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Ellie Cox

Ms. Akers

Honors English 9

10/20/17

Eves Struggle

Eve is the first woman created on Earth and is put in the garden of Eden. She is from

Genesis, in the story Creation: In the Garden. She ate from a tree that was strictly forbidden to

her and her husband, and for this, Eve is memorable for the punishment of childbirth that she

brought upon women everywhere. Eve is remembered because her actions influenced how we act

and go about our everyday lives to this day. She was created out of man, therefore establishing a

lower class and many inequalities for women on Earth.

Before the Earth and mankind were created, darkness, silence, and loneliness were all

that accompanied God. However, when God decided to create the Earth with light, people, and

wildlife, he granted his wishes in no time. God's loneliness was overwhelming and the only way

to rid him of this was to create people, and so that is what he did. "The Lord God formed a

human being from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that

he became a living creature" (7). This reveals the true simplicity of God's impactful and

important creations. The first human God created was Adam, who only had the animals, and

needed the company of another human. From Adam's rib, God created his wife and companion,

the first woman, Eve. The creation of Eve, a woman, provides an explanation of issues we have

currently. This story shows that Adam, the male, provided life for Eve, a woman. "This one at

last is bone of my bones, flesh from my flesh! She shall be called woman, for from man was she

taken" (8). This shows men created all opportunities for women and therefore are the sole reason
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for women's existence. The forming of Eve from Adam, lead to future inequality and belief of

men's superiority over women.

The garden of Eden was filled with beautiful fruit trees for the couple to eat from.

However, the one restriction placed upon them was to never eat from the tree of life. This tree

had the knowledge of all the good and evil and was believed to bring eternal life to those who ate

from it. God warned Adam and Eve the consequence of eating anything from the tree would

result in death. A serpent that roamed around the garden with them, persuaded Eve to eat from

the tree even though she was banned from it. "Of course you will not die, for God only knows

that, as soon as you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God himself, knowing

both good and evil" (18). Knowing this, she saw no harm, so she began to eat and offer the fruit

to her husband. Right away, Adam and Eve receive punishment from God. Although their

punishment isn't death, God curses the Earth and sends struggle to the two humans and the men

and women that would come soon after. Because of Eve's mistake, she would have to endure the

pain of childbirth and no human that followed would ever be immortal. Eve was the first of

mankind to sin against God, and after this, perfection was impossible to reach in God's eyes.

Through Eve's actions, she sent struggle to all that followed her and created a lifetime of

unavoidable sin.

As well as being unable to escape sin, Eve's mistake proved that if one of God's first

creations can't accomplish perfection, no one in the future will. She tried to keep her word to

God and obey him, but like every human does, she went against His word. This resulted in an

irreversible punishment for all of mankind. This shows even the first man and woman, the people

that didn't know good from evil, can still mess up, sin, and be imperfect.
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The struggles Eve faced in the garden of Eden lead us to some of the same struggles we face

today. Eve brought many hardships upon us, but over time, we learned to deal with what we

were given and to do the best we can to serve God.