Summary
In the first stanza of "Eve to Her Daughters," Eve declares that it was not her "who began it." She and her family were banished to cold and uncomfortable caves, where they experienced hunger. The family then had to work for their food, and Eve's children whined at the less-than-optimal conditions. However, Eve states that she was not unhappy. She was content to follow Adam and adapt to their punishment. This was her life.
Unlike Eve, Adam is shown to be dissatisfied with life in the second stanza. After their banishment, Adam ruminated over "the insult." This insult is referred to as a "trick" played on Adam and Eve by "[Them]" as a way to scold the couple. Adam discovered a flaw in himself and had to compensate for it. Compared to Eden, the world outside was imperfect: "the seasons changed, the game was fleet-footed, / [Adam] had to work for our living, and he didn’t like it." Adam criticizes Eve's cooking, but she points out that it's hard to compete with Heaven.
The couple's history (and the history of human life on earth) continues to be recounted in the fourth stanza. Adam set to work attempting to recreate Eden in the outside world. This new Eden would have central heating, domesticated animals, mechanical harvesters, combustion engines, escalators, refrigerators, and modern means of communication. The list goes on to include multiplied opportunities for safe investment and higher education for Abel and Cain (as well as for the rest of the family). Eve points out that Adam's pride had been hurt.
Due to Adam's hurt pride, he feels compelled to "unravel everything." His mechanical-mindedness led him to believe that mechanism was the whole secret to life. When he figured out the internal mechanism of a machine, he would declare, "So that is how it works!" This discovery of mechanical workings led Adam to figure himself as the inventor of those things. In Adam's logic, because God and the Other cannot be demonstrated, they don't exist. Anything that cannot be demonstrated doesn't exist. Eve comments that Adam had always been jealous.
In the sixth stanza, Eve describes how Adam reached the center "where nothing at all can be demonstrated." In this center, Adam himself "clearly...doesn't exist," but he refuses to accept this conclusion. Eve states that her husband has always been an egotist. Eve describes the couple's original cave before the modernization of Earth in the seventh stanza. It was warmer there, and there was "none of this fall-out." Eve tells her daughters that for the sake of the children, it's time that these female descendants take over.
Eve continues to directly address her daughters in the eighth stanza, telling them that they have inherited Eve's character faults. She tells her female descendants that they are submissive, following Adam even beyond the death of the original man. However, Eve states that character faults have their own logic; things always work out. Eve says she observed this with her children, Abel and Cain.
In the ninth stanza, Eve draws a conclusion about "the whole elaborate fable," saying that from the beginning, it was meant to demonstrate a profound truth: that perhaps nothing exists but the faults of humanity. Eve connects this back to Adam's brand of logic; because human faults can be demonstrated, this makes them real. In the last stanza of the poem, Eve states that it is a futile effort to try to point all this out to Adam. Adam has "turned himself into God, / who is faultless," and thus "doesn't exist." In other words, if one applies Adam's own logic (or Eve's) to Adam's self, it would negate his very existence.
Analysis
In "Eve to Her Daughters," the original woman addresses her female progeny concerning the history of human habitation on earth, humans' relationship to truth, and the faults of character that have led to the problems of modernity. Adam's primary fault is defined as his egotistical self-idolization, and Eve presents her submissive attitude as hers. The poem is written in free verse, which matches Eve's informal tone and use of sarcasm. Wright employs a feminist stance when Eve calls modern women to action, implying that Adam's leadership is insufficient to ensure humanity's future. In doing so, Wright offers a different perspective on the Biblical figure of Eve and on the role of modern women.
The first stanza begins with a deflection of personal responsibility: Eve claims, "It was not I who began it." This line can be read further as a negation of self. The phrase "It was not I" is written in the passive voice, which demonstrates the submissive nature that Eve embodies and later criticizes in herself. At this early point in the poem, the "it" that Eve speaks about is unspecified. This presents whatever "it" is as an established fact of ongoing history, and also serves to pique the reader's interest.
After establishing both her own passive voice and the fact that she will recount a history, Eve begins to tell her story. The line "Turned out into draughty caves" does not yet specify a subject, and thus raises the question of who was banished into cold, uncomfortable caves. A plosive consonance is created by the repeated /t/ in "it" and "Turned," which gives a slight sense of harshness. It becomes clear in the next lines that Eve is talking about herself and her family. During this time, the family went hungry and had to work for their bread, reflecting God's decree to Adam in the third chapter of Genesis: "cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life." This punishment occurred as a result of the couple eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Eden.
Eve heard her children whining during the early days of their banishment. In spite of the difficulties, she claims that she was "nevertheless not unhappy." The use of the double negative "not unhappy" suggests a hesitation or confusion in Eve's statement. She says that she was fairly contented to follow Adam, and the word "fairly" also hedges on uncertainty. However, Eve sticks to her claim that she adapted herself to the punishment and to their new way of life.
The second stanza begins with the line "But Adam, you know ….. !" The casual phrase "you know" creates a familiarity between Eve and her daughters, whom the title of the poem makes clear that Eve is addressing. The ellipses are significant in that they could suggest being at a loss for words, or a pause in which Eve gathers herself. The pairing of the ellipses with an exclamation mark emphasizes this silent pause, and suggests a feeling of resentment on Eve's part. She states that Adam kept on "brooding over the insult," meaning that rather than try to adapt to their new life the way Eve did, he agonized over what occurred. The event that led to human banishment from Eden is described as "the trick They had played on us...the scolding." The capital "They" refers to multiple divine figures, and this use of the plural contributes to Adam's sense that the whole affair was a conspiracy created to humiliate him.
Adam felt the need to compensate for a flaw he discovered in himself. It is not immediately obvious what this flaw is, though a likely possibility is gullibility—in the original story, Adam is punished for "[listening] to the voice of [his] wife." The outside world to which they were banished was not perfect the way Eden was, and Adam clearly mourned and resented the loss. In the outside world, as described in the poem, the seasons changed and the game was "fleet-footed." This last description has a double meaning, the first referring to animals that were quick and thus difficult to hunt, contributing to the difficulty of Adam's life. The second meaning is that as a result of divine intervention (the "trick" played on Adam and Eve), the couple's lives have been turned into a game in which one must be quick to act. The airy, breathless sound created by the repeated /f/ in "fleet-footed" contrasts with Adam's heavy feeling of resentment.
On earth, Adam resented the work he was obliged to do in order for his family to survive. The line "He even complained of my cooking" is suggestive of modern marriage struggles, making this line relatable to some readers. Eve gives an aside in parenthesis: "it was hard to compete with Heaven." This aside is tinged with irony, providing an edge to Eve's identity as a passive, submissive woman.
In the fourth stanza, Eve outlines the way Adam set to work trying to improve their circumstances by turning the earth into a new Eden. There would be "central heating, domesticated animals, / mechanical harvesters, combustion engines, / escalators, refrigerators, / and modern means of communication." In other words, Adam sought to develop and modernize their circumstances. The phrases "multiplied opportunities for safe investment" and "higher education" are not generally considered poetic, but their awkward inclusion is done purposely. These two concepts are conveyed in a jargonistic language that expresses the values of specific modern, Western cultures. To all of this, Eve responds by saying, "You can see how [Adam's] pride had been hurt." By saying this, she marks a division between them which echoes the very first line ("It was not I who began it"). The insinuation is that the source of humanity's punishment on earth is actually Adam rather than Eve.
Eve further describes Adam's obsessive need to modernize and "improve" their conditions in the fifth stanza. During this process, Adam felt he had to "unravel everything" to discover how it worked. He "believed that mechanism / was the whole secret," or in other words, that being "mechanical-minded" would bring him closer to the truth of life. This entire stanza is reminiscent of the Enlightenment or Age of Reason, a philosophical and intellectual movement in 17th and 18th-century Europe. Adam's obsession with figuring out how things work led him to believe that he himself "must have invented it," and his belief that "what cannot be demonstrated / doesn’t exist" connects directly to the view during the Enlightenment that objective evidence was the criteria for truth. Though there were some who believed in God during the Age of Reason, the description of Adam's lack of belief aligns more with Humanism, which centers Man and makes him the measure of all things.
Eve makes it clear in the fifth stanza that Adam has turned away from God because he no longer believes in "what cannot be demonstrated." However, Eve herself may have a different view than her husband. This is suggested by the phrase "God and the Other," with "the Other" presumably referring to Satan. The refusal to name him implies that she is afraid of him, and thus must believe in him. Eve also criticizes Adam for having "always been jealous." In the following stanza, Eve describes how Adam continued his efforts to figure out how and why everything works until he finally arrived at "the centre / where nothing at all can be demonstrated." This "centre" is Eve's way of saying life itself. Because Adam could not physically demonstrate the ultimate reason for life itself, then "clearly he doesn’t exist; but he refuses / to accept the conclusion." Eve located a flaw in Adam's logic, but he chose to ignore this. In response, Eve says he has always been an egotist. The anaphora "You see" is used in subsequent stanzas to point out Adam's faults. This repetition shows that Eve has created a logic of her own: because Adam's faults are demonstrable, that means they are real.
In the seventh stanza, Eve states that it was "warmer than this in the cave," demonstrating her preference for the simpler times of the past. She goes on to say "There was none of this fall-out," which has a double meaning: the falling-out that occurs between people after an argument, or the residual material after a nuclear explosion. This double meaning causes the word to function on both a micro and macro scale, and connects the two by means of human-created destruction. Wright herself was part of the Australian anti-nuclear movement, and actively campaigned against the use of nuclear weapons.
In a call-to-action, Eve addresses her daughters, saying, "I would suggest, for the sake of the children, / that it’s time you took over." The phrase "I would suggest" softens the urgency somewhat, but this is still a call-to-action prompting women into leadership roles. Here, Wright expresses a feminist attitude by urging women not to be passive and submissive, despite those being qualities of one of their original role models. The phrase "for the sake of the children" shows a concern for future ancestors; Eve seems to be saying that Adam's leadership has failed humanity because he did not act with consideration for the future.
The eighth stanza begins with the longest line in the poem, which reads, "But you are my daughters, you inherit my own faults of character." The comma acts as a caesura, but the length of the line still creates a sense of urgency. It is as though Eve wants to say this line as quickly as possible. She tells her descendants that they are "submissive, following Adam / even beyond existence." This could be taken to mean that women follow the ideals put forth by the original Adam even after his death, or that because the reason for Adam's life cannot be demonstrated, this means that he doesn't really exist (by his own logic). Hence women follow him "even beyond existence," or beyond the rationalism put forth by his own mode of thinking. Either way, Eve is criticizing her daughters (female descendants) for following Adam the way that she herself did.
However, Eve makes a comment that softens her critique of herself and her daughters: "Faults of character have their own logic / and it always works out." This shows that Eve's worldview differs from Adam's in that she recognizes the faults in herself and others, but that she, like Adam, applies logic to her reasoning. Just because things "always work out" does not mean they work out in a positive manner, however. Eve states that she "observed this with Abel and Cain," who were the sons of Eve and Adam. Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. Jealous that God preferred Abel's sacrifice, Cain killed his brother. The context of this story tinges Eve's comment with irony because the way their story "[worked] out" was by ending in murder.
Eve goes on to ponder the meaning of life. This is what she earlier referred to as "the centre / where nothing at all can be demonstrated." She places her own life story within the context of all life; rather than simply asking what meaning her life holds, she asks what the meaning of all life is. Because her story is told in the Bible, it is possible that the "elaborate fable" in the ninth stanza refers to the Bible. However, it could also be a more general reference to the universal fact of telling stories to explain the origins of human life.
Eve wonders whether the "elaborate fable / right from the beginning" is the whole secret—the meaning of life itself. Here, Wright expresses her own philosophical pondering, which often appears in her poetry in the form of existential questioning. Eve goes on to ask whether "our faults" are the only real thing that exist because "At least they can be demonstrated." Again, Eve circles back to apply Adam's logic in a way that challenges him. Adam's original motivation to work hard on earth was because "He had discovered a flaw in himself / and he had to make up for it." If Eve's logic were correct, then Adam's flaws would be the only real thing about him.
In the last stanza of the poem, Eve acknowledges that it would be useless to share this idea with Adam. In his quest to discover truth and recreate Eden, Adam "turned himself into God, / who is faultless, and doesn’t exist." This wrenching last line combines Eve and Adam's different systems of logic in order to arrive at the same conclusion: that Adam "doesn't exist." For Adam, God cannot be demonstrated and thus doesn't exist. But in figuring himself as a God, Adam would also not exist. For Eve, faults provide proof of existence, and because God is faultless, this proves that Adam does not exist since he has replaced God with himself. In either case, Eve clearly undermines her husband in these last lines. This is a deviation from her character as portrayed in the Bible and insisted upon throughout "Eve to Her Daughters" by the speaker. She criticizes the submissive nature of her daughters, who inherited this trait from her. However, these last lines portray Eve in a different light: as a quiet revolutionary.
