they seemed. As a
result, she stopped trying to beat them with a pole. Furthermore, she meets new
creatures and makes new realizations every day, where man is the most significant.
She discovers that naming them enhances her ability to remember them. Her
anxiety leads to rubbing two sticks against each other which results in the discovery
of fire. The event not only leads to fire but also the use of fire from the burning of
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fruits, which tasted better than raw ones. Evidently, her creativity and, seemingly,
aggressiveness resulted in numerous discoveries as well as realizations.

Eve is a very emotional, caring, and loving person who likes to help. To
begin with, the fall of the moon disturbs her significantly that she feels
so heart-broken that it should not have to happen that way every day.
Besides, her compassion for nature leads her to rebuke the man's attempt
to catch a fish. Her fascination with the man also forces her to seek more
time to keep in touch with him. At the event the man distances himself
from her, she is so overwhelmed that she decides to visit him in the bid
to make up. However, the man cold-heartedly denies her entry, and she
is rained on. Essentially, nature was too cordial before she met the man.
Her meeting caused her both sadness and happiness. Overall, man-made
nature to look even more complicated than she had understood it. Eve
does not accomplish her, seemingly, the most precious goal of winning
the man's heart, but her feelings of love and compassion do not change
nonetheless.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Eve's diary presents a recap of the events as they may have been for
the first people in the universe. For a majority of the short story, her anxiety is the
cause of the various elements that come up. For instance, her anxiety led to fire
discovery. Overall, she was knowledgeable and aggressive.

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The light and calming nature of Eve’s character comes through as she encounters
a tiger, an animal with which most of us connect slaughter and danger, which
Twain presents as something that is safe to sleep among: “I couldn't get back
home; it was too far and turning cold; but I found some tigers and nestled in
among them and was most adorably comfortable, and their breath was sweet
and pleasant, because they live on strawberries.” (4). Besides the fact that it
depicts Eve in a certain way, this description also adds to the irony of the story,
where the reader knows that tigers do not feed on strawberries, and the end
result is that Eve is seen as either being quite silly or irrational.

His tone and humor are a trademark easily identifiable with his writing, therefore,
the choice of tone speaks more about him as an author, especially considering
that the biblical creation story is something that is often taken very seriously, and
therefore is the perfect victim of Twain’s humor. There are certainly people who
believe that Adam and Eve were genuine human beings, hence Twain gives them
actual qualities that normal people have, showing them in their daily activities,
gaining experience, feeling and expressing emotions. Conversely, that only
makes it more difficult to believe the story, even though – theoretically speaking –
if Adam and Eve actually existed, they would be no or little different from the rest
of us.

Of particular interest is the way he shows the discovery of fire, which he

attributes to Eve, and the way she reacts to it is crucial in understanding her as a
blueprint for every other woman. The text is filled with these events, where the
assumption that a woman must be doing something only to gain approval in
man’s eyes is undeniable:
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TEXT REFRENCE :

“I had created something that didn't exist before; I had added a new
thing to the world's uncountable properties; I realized this, and was
proud of my achievement, and was going to run and find him and tell
him about it, thinking to raise myself in his esteem--but I reflected,
and did not do it. No--he would not care for it. He would ask what it
was good for, and what could I answer? for if it was not GOOD for
something, but only beautiful, merely beautiful”. (Twain 13)

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