Kiss of the Spider Woman is a very noticeable book once you start reading it and I could barely put it down, hope you enjoy the PowerPoint.

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Presentation by Lillyanna Liebl, Pierce College, WA

2. Kiss Of The
Spider Woman
- A novel by Manuel Puig -

3. Historical Context
◦ In 1976 this book holds significance to the disappearing people and tortured souls revolving
around the dictatorship, in this time period.
◦ In 1976 the ‘Dirty War’ took place, that in turn took thousands of people’s lives
◦ This had many forms of torture, kidnapping, and eventually murder of the citizen
◦ The government would often dump the bodies in the ocean, bury them at sea to avoid the unspoken truth they were killing part of their
own country
◦ They would also control what went on in the media, music they played, news people heard, and what history they are exposed to and what
they can be taught
◦ One last thing the government would do is hold their beliefs over others; meaning if they believed homosexuality wasn’t right they would
toss them in jail, or if they considered someone a threat they were labeled and restricted

4. Political Context
◦ These terms and restrictions upon the people of Argentina can include;
◦ The controlling of the music, news and what is inputted to the public,
◦ Kidnappings, and that brought along very extreme torture,
◦ Subtle aggression towards anyone that disagreed with the consensus of the government
◦ Certain words regarding the government like; communism, rebellion and criticism
◦ One of the political statements the book shows is the topic of homosexuality;
◦ This can affect the way people act to hide themselves – how they act, how they live, what people they surround
themselves with, their job in society
◦ Can also affect who gets imprisoned (if they are out and proud) – higher chance getting put in jail if they are
actively defying the rules set by the dictator government
◦ Homosexuality also has a definite feel in the beginning of the book that it is abnormal and not as naturally
occurring as the footnotes later on contradict with, including the fact that at the time it was seen as wrong.

5. Cultural Context
◦ In the way of culture a heavy form of Argentine Rock music was a way out, a haven for people to
rebel, use expression and poetic lyrics to symbolize and record the feelings of anger and the
anxious feeling of wanting freedom.
◦ Rebellion may be one of the ways that we as teenagers forge our own path however in Argentina this rock music
was the way to secretly;
◦ Discriminate against the government
◦ React to violence that was brought upon by the government
◦ The rock music the way it was written helped censor the meaning behind the words written in the scripts and
songs
◦ It also helped the idea of a different government alive and prospering, resisting the oppression that was
currently their life

6. Point of View
◦ The Point of View varies, as each new dash means a change of perspective, the good thing
about the book was that there was only two main people talking, and a few more near the end.
It reminds me of how a play is written out.
◦ The two main characters definitely differ in how they express their opinions and how they each
shape the story
◦ Molina who is a gay self-centered yet charming man who begins the story of this novel off, his voice is confident
but well meaning and certain in his own tone, however he accepts questions from his cellmate from time to time
◦ Valentine who is a fierce, opinionated and revolutionary man who seems kind of done with this man and his
story, but at the same time is intrigued and makes his questions known.

7. Mood
◦ The mood does change throughout the whole story; and just like everyday emotions it had its
ups and downs;
◦ The novel started off without a beat of an interesting storyline roughly called the Panther Woman, the
romantic scene that took place through the story shifted into heartbreak when she met her death by her
own doing.
◦ As the stories keep coming it seems to follow a pattern, people meet and they find happiness, then either
something tragic happens or one character is left in despair leaving it a cliff hanger and annoying to
never quite fully understand the ending
◦ Aside from the stories, the mood resembles caution and deception from the many half truths and lies; in
part because of the brutality of the cell situation, but also because of how their experiences are shaping
new relationships.

8. Protagonists
◦ There are two protagonists Molina and Valentin;
◦ Molina: Who is first introduced by starting to tell a story that leads to telling
multiple stories throughout the novel, he also is deceptive and becomes
captured by Valentin later in the book
◦ Valentin: Who is introduced responding to the start of Molina’s story, is a
revolutionary and left his love for a cause he believed in
Actor in the play of Kiss of the Spider
Woman who plays Molina
Actor in the play of Kiss of the Spider
Woman who plays Molina

9. The Plot
◦ Starts off with a gay man and a political prisoner in
prison together
◦ Molina (who is the gay man) winds stories together
while Valentin listens
◦ Eventually he mixes his life story into two movies
mashed together
◦ While Molina has been persuaded by early parole
to get information out of Valentin they continue to
bond and share
◦ The stories Molina tells slowly become ways to fight
off the loneness and the pain
◦ Struggling to find an even break they become
friends from a friendship that wasn’t so likely
◦ Molina then struggles with his friendship versus his
decision for early parole
◦ Molina and Valentin become lovers and when
granted freedom he asks for a way to get to the
rebellion to show his support to the government for
early parole
◦ When Molina shows up at the rebellion meeting he
gets shot and is killed before he can give the
message to them from Valentin
◦ Valentin in prison is still continuously tortured and
secretly given enough painkillers that he seems to
die

10. Theme
◦ A huge theme that was very recognizable was the active conversation of homosexuality and the
skeptical political stance, at least for the other people not in the jail cells, around it.
◦ Molina who is gay finds himself being attracted to Valentin later in the book and similarly does Valentin start to
find Molina attractive
◦ As well as saying they do go on to become in, a rough translations of the word, a relationship, homosexuality is
talked about in the sense of being very different than liking the opposite gender
◦ When Valentin can’t relate to the need and desire for Molins to be subservient to a man, and Molina struggles to
find a connection in finding all human beings are equal as Valentin believes it tends to create some conflict and
conversations regarding tons of topics that aren’t held back by either person

11. Symbols
◦ There are tons of symbols; they tend to be very big ones however that can seem very general
and broad
◦ The stories Molina tells:
◦ Holds a lot of meaning in the way he shows his experiences,
◦ Can hide certain meanings in what he feels his stance is, why he is there and what he believes
◦ It is a way to connect to his cellmate and pass the time
◦ And about the people both our main characters connect too; meaning that the stories can show figures we
connect too, in the outside world
◦ The cell itself
◦ Connects to the idea of caged and taken, they aren’t human just dumb animals
◦ Means they (and people as a whole) aren’t able to resist very well;
◦ The food
◦ Don’t have the option of taking food or asking for it, it is given, this can show the repression
◦ Choice is removed in the sense that, they might not always get it, can show the absence of respect

12. Interpretation
My time reading this book was long, it kept me confused and interested since the first page and
certainly didn’t hold back from showing what the book was about. Many topics, themes and ideas
regarding this book are comprehensive and as during the harsh times it wasn’t considered that it
should ever be written about. This book being written in the time period it was written in, with it being
published in the two years since the dictatorship had started, meaning that Manuel brings about the
government's restrictions and forces characters to live throughout these terms. As you read the stories
within the stories I came to realize that a lot of them end tragic or not knowing what they end like, it
reminds me of telling a life story from the reality of the person’s situation brought to fake life you can
reflect on. Molina expressing his ‘different’ personality in the book left room for repression and society
to shun him or take him away for ‘corrupting the minors’ as they thought gay thoughts might be
contagious. For him to be telling these stories and learning from Valentin is what gave him power to be
taught everyone can grown and fight. One of the quotes that really got me thinking was the “outlets for
sublimation would include any activity…that permits use of sexual energy considered to be excessive by
the cannons of our society” (Manuel Puig, page 163), so as he wasn’t maybe going to repress his
identity it would cost him his societal identity as well as life not among the people he cared about, at
least mostly

13. Reference;
◦ "Disappeared Children of Argentina." World of Forensic Science, edited by Sara Constantakis, 2nd ed., vol. 1,
Gale, 2016, pp. 208-209. Gale Virtual Reference Library,
http://ezproxy.pierce.ctc.edu:2085/apps/doc/CX3630600174/GVRL?u=puya65247&sid=GVRL&xid=8efa4004
. Accessed 22 May 2019.
◦ Smith, M. L. R. “Dirty Secrets, Dirty War: Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1976-1983: The Exile of Editor Robert J.
Cox (Book Review).” International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), vol. 86, no. 5,
Blackwell Publishing, Ltd., 1 Sept. 2010, pp. 1255–56.
◦ Allan, Jonathan A. “Femininity and Effeminophobia in Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman.(Critical
Essay).” Mosaic (Winnipeg), vol. 47, no. 3, University of Manitoba, Mosaic, Sept. 2014, pp. 71–87,
doi:10.1353/mos.2014.0031.
◦ Puig, Manuel, and Ronald Christ. "A Last Interview with Manuel Puig." Contemporary Literary Criticism,
edited by Jeffrey W. Hunter, vol. 133, Gale, 2001. Literature Resource Center,
http://ezproxy.pierce.ctc.edu:2085/apps/doc/H1100032792/LitRC?u=puya65247&sid=LitRC&xid=7b901b1a.
Accessed 22 May 2019. Originally published in World Literature Today, vol. 65, no. 4, Autumn 1991, pp. 571-
80.

14. In order links to reviews and other;
o http://ezproxy.pierce.ctc.edu:2085/apps/doc/CX3630600174/GVRL?u=puya65247&sid=GVRL&xid=8efa4004. Accessed 22
May 2019.
o https://ezproxy.pierce.ctc.edu:2057/docview/1566185979?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:primo&accountid=2280 (website
detailing full text/analysis/more)
o http://ezproxy.pierce.ctc.edu:2055/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T001&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab
&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=20&docId=GALE%7CH1100032792&docType=Critical+essay%2C+Intervi
ew&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=LRCCLC&prodId=LitRC&contentSet=GALE%7CH1100032792&searchId=R1&user
GroupName=puya65247&inPS=true