This essay is on “The Kiss of the Spider Woman” by Manuel Pig, and in addition you can also use/cite the Movie production of this novel by Héctor Babenco. Attached is a small answer I have written up to help you write this essay.
Here is the prompt and several questions you will have to answer in this essay:
How do we interpret the message (or messages) of this complex text? For example, how does character development help us understand the author’s themes in the book? First, consider what Valentín and Molina represent in the novel. One way to get there is to use a list of binary oppositions associated with each character, such as:
Valentine / Molina
reality / fantasy
political theory / popular movies
psychiatrist (or other medical caregiver such as doctor or nurse) / patient
man / woman
heterosexual / homosexual
the conscious / the subconscious
revolution / tradition
domination / submission
friendship / betrayal
romanticism (films, boleros, love letters,…) vs. empiricism (scientific articles, political philosophy, prison reports,…)
and many more…
Binary oppositions are categories of thought, the human mind creates these categories to understand the world, but we have a tendency to imagine that one side is superior to the other. We have to realize that this problematic pattern limits our understanding of the world and that society is much more complex. Discuss and analyze this idea compared to the novel in your paper.
How do you explain how characters develop and change so that we see these binaries reverse and mix? What do you think Puig is trying to say with this development with characters that intersect in this way?
What do you think is the message of the text?
You can comment on the movie or compare it to the book.
