The House of Eve

“There are no second chances when it comes to us. If you want to escape your current circumstances, you have to work like your tail is on fire.”

With this advice, Mrs. Thomas explains the stakes of Ruby’s scholarship. Second chances and what people do with them are explored throughout the novel. The stakes are different for the wealthy and the poor, for white people and Black people. As a poorer Black girl, Ruby has few options, and losing her scholarship would likely confine her to a life of poverty.

“I was forced to learn his history, but he knew nothing of mine.”

Ruby comes to this realization when she talks to Shimmy about wanting to become a doctor. As a Black girl, Ruby is aware of the discrepancies between how Black people and white people are treated. Shimmy, as a white boy, has the luxury of not noticing these discrepancies because he never had to.

“[Wondering] why it was always my responsibility to worry over what grown men might be thinking. I had been hearing it all my life.”

Ruby is frustrated that it is apparently her job to control what men think about her body. As a curvy teenager, she experiences catcalls on the street and her mother’s boyfriends’ sexual advances. Throughout the novel, women are charged with more sexual responsibility than men.

“Every single day we have to fight for food, for carfare. And this trip downtown had shown me that we even have to fight for what should have been free: our dignity.”

After being called a slur for the first time, Ruby loses heart. She had just received much desired stockings, but this joy is undermined by strangers—as reflective of the racist sentiments of the time.

“She should have kept her legs closed. The woman was in charge when it came to sex. This was all her fault.”

Eleanor feels shame when she gets pregnant, taking all the blame and assigning none to William. While she says women are in charge, this does not imply empowerment. Rather, it implies that men can do what they want, and women alone are responsible for upholding sexual virtue.

“He could not understand what I went through, attending a high school that only had used books with pages missing, and bathrooms that barely had running water. He had no idea what it was like to go to bed hungry, to turn on the light to find that mice had gnawed through your dinner and left the droppings for you to clean, or to have to kiss your mother’s boyfriend just for carfare to get to the program that might award you a scholarship to college—a scholarship that you needed so you wouldn’t have to spend a life cleaning toilets like your mom. White people’s toilets.”

Ruby reflects on the gulf between herself, a Black girl, and Shimmy, a white boy. He is unconcerned with the poverty and racism that prevent their relationship because he has largely been unaware of them. On the other hand, she is aware of these issues as they have affected every area of her life. In this regard, Shimmy’s desire to pursue a relationship is portrayed more as selfishness than love.

“I wish I could erase it all. I was disgusting, a slut. What the hell had I been thinking? This was damned from the start.”

When Ruby and Shimmy are caught by Shimmy’s mother, Mrs. Shapiro, Ruby is insulted by the woman and feels self-loathing. Mrs. Shapiro’s slut-shaming and the incident detailed in Important Quote #5 illustrate how powerful words can be in dehumanizing a person.

“Under the Dewey decimal system, Dorothy’s story would have been classified simply under 326: Slavery and Emancipation. But like many of the subjects Eleanor filed, the story of Dorothy Creole contained multitudes. Eleanor wrote down: Slave, Former Slave, Adoption, Landowner, Estate Executor, Dutch New Amsterdam History.”

Eleanor notes how Black stories are often segregated to one category, particularly in the archiving business. Historical figure Dorothy Creole’s story is about more than slavery, but it remains in one category within the library’s catalog system.

“The whole thing made what Shimmy and I shared feel vulgar and crass, instead of beautiful.”

Ruby and Shimmy love each other, so Ruby believes their sex was special. However, when Mrs. Shapiro talks about their baby and relationship with disgust, she sullies their union.

“Sure it was enough for him, a boy whose parents owned the building that I rented in. What I had realized these past few weeks was that all people like the Shapiros had to do was make a phone call and anything they wanted fell at their feet. Whatever they didn’t want went away. Like the egg. Love wasn’t going to lift me out of my circumstances. I had to do that for myself.”

As Ruby faces her pregnancy alone, she is reminded that not everyone has to face the same consequences for the same decisions. Shimmy has privilege that she does not, so he has more freedom to make decisions than she does. In order to better her life, she has to give away their baby.

“Lunch at the Whitelaw Hotel to discuss the ABCs fundraiser for underprivileged sharecropping girls in the rural south.”

Rose leaves Eleanor’s house for this social event. She is a part of the group, the ABCs, that rejected Rose. While she does not want to accept a poorer Black woman into her family, she tries to help people like Eleanor from a distance.

“She thought again about William’s ability to love a child that wasn’t genetically his. In the nearly two years she had known them, the Prides had always made such fanfare about their long lineage of educated, well-off, well-connected, light-skinned Negros that she had a hard time believing that William and Rose could truly accept their bloodline ending because of her.”

At the moment, Eleanor does not know that it was William and Rose’s idea to contact Mother Margaret. Therefore, she is uncertain whether or not they will accept an adopted baby. She does not feel like a part of their family, and is concerned that her baby will feel the same.

“You lost your rights the moment you decided to be a slut and open your legs to that boy in the back of his car.”

The nuns at the House of Magdalene emotionally and verbally abuse the girls in their care. While the home is presented as a safe haven for unwed mothers, in reality, the girls are treated poorly there.

“It had been so long since he had requested a bedtime story from her, and she missed that easy time between them.”

Eleanor notes the difference between her early days with William and their married life. During their courtship, they would speak on the phone and share stories. Now, their lives are complicated by the stresses of marriage, medical residency, pregnancy, miscarriage, and pending adoption.

“Ray went to my parents and asked for my hand in marriage, but they told him no.”

Ruby’s roommate Bubbles explains how she ended up at the home. Her partner, Ray, wanted to parent their child, but her parents rejected him for multiple reasons. While mothers pay the price for unplanned pregnancies, this does not mean that their partners always leave them to fend for themselves.

“In her head she had started referring to the home as the House of Eve, as in Adam and Eve, the first mother of all living things. She tried to picture what her Eve looked like.”

The House of Magdalene is named after Mary Magdalene, a prostitute in the Bible. Eleanor instead refers to the home as the House of Eve, despite Eve being the figure who committed the original sin that led to the fall of humankind. Through these references, the novel comments on the dynamic between sex and motherhood, a dynamic that often frames them as opposites.

“She loved this man, and now they would finally be complete. Inseparable, bound for life by the coming of their child, and the secret of how he came to be.”

Eleanor believes her adopted baby will finally bind her and William together in a way that marriage did not. She has always felt like an outsider in his family, and believes the baby will change this and strengthen their love.

“Clearly I didn’t matter.”

Ruby is forced into labor, and her cries are ignored by the white doctors. They encourage her to push, and she realizes her wishes are inconsequential.

“There was no one here to protect me.”

This quote illustrates a key difference between Eleanor and Ruby. Eleanor has William and his connections to protect her, while Ruby has no one. Aunt Marie does all she can to help, but lacks resources.

“To my surprise, I longed for my mother’s embrace. I longed for Aunt Marie, too, but it was Inez I wanted more.”

This quote elevates Maternal Bonds. Despite Inez’s constant rejection of Ruby, it is Inez whom she wants after she gives birth.

“Please remember to bring your final donation so that we can continue our work.”

Mother Margaret makes this request due to her fixation on money. She exploits her home’s residents to coax money from wealthy couples who want adoptive babies. She treats these couples with respect, but unwed mothers with disrespect.

“I cried. I wept for my baby, Grace, who would never know my name or recall my touch. Who wouldn’t grow up with my voice in her ear, knowing that I had loved her. My chest heaved for my body that would forever be changed, for all the girls who had been forced to surrender their babies.

I cried for all the girls—for the ones who had been in love with the boys who had knocked them up, for the ones who were forced into the back seats of cars by boys they didn’t know how to push away. One girl had even whispered about being raped by her older brother. I cried for her too.

I cried for Clara, for Loretta, for Georgia Mae. I cried for Bubbles, who I hoped was doing okay, and I cried because I knew that hope wasn’t enough.”

When Ruby returns home from the House of Magdalene, she takes a bath. She can clean herself physically, but she cannot erase her trauma. Because of her time in the home, she is more aware of various women’s abuse—which she can mourn but cannot stop.

“How sweet and innocent their lives had been then, before they were weighed down with expectations, loss and life.”

This is not the first time Eleanor grieves over the loss of innocence in her relationship with William (first mentioned in Important Quote #15). Her life has become complicated after two miscarriages, but this honesty ultimately strengthens her and William’s marriage.