Kiss Of The Spider Woman And The Web Of Gender Summary

Similarly, Molina and Valentin struggle to accept one another as Molina says, “Look, it’s just the way I am, I’m easily hurt by some things.” As the feminine character Molina is not afraid of communicating his feelings towards Valentin whom, simply answers, “But don’t act like that, you’re oversensitive...” By belittling Molina’s feelings and saying he is “oversensitive” he is declaring his superiority whilst highlighting his masculinity. The article “Kiss of the Spider Woman and the Web of Gender” states, “Valentin’s male behavior is oppressive as he attempts to control the behavior of others.” This is seen as he is judging the way Molina feels, as he rejects the idea of a man ever being sensitive, reflecting his close-mindedness. In …show more content…
As this begins, Molina begins to take on the role of a male as he comforts Valentin as he is at his most vulnerable state while crying. Molina tells Valentin, “It’s okay, Valentin, get it off your chest, cry as much as you want, let yourself go until you’re all cried out.” By Molina telling Valentin “to let [him]self go” he is referring to escaping. Escaping their cell and going beyond to wherever he wants. Manuel Puig allows Molina to comfort Valentin in order to highlight Molina’s change. He is not the “oversensitive” one anymore, now it is Valentin. The dependence both characters have on the movies, parallel the dependence Valentin now has on …show more content…
Larry has gone from being more powerful than Mr. Ramirez, to depending on him, and looking up at him as his father. As well as Valentin, who has come to rely on Molina and needs him for comfort. However, throughout the fantasy, Larry begins to realize that Mr. Ramirez is treating him too much as a young boy and not as the adult he is, “Come on, don’t be a child. A little discipline, please.” As he says, “A little discipline” Mr. Ramirez’s fatherly traits are exposed as his complete removal from reality has caused him to become delusional. Although he is not mistreating Larry, and asks him kindly, this does not last for too long. As an unexpected occurrence happens when Mr. Ramirez subconsciously begins to tell Larry the same things he told his real son, “They lack the capacity; they didn’t work hard enough, they are mediocre… you are mediocre…” The increasing length of his sentence following each comma, reflects his increasing anger towards Larry as he begins to remind him too much of his “mediocre” son. His feelings towards his son never changed as on his journal he wrote, “I was happy when he left, almost twenty years ago, because I no longer had to see him, mediocre as he was.” The way Mr. Ramirez begins to look down on Larry parallels how he mistreated and criticized his son. Although he was once cautious of the way he spoke