In Simple Maria, Maria has an innocent mind as the result of a train accident when she was a young child. Although it seems that sexual freedom is Casilda's salvation, it is actually her condemnation.

In the end, when the judge and his family are fleeing his rival, Nicolas Vidal, she uses her sexuality to save her family. Instead she appears to hold the power over him, and he changes so drastically that the entire town notices and is thankful to her for her influence over the judge. In The Judge's Wife, Casilda comes to the area as a mail order bride to bring prestige and power to the judge. Contrary to appearances, however, Hermalinda is disempowered by her sexual freedom. As she manipulates the games to her advantage, she imagines that she has the power over her partners, home, her life and the men in her realm. She makes a living charging for sexual exploits with any man who comes into her home and pays to play her games. Hermelinda is the only women for hundreds of miles around and is extremely free with her sexuality. An initial reading of these stories may support the idea that the protagonists in these three tales are liberated and living lives of their own choosing however, a deeper analysis reveals that the women are not free but are, in fact, imprisoned. This is illustrated in Toad's Mouth, The Judge's Wife, and Simple Maria. In her collection of short stories, The Stories of Eva Luna, the female protagonists are intelligent, sensual, creative and resourceful, but far from being liberated, they are entrapped by this freedom. Isabel Allende is often praised for creating heroines that liberate themselves from oppression, often through their freedom of sexuality.

The stories of eva luna