The character of Evelyn Nesbit is an interesting one. Her odd behaviors and odder situation when we first meet her in the novel cause her to stand out early on as a very important character in a book full of colorful, bizarre people. What I think helps to make Evelyn stand out is her background; in a novel which looks unashamedly at class differences, we see Evelyn bridge the gap between the affluent wealthy and the troubled working class. She is used as a device to show the differences and animosity between the opposite ends of the wealth spectrum as seen when Tateh finds out she is of the notoriously indulgent/crazy upper class and makes a break for it. Her love for a child growing up in the same poor conditions as her is interesting and could lead to many things.
The most interesting moment in which Evelyn is used is her private “conversation” with Emma Goldman. Goldman criticizes many things about Evelyn; she dislikes the ridiculous web of lies in which Evelyn lives and is disgusted by the lengths to which she goes to appear attractive in the eyes of others. Emma’s varied kindness, seen through her creepy massage, and frank coldness in criticizing Evelyn make a real impact on the reader. Emma forces the reader and Evelyn to question her lifestyle. “Because like all whores you value propriety. You are a creature of capitalism, the ethics of which are so totally corrupt and hypocritical that your beauty is no more than the beauty of gold, which is to say false and cold and useless.” I believe that after this “calling out” of Evelyn, Emma then starts to compare them to show Evelyn that while they are in very different situations, they are still very much alike, and Evelyn can be happy like Goldman if she can realize the fallacies in her lifestyle and fix them.
Good points. I'd add that an additional aspect of Evelyn's character, connected to the ways she's a "creature of capitalism," has to do with the way Doctorow significantly complicates her *public image* (which is pretty much the way she's been recorded in history--the "femme fatale chorus girl who got these men to kill and die for her"). The whole idea of her "secret life" bridging these social classes, her deep feelings for Tateh and his daughter, even before she meets Goldman (which is the narrative rationale for even getting her and Goldman into the same room, as implausible as such a circumstance would be), compels the reader to interrogate how much we *think* we know about various celebrities and creatures of capitalism today.
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