Gender
Gender is the fundamental theme of 'The Passion of New Eve'. The central plot line being the transformation of Evelyn, a man, into Eve, a woman, in what is a transgendering process, it cannot be denied that gender infiltrates every aspect of the novel, from the lives of individual characters to the broader movements of the novel. Evelyn is transformed from a sexist, misogynistic male into the prototype for the future of gender relations. His transformation raises questions of identity, subjectivity and masculinity/femininity in individuals, and to what extent these two interact to produce our appearance in the eyes of others.
The city
Set in New York, the novel deals intimately with the theme of the city and its history and future. Beulah is constructed as a gynocentric alternative to the traditional city, which is male-dominated and constructed by men and for men. Beulah represents a different future for urban structure and arrangement, one where women are on an equal footing with men in society. As is stated in the novel, the comment that 'space is a woman' is testament to female subtlety and wisdom to subvert archetypal and long-standing patriarchal structures.
Female identity
Aside from gender relations between men and women, a key theme of 'The Passion of New Eve' is female identity. Questions such as what does it mean to be a woman and how has the condition of woman changed are pondered. The issue of maternity and motherhood is also raised through the 'birth' of Eve at the hands of the Mother, the leader of Beulah's inhabitants. Is this birth 'natural' like normal birth? And how significant is it that it has taken place in a place symbolic of the womb? In creating Beulah in the mould of the womb, Carter is engaging with thorny questions surrounding female autonomy, such as access to contraception and abortion rights.
Mythmaking
'The Passion of New Eve' is a novel steeped in the idea of myth-making and the legacy of collective cultural inheritance. Its title makes explicit reference to the Bible, and more specifically its opening and perhaps best-known story: the Creation story, where Adam and Eve are made by God and betray him before being expelled from the Garden of Eden. The Bible is the seminal text in Western thought, philosophy and literature, so Angela Carter, by referring to it in her title, is interacting with questions of cultural authority and what books we place a value on. Additionally, Eve has traditionally been blamed for the pair's expulsion from the Garden of Eden, for tempting Adam. By remolding this myth, Carter urges us to reconsider the patriarchal and misogynistic blaming of Eve for the fall of mankind and see her in a new, feminist light.
