The End of The Kiss of the Spider Woman Notes PDF

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Summary

Literature and Revolution in Latin America
Juan Decastro
In class notes for the Kiss of the spider women chapters 14- the end including other general notes...

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11/11 Kiss of the Spider Woman: The End -

Molina asking valentin to kiss him, valentin says it might turn him into a panther woman

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Compares him to a “spider woman” who traps men in her web

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Why a kiss? (page 260) -

The kiss hold more intimacy then when they slept together

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Acts as goodbye

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More intimate

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Most romantic (because less amount of sexual graitification than straight-up sex)

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Very personal while sex can be impersonal

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Relates to cliche that prostitutes don’t kiss because it is too personal/intimate for a business/client relationship

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Molina asks if valentin would feel revulsion kissing him, valentin says that he’s “afraid” of the panther woman, not repulsion

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Why does valentin call molina a spider woman? -

Woman refers to molina maybe being transgender/ panther woman

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Spider: people getting trapped in a web

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Odd imagery, predator eating prey, something inconsequential like a fly

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Why does this have a positive connotation?

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Perhaps because it is giving molina power that he has so often rejected

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(molina getting information from valentin is a kind of trap even though valentin never finds out and molina dies delivering a message)

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Valentin putting himself in the more submissive role of the fly, learning about sexuality and sensitivity from Molina

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Element of ambiguity

Molina: only loves his mother and valentin -

What is the connection between molina’s mother and valentin?

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Connection to footnotes about freud and oedopal complex

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Molina wanting to take care of his mother, valentin taking care of molina when he eats the poisoned rice (molina also takes care of valentin though)

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Valentin “no one has the right to exploit you” -

contrasted when he is trying to get Molina to deliver a message

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“Exploit” has marxist connotations where the bourgeois exploits the politerate

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Reference to when valentin tells molina that husband and wife need to be equal to prevent exploitation, returns to it at the end of the book

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Molina promises to not be exploited, does he really mean this?

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Might just be to avoid an argument, wanting to keep the peace with valentin

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Might be afraid or intimidated by valentin just like he said he should be of his partner

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Valentin and molina have sex with the lights on for the first time -

Shows valentin being comfortable with molina to the point where the lights can be on

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Putting away books → choosing to be with molina over studying which he has been very strict about throughout the entire book

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Warden talking “our molina”

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Suspicious that molina is on the revolutionary side

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Idea to give information that someone (molina) has betrayed valentin

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Could be why molina gets killed by the revolution

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warden/protector (godfather?) doesn’t care about molina’s safety

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What is the explanation for the transcript of the events after Molina gets released from prison? -

Book tries to eliminate the narrative figure, how does the factual transcript know what molina and valentin are thinking?

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Is there an omniscient narrator who knows molina, valentin, their thoughts, what they say, what the warden says to the president, and governmental transcripts?

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Semi-interior monologues?

Warden and Prisoner: page 247-249 -

Warden tries to scare molina into giving information

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Translation error “pibes” means young boy not little kid

Mexican movie -

Woman crying about her boyfriend dying but she is content at having at least one real meaningful relationship

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Parallels with Molina not having a relationship with waiter and feeling unfulfilled and then having a relationship with valentin

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Book has similar ending to The Children’s Hour

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Last Chapter -

Government document

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Only now learn that Molina’s real name is Luis

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Why is molina looking out the northwest window for so long? -

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Looking towards the prison

Tells his friend on the phone that he didn’t have a relationship with anyone which is a lie -

Perhaps wanted to keep the relationship with valentin a secret because it could get Molina or valentin in trouble

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Maybe the relationship was too intimate, pure, or personal to share in a trivial manner

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Maybe wanted to try to not think about valentin so much

Molina calls the “godfather” figure, godfather taken aback by the tone that molina spoke to him in -

Maybe following through on his promise to Valentin standing up to himself and not letting himself be exploited or pushed around

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Molina calls gabriel the waiter -

Police agent writes down that gabriels voice sounded manly and had a lower class accent (perhaps classism resulted in him getting looked into more)

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How many lower class citizens are being spied on for the agent to be able to recognize the accent?

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Why does molina take his money out of the bank? -

Leaving it to his mother

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Understands the possibility that he might be killed

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His mother will need the money for medical things as well as not going through the hassle of trying to get the bank account opened posthumously

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Molina meeting up with revolutionaries -

Cops waiting to arrest him if they didn’t show up to interrogate molina

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Molina asked to see credentials of the police arrested him

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Shot and killed by revolutionaries (maybe thought molina was working with the police)

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Valentin isn’t violent, but his revolutionary group is very violent, where do the two intersect?

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Valentin wasn’t in prison for anything violent, he was just a union leader

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Molina knew about the continued surveillance after he was parolled

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Did Molina know that he was going to be killed? Did he ask for the police’s credentials to stall so the revolutionaries would see? Was this Molina’s way of committing suicide?

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Valentin’s hallucination -

Valentin in the infirmary from torture

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Doctor says he has third degree burns

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Doctor gives Valentin morphine, begins to hallucinate

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Dream referring to the spider woman image that he shared with Molina

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How did valentin know that molina was killed? Does he get newspapers?

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Thinks that Molina died to sacrifice himself like heroines in the movies

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Hopes that molina died happily and for a just cause

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Internal conversation in valentin’s head on whether or not molina died believing in the revolutionary cause

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Dreaming about marta but the spider woman imagery may lead the reader to believe that he is having a cathartic experience with Molina and coming to terms with his death

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Spider woman was crying, represents the emotional Molina?

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“This dream is short but it is happy” is it actually happy or is valentin just happy to see a representation of molina?...