This document discusses gender roles and representations in Spanish literature and films over time. It begins with an overview of the history and influences on Spanish literature from ancient to modern eras. It then analyzes how gender roles are traditionally distinct in Spanish culture, with machismo and prescribed roles for men and women. The document uses Pedro Almodovar's film "All About My Mother" as an example of how modern Spanish works have subverted traditional gender roles and identities through characters that challenge social norms regarding sexuality, femininity, and family structures.

1. Running Head: SPANISH LITERATURE 1
Spanish Literature and Culture; Comment on the portrayal of gender roles and gender identity in
at least three of the texts/movies. Have these representations changed over time?
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2. SPANISH LITERATURE 2
Spanish culture is largely influenced by the Jewish, Latin and Arabic culture, the Spanish
literature has the major effects of Catalan literature, Galician literature and Basque literature, the
primitive times have the tradition of oral lyric, ballads, heroic tales and the stories related to
everyday life and routine. With the arrival of Romans Spain experiences the arrival and
introduction of written literature, the most influential work is of Saint Isidore of Seville,
‘Etymologiae’, the work is the collection of letters
The birth of notable literary figures like Seneca, Lucan, Quintilian and Martial marks a new
history on the land of Spain. Spanish literature has gone through a number of movements and
influences before it achieved the present literary form. Renaissance is the era of fame of
Renaissance poetry, prose and religious literature; it is rejected and taken over by Baroque
literature. Baroque period is notable for the production of pessimistic literature as the people
were dissatisfied and this thing is depicted in the era’s literary writings. The period of
‘Enlightenment’ overthrows the pessimistic approach shown in the Baroque literature and a new
era is set with positivity prevailing in its literature.
The romantics abandon the neoclassical ways of the previous era; there was a note of
subjectivity as the poets and writers used their writings to express their emotions. Natural
landscape, passionate love and satire on political and literary events were amongst the main
topics of Romantic era literature. The Realism period is famous for depicting the real happenings
in sheer clear language; the Realists reject the idealism and fantasy found in Romantic literature.
The Realists attempt to show the contemporary situation in the real frame of events, popular
subjects discussed in the works are marital conflicts, infidelity and other commonplace events.
The Modernist literature was based on the idea that traditional forms of art, literature, religious
faith, social organization and daily routine are outdated and should be left behind. The Modernist

3. SPANISH LITERATURE 3
writers formed a literary group with the name of ‘Regeneration’; they observed the consequences
of war and other happenings around.
Spanish culture is based on the traditional ways of a family; Hispanic people prefer upholding
the conventional familial system. The gender roles are distinctively set and recognized in
Spanish families and society, as they prefer to stay connected with their traditional roots so do
they favor the customary roles of man and woman. Hispanic people are identified with the traits
of having suppressed and less confident personality as compared to the white Americans.
However, boys do enjoy much freedom, girls, on the other side, have to adhere to restrictions and
are less participating and verbal than boys (www.coedu.usf.edu).
The title of ‘Machismo’ is considered highly important in Spanish communities, the title refers
to a man who is hardworking, provides for his family and fulfills all his responsibilities. Man is
the head of the family and is responsible for taking every decision while woman is to obey him.
Woman’s major responsibilities are to take care of the children, look after the household and to
accept every decision her husband makes. Spanish culture also has the trends of bisexuality and
homosexuality, the rate of HIV is high in them, because of the subordinate role of women they
are not allowed to question men, they intact diseases from them. Domestic violence is another
problem which is being treated as a normal thing in Hispanic families (gagalanti.com).
Spanish literature discuss these gender roles of male and female, other forms of art like
painting has also depicted the role of women as minor beings, Remedios Varo and Fride Kahlo
are amongst the painters that painted women in their real surrounding. The Modernist Spanish
literature has shown the subversion of these gender roles in many of its modes, Spanish films and
novels have taken over the themes of manipulation of women and the reversal of gender roles.

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The portrayal of such reversal is the rebellion against the low status of women and their
suppression. The artists have represented their dissatisfaction on the respective discrimination
through their art and writings.
As the definite gender roles are given due importance in Spanish culture, Spanish artists have
exploited them as a significant theme of their work. Apart from women and their treatment,
Spanish movies and other forms of art have discussed the subversion of gender roles in Spanish
society. Pedro Almodovar’s ‘All About My Mother’ is a classic example of such a piece of art,
the movies surrounds the issues of patriarchal gender roles and the director’s ironic tone in
regards of gender roles and their reversal. The movie has quite a complicatedly knitted
framework, a number of possibilities and meanings can be found, themes of feminism and role
reversal are the main themes of the movie.
Pedro Almodovar has uncovered the patriarchal roles assigned to men and women in a
Spanish society in a mocking and challenging manner. The characters introduced in the movie
serve as Almodovar’s extreme criticism on the rigid social structure of Hispanic community;
gender role reversals and identity are severely disparaged.
The very first character encountered in the movie is Manuela; she is a nurse in a transplant
centre, Manuela comes as a representative of an ideal Spanish female. The profession of nurse is
strongly associated with feminism, other than a working woman Manuela is a mother and a
homemaker and both of these qualities are the part of a feminine character. She has a very good
relation with her son Esteban and his death devastated her, she leaves Madrid to seek his father.
As the story progresses the audience is told that Manuela was a prostitute and she left everything

5. SPANISH LITERATURE 5
for her only son. It is notable that prostitution is also associated with women; prostitution is
severely treated in a conventional society.
Manuela meets other characters of the movie which includes Lola, Agrado, Numa, Stella,
Rosa and a number of others, interestingly each of the character is ironically a reversal of their
socially assigned role and a mock to the conventional values. Numa and Stella work together,
Manuela’s son Esteban was a fan of Numa and wanted to take her autograph when he had an
accident and died. Numa and Stella are homosexuals and lovers; Spanish society does not accept
homosexuality but Manuela’s living with them and accepting them as they are turns the Spanish
values upside down.
The other ironic characters in the movie are Lola and Agrada, both of them are transsexuals
and Lola is actually Manuela’s husband and Esteban’s father. Both Lola and Agrada are body
workers, Rosa is a nun but surprisingly she is pregnant and associated with prostitutes and
transgenders, the father of her child is also a transgender. Pedro Almodovar has set up each of
his movie character in opposition to the traditional values, homosexuals and transsexuals are
unacceptable in the society but the society, the society that revolves around the movie and its
characters, accept them. The relationship of Numa and Stella is taboo in Spanish culture,
modesty and purity is considered as a basic component of a woman, moreover, they are not given
freedom to make such relations. However, both Numa and Stella break these customary values
by indulging into homosexuality and identifying their diverse trait.
Same goes for Lola and Agrada, they were complete men and afterwards change themselves
into women, the interesting part is that both of them have kept their male organs also and are
working as prostitutes. Like Numa and Stella, both of these transsexuals have broken the rigid

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social system by forfeiting their male characteristics to become a woman. Agrada flaunts about
how much she cost in a ‘one woman show’ by telling the amount of silicon and the surgeries she
has gone through to make her feminine body. Instead of hiding the truth, she proudly tells
everyone about it, Lola is Manuela’s husband and now a transgender prostitute, at the end of the
movie Lola has breasts implant.
Almodovar has transverse the gender roles and identity in his classic movie, all the characters
play the subverting role rather than conforming themselves to the established standards of
society. Jade Kelly discusses the comments of Judith Butler in Comment on gender stereotypes
and gender identity in Te trataré and at least one of the films you have studied that no one is
born with any definite gender but it depends on the role they play. No matter if a person is born
as a man or woman, it can decide for itself that what gender role it is to play. ‘All About My
Mother’ is the representative and living example of Butler’s thoughts about gender and gender
roles (www.academia.edu).
In the beginning Manuela is presented as a perfect symbol of Spanish woman, she is a nurse, a
mother and a homemaker, later on her taking care of Sister Rosa who is an HIV positive and is
pregnant by her own husband, Lola, further strengthens her image of a caretaker as a woman.
But it is worth noticing that it is Manuela who provides for the home and fulfils her duty as a
bread bearer while in a Spanish culture it is the chief responsibility of a man. The title and idea
of ‘Machismo’ is based on this fact that a man is capable of working hard and providing for his
family, however, in the movie Manuela is executing all of these duties. Lola, on the other hand,
who is the biological father of Esteban and is actually responsible for providing for and taking
care of Manuela and his son, has changed into a prostitute, though he is still in possession of
male organ.

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Gender role reversal is evident by these two characters, Manuela works and takes care of the
family as a man while Lola turns into a transgender and a prostitute, the profession which is
strongly connected to women. Both Lola and Agrada have defied their gender identity and roles
associated to it, instead of spending lives like a common Spanish man and as a head of a family,
both of them give away their maleness by changing into transsexuals. Surprisingly, Lola and
Agrada are also having their male organs signifying that both of them are playing the dual role of
a man and a woman. On one side both of them are working as prostitute, a female character for
which Agrada is severely and harshly treated several times in the movie and on the other side
Lola has impregnated Sister Rosa which signifies his male side.
Rosa Montero’s ‘I Will Treat You Like A Queen’ is another example of gender role reversal in
postmodern period, like Pedro’s movie the characters of the novel are also performing the roles
opposite to their gender definition. The main characters of the novel include Antonio, Antonia,
Bella and Vanessa, Montero has woven both the conventional and unconventional sides of
Spanish culture into her masterpiece. The opening of the novel pictures the accident of Antonio
as he was brutally beaten by Bella and thrown out from the fourth floor. Antonia is Antonio’s
sister, Antonio’s chasing away of his sister’s lover and several other domestic issues caused
Bella to treat him so harshly. Antonia is a middle aged spinster and a true picture of a Spanish
lady, she cooks, washes and cleans for her brother and is entirely overpowered by him. Antonio
is responsible for making every important decision in Antonia’s life; exercising his authority
over Antonia he prevents her from meeting her lover.
Vanessa is another female character in the novel that breaks away from the traditional role of
Spanish women, but not completely. She uses her youth and femininity to manipulate other
characters of the novel, especially men, to get her desired response, Spanish women are expected

8. SPANISH LITERATURE 8
to be modest and pure but Vanessa’s flirtatious nature is opposite to it. However, she is ruthlessly
beaten by El Poco, conforming himself to the brutal image of Spanish man and Vanessa into a
helpless Spanish woman. Vanessa seems to be an unusual female character in the beginning but
by the end of the novel she turns into a regular Spanish woman whose fate is to be decided by
men.
Both Antonia and Vanessa are the symbols of Spanish women, Antonia’s past, present, future,
fate and everything is shadowed by her brother Antonio, she loves a person but her brother stops
her from meeting him and, as usual, she obeys him. In the course of the novel, Antonio thinks
that he is responsible for taking care and protecting of his sister that his sister is dependent on
him for everything and Antonia proves him right. The characters of Bella and Antonio are the
ones which are reverse gender roles; Montero has given sharp ironic touch to her novel by
criticizing both men and women relentlessly and with tongue in cheek.
Bella is a woman and a bolero singer in a nightclub, the initial chapter of the novel is enough to
reveal the unusual traits of Bella and Antonio as she beats and throws him down the fourth floor.
Bella refuses to fit into the already standardized image of a Spanish woman, instead having men
or Antonio controlling her life and activities, she overpowers Antonio, apparent from her
thrashing of him. Antonio, to the other side, is also the opposite of the Spanish ‘Machismo’ who
is head of the family and exercises power and authority on women of his family. Although he is
successful in having the threads of Antonia’s life into his hands but Bella comes out to be much
more superior to him. Instead of him victimizing Bella, she victimized him by giving him severe
beating (www.academia.edu).

9. SPANISH LITERATURE 9
The theme of gender roles and identity is the major issue of Montero’s novel ‘I Will Treat You
Like A Queen’ Butler’s claim that individuals are independent to choose their roles regardless of
their gender is fully grown and seen in the novel. Being a woman Bella should be the one beaten
and mistreated by Antonio but instead Antonio had to go to hospital because of Bella‘s battering.
The qualities of bravery, superiority and authority are found in the ‘female’ character of Bella,
the qualities which are so closely associated with Spanish men. However, Bella’s chosen role is
opposite to her gender, being a woman she should be submissive and weak but instead she is
strong enough to control Antonio (www.academia.edu).
The characteristics of weakness and subjugation are the key components of Spanish women but
are found in the ‘male’ character of the novel Antonio. He is unable to control Bella as he
controls Antonia and is overthrown by her; Antonio’s character is also opposite to his gender
traits. He has none of the qualities of a ‘Machismo’ but is controlled by Bella. Rosa Montero’s
novel depicts men in negative light; both Antonio and El Poco are devilish characters that
traumatized the lives of the women around them, Antonia and Vanessa. The novel also portrays
the consequences of leaving everything to the hands of men, by the end of the novel both
Vanessa and Antonia are left bereaved while Bella is as strong as ever because she has taken
control of her own life (www.academia.edu).
Javier Marias is one of the most famous, widely translated and read Spanish writer, though he
was not previously as famous as he is now but still Marias’ expertise is globally known. He is a
translator and teacher by profession, the professions which are believed to give him the keen
understanding of gestures and the ability of reading between the lines and words. His novels are
the representatives of his storytelling art, like an interesting story he uncovers the layers of his
novels and the themes and characters provocatively. Marias’ novels mainly deal with the themes

10. SPANISH LITERATURE 10
of secrecy, deception and distorted language, other than these there is a thing that is present in
nearly each of his novels, the presence of a translator.
Javier Marias’ novels’ interesting element is his introduction of suicides and deaths of women
which are mainly young, the whole story revolves around this which creates an air of secrecy in
the novel, moreover, there is vivid descriptions of women’s legs are also found in many of his
novels. His ‘A Heart So White’ is an extraordinarily exquisite novel which has the theme of
secrecy and deception at its heart, the novel is regarded as a difficult one and is not meant for
everyone. The plot is intricately fabricated that is further intensified because of the difficult and
distorted language. Like several of his novels, translators are present in this novel also. Two of
the main characters of the novel are translators, Juan and Louisa while the third one is Juan’s
father Ranz who is an art dealer.
The novel opens with a scene of a young woman standing in the bathroom, pointing her own
father’s gun to her chest and shooting, the mystery and the main theme of the novel are
introduced very early in Marias’ novels that happen in this novel also. The woman who shoots
herself is Juan’s aunt and his father’s second wife, afterwards Juan’s father marries her sister
who is Juan’s mother. The mysterious part of the novel is that Juan’s mother is the third wife of
Ranz while the first two wives die mysteriously. Juan has married his colleague Louisa, he is
worried about the result of his marriage, he is afraid that maybe his marriage will also end as his
father’s marriages, however, Ranz forbids Juan from telling the family secrets to his newlywed
wife.
It is quite interesting and thought provoking to notice that the reason of the deaths are caused
by suicides and they are young women that killed themselves. Marias’ description of women’s

11. SPANISH LITERATURE 11
legs, as in ‘A Heart So White’ the description of Louisa’s legs, indicates towards Javier Marias’
interest in the nature of women. The way it is described in the novel, through the words of the
narrator, the shape, the posture in which they are and the shoes, everything is pinpointing to the
writer’s keen interest in women and their character. Unlike ‘All About My Mother’ and ‘I Shall
Treat You Like A Queen’, there is no direct and clear sign of gender role or subjugated gender
roles in the novel, but instead the reader has to read and understand between the instances,
distorted language and the characters’ doings to trace out the indications of gender roles.
Like Pedro, Marias does not put any transsexual of homosexual in his novel, but like Montero
he has brought out the character of men and their treatment of women. As mentioned earlier, all
the deaths in the novel are of women, both of them die because Ranz tells them some secret.
Though he does not inflict any physical harm to his wives but it is the mental damage that cause
them to kill themselves, where Pedro and Montero have shown physical; violence in their works,
Javier Marias has pictured the mental torture men cause to women. Marias has also shown the
weakness of women which is put forward by two suicides of Ranz’s first and second wife,
instead of facing and accepting the reality or confronting Ranz, what Bella must had done, they
just kill themselves.
On the other side Marias has revealed the mysterious nature of women, the mystery of the
novel is caused by the deaths of two ‘women’ rather than ‘men’, Ranz’s daughter-in-law Louisa
causes Ranz to open up the secret that has taken the lives of two of his wives. Louisa is a partly
unusual character of a Spanish woman, as instead of following mere orders she takes the things
into her own hands and discovers the secret herself. Javier Marias’ ‘A Heart So White’ portrays
partly traditional roles of men and women, both the men of the novel do not physically abuse
women but it is Ranz’s telling of secret that serves as a torture and cause his wives death.

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Although the Spanish culture is still sticking to the traditional gender roles meant for men and
women but nor, with the passage of time and exposure to varied cultures and education have
somewhat changed their mentality. The three works discussed are the representatives of the two
sides of Spanish culture, one that shows the absolutely traditional outlook while the other is
softer one and the one with reversed gender roles.

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Sources
(2010) All about my mother [Electronic Version] Retrieved on July, 28, 2013 from
http://misterneil.blogspot.com/2010/03/all-about-my-mother.html
Kelly, J. Comment on gender stereotypes and gender identity in Te trataré and at least one of the
films you have studied more [Electronic Version] Retrieved on July, 28, 2013 from
http://www.academia.edu/3735645/Comment_on_gender_stereotypes_and_gender_identi
ty_in_Te_tratare_and_at_least_one_of_the_films_you_have_studied
Schnee, S.A heart so white [Electronic Version] Retrieved on July, 28, 2013 from
http://wordswithoutborders.org/book-review/a-heart-so-white-by-javier-maras
www.coedu.usf.edu Understanding the hispanic/latino culture [Electronic Version] Retrieved on
July, 29, 2013 from http://www.coedu.usf.edu/zalaquett/hoy/culture.html
www.gagalanti.com The hispanic family male-female relations [Electronic Version] Retrieved
on July, 29, 2013 from http://gagalanti.com/articles/Hispanic%20Families.pdf
www.pittqueerfemfilm.wordpress.com All about my mother and Patriarchy [Electronic Version]
Retrieved on July, 29, 2013 from http://pittqueerfemfilm.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/all-
about-my-mother-patriarchy/