The mortal parents
Eva Luna's story begins with her conception, when her father had been bitten by a snake and wasn't sure whether he'd live or die. In the end, he survives, but after Eva Luna's birth, they both die. This makes the conception story into a poignant symbol for the inevitable death of one's parents. Their mortal nature is a powerful reminder of one's own mortality, a reminder of the perplexing nature of death, and a reminder of the confusing nature of life in the first place.
The chicken bone
Not only does Eva's mom die, she dies by eating, a symbol for the problem of food consumption. Like all animals, humans require nourishment, and by showing a mother dying by eating is to show the mother dying by trying to live. This is a unique situation, but actually, it serves as a good symbol for mortality, because everyone dies, and whether eating food at the moment or not, most people who die are trying to live when they die. Death is a failure to stay living.
The brothel
The symbol of the brothel is that prostitution makes humans into objects and commodities that can be sold and bought (or in this case, rented). The warped point of view shows that as an orphan, Eva's life quickly spirals into a hellish battle for fair treatment. The brothel is called La Señora, which makes the symbol a suitable conversation on the need for feminism, because it is Woman who is mistreated there. Without the father to take care of her, the girl falls prey to the societal tendency to misuse women.
Zulema's suicide
When the brothel is shut down, Eva longs for some kind of future or hope. She moves into a man's home named Riad Halabi who has a wife, but for whom Eva is obligated to be a consort. She sleeps with Halabi as one of Halabi's many playthings (again she is objectified for sex), and Zulema, the wife, becomes overwhelmed by the dread she feels and kills herself. Although the man's oppressive and cruel mistreatment is to blame for the wife's feelings of hopelessness, the police arrest Eva, a symbol for victim blaming. Eva is actually the victim of the same mistreatment as that which led to the suicide.
Deconstruction and sexuality
Eva's life is one of sexual mistreatment and slavery. After this series of horrible arrangements comes to an end, she finds herself needing to understand sexuality in a new way. She deconstructs her sexuality through a lengthy series of affairs, sleeping with people she actually likes in an attempt to regain an emotional attachment to sexuality. This journey symbolizes her autonomy and the damage done by the societal injustices that she was forced to witness as a disenfranchised orphan girl.
