Kevin's Analysis of "Mother Eve"

Kevin Pett
Professor Spencer
Writing 150
11/14/11
Mother Eve: villain or heroine?

Eve, the mother of the whole Earth, has developed a reputation of the one that was deceived by the snake and the reason we are here on Earth instead of in heaven. The weakness of Eve in the Garden of Eden caused man to be superior to woman and so man should rule over women on Earth. Beverly Campbell attempts to correct this misinterpretation of Eve and her role in the Fall. Campbell suggests that instead of Eve being an easily tricked villain, she is instead a hero of the creation story and a perfect role model for women in modern times. Campbell addresses certain questions, uses quotations, and emphasis to convince her LDS audience that Eve was aware of what she was doing and she is in fact a heroine.

Campbell defines fifteen points that the world has misunderstood about the story of the Fall, that when completely understood vindicates Eve from the sin of eating the fruit, and praises her for her action. Campbell makes each of her fifteen points the topic of each of her paragraphs. This allows readers to clearly understand what they are reading and makes it easier to find a point that they are looking for. The topics of each paragraph are written in the form of a question which makes the readers question their own beliefs of Campbell’s points. By giving each one of her points its own paragraph Campbell may even make people ask themselves questions that they have never thought about before. By making the reader question what they believe first the reader is more willing to listen to what Campbell is saying. By asking these fifteen questions Campbell makes the reader question what they believe and then offers an answer that supports Eve’s role in the Creation and the Fall.

These fifteen points would not have been effective if it wasn’t for Campbell’s use of sources. Campbell uses quotations from scriptures, prophets, and specialists on the subject. By using sources with authority readers will be more likely to listen and believe what Campbell is trying to say. Campbell is clearly writing for an LDS audience because of the many prophets and apostles she quotes. If Campbell was attempting to reach out to a broader audience she would have used many diverse religious sources to convince her audience instead of alienating them. By writing for an LDS audience Campbell’s use of quotations from prophets and apostles strongly supports her claims that Eve was a heroine and not a villain and serves her purpose of convincing people to believe that too.

In some of her quotes Campbell adds emphasis to different words, drawing the attention of the reader and being able to expound on a certain point, as in “God, blessed them (emphasis added)” (276). By italicizing the word “them” Campbell draws the reader’s attention to it and then expounds on it. This allows her to utilize the prophet’s words even though that may not have been his original intent. Campbell’s true genius however is when she italicizes her own explanations. By emphasizing her own explanations like she does for quotes from general authorities, Campbell gives the appearance of making her points look like that of a prophet. Once again this adds more weight to her own explanations.

Campbell wrote a convincing essay to the LDS community about the importance of Eve and her divine role in Heavenly Father’s plan. Through her use of organizing the paragraphs, quotations, and emphasis Campbell portrays Eve in the light that she was meant to be in. By clearing up misconceptions about Eve Campbell has created another heroine in the scriptures that is an amazing example for women in the church.