Analysis of Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig

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Kiss of the Spider Woman, written by Manuel Puig, is considered a novel that can be interpreted differently by two different readers, in this case, a homosexual and a heterosexual. Although these to type of readers may be from the same sex, their way of thinking and interpreting this literary work may be very different as Puig writes about two men who are cell-mates, Luis Alberto Molino, a gay window dresser condemned for corruption of a minor or sexually abusing an underage, and Valentin Arregui Paz, a Marxist Revolutionary. Throughout the novel, their friendship grows even more than being just friends, having relationships and feelings for each other. Towards the end, we realize that Valentin had this close relationship and participated in Molino’s fantasies as he knew that the gay window dresser would leave jail early and could do him a favor. Throughout the story, homosexuals, compared to heterosexuals, can relate more to the events of the story. I believe that homosexuals may feel offended by the way Molino is being treated by his cell mate while Heterosexuals could say its normal. During their 6 months in prison, Molina recounts, in a very descriptive manner, a movie he saw called “The Cat Woman”. At first, when Molino starts to retell the movie, Valentin listens to him because of the dullness times in prison but after breaks, makes fun of him and seems to not really care. In the following citation, we can see how Valentin seems to not care about the story but still listens because of the boredom. Not only can we see how Valentin is careless about this but also we can notice some of Molino’s fantasies which Valentin clearly does not want to be part of: “-...She has her legs crossed, her shoes are black, thick high heels, ope... ... middle of paper ... ...s book will relate even more to it and increase their interests. This will not only encourage these types of readers to keep on reading but this will also help them have a better understanding of the text. To conclude, this text could be interpreted and comprehend differently by two different readers, a homosexual and a heterosexual. Throughout the story, homosexuals, compared to heterosexuals, can relate more to the events of the story especially towards the end where the two main characters turn out to be gay. But there is a problem as it seems that Valentin, who used to be a straight marxist revolutionary, became ‘gay’ in order to use Molino, soon to be released, as a messenger to transmit a message to Valentin’s revolutionary comrades. Although there are different ways to interpret this, I believe that homosexuals have a better overall understanding of the text.

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