Alanna's CBI

In the first chapter of the book, Eva's mother Consuelo goes to live with an eccentric doctor of medicine, Professor Jones. Although Professor Jones' primary occupation concerned cancer research, the odd doctor was described as have a passion for the embalming of dead bodies. Taking an interest in the preservation of bodies after death, I found an article on cryonics, a more recent form of human preservation.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/20/cryonics-death-insurance-policies

The article itself describes a growing popularity in the field of cryonics. Cryonics itself is described as the practice of deep-freezing the bodies of those who have died of the incurable, in the hopes of procuring a cure in the future. 

Taking a closer look at an image of the freezing chambers themselves, the prospect both looks and sounds like something out of a dystopic science fiction novel. However, the trend has been gaining momentum in the past years and has gained the support from middle wage citizens to celebrities, such as Simon Cowell.

Connecting this back to Eva Luna, the process of cryonics in a way hearkens back to the doctor's own form of embalming techniques. Although the two processes yield very different results (Embalming makes the body look alive, though it actually isn't) I believe the motivation behind each to be similar.

The process of cryonics cheats death by giving the human in question a second chance at life. I believe the Professor's obsession with embalming has a great deal to do with his own personal attempt to cheat death. His technique more or less kept life in each of his subjects (except for the smell). Cryonics reflects a more modern version of these attempts. "I really enjoy being alive," student of natural science Victoria Stevens claims, "I think the prospect of death … it just seems like an awful waste after people spend their lives learning and progressing." Connecting Eva Luna back to modern day is simple with this in mind. Just like Professor Jones, we as a culture are attempting to discover more ways to preserve the body.