Eva's cultural function within Eva Luna is to depict the endorsed gender stereotypes and oppression of the lower classes in order to show how that contributes to the cultural diversity within the fictive South American culture. Eva is the central female character in the novel and is constantly marginalised because of this. On the day of her birth she is classified as "bad luck" because of her not being a boy. She is taught from a very young age "men [have] it best" and women need to get married in order to be "complete." The domesticated job of being a servant throughout her entire childhood and the idea that men are masters over women is indicatory of the endorsed stereotypical gender roles of that society. Eva does not have much faith in any religion in specific, she was baptised due to the insistence of her madrina and grew up not believing in the Catholic saints that her madrina spoke to. When she worked for Riad Halabi she "worshipped Allah" in the Christian temple and while living with Melesio had a partiality to the "spiritual guidance" of the Maharishi however Eva is never affiliated with a religion in particular and this shows the decreasing influence of the Church on South American society in the twentieth century. Eva is in many ways representative of the sub-cultures of society but in contrast she also represents several of the dominant cultures. Eva begins her life representing the subjugated lower class of which many didn't know "the value of money" and towards the end of the novel she was "financially secure" and lived in "the best neighbourhood in the city." Allende's utilisation of Eva being the protagonist of the novel is significant as she is able to represent to the reader numerous cultures and sub-cultures through her own struggles and transformations.
             Rolf Carle, the other chief character in the novel is utilised eff...