systematic injustice denies us, right? What happens when the rules of the State hinder the life of the individual? How does this impact and influence our innate desire for love? Manuel Puig explores this question in his novel "Kiss of the Spider Woman." An examination of the life and death of two parallel characters, Molina and Irena, reveals Puig's assertion that to free ourselves from the oppression that denies us this right to love, we must first find something worth loving, so it's worth living. In doing so, we discover a lot about ourselves, who we are, what we stand for, and the fear that oppressors instill begins to lose its grip on our lives. Puig demonstrates this by first painting a picture of the relationship between oppressed and oppressor. Oppression keeps individuals in distress. A prison of both mental and physical state. In the overall narrative of the novel, this is explicitly shown, with the characters Molina and Valentin literally finding themselves in a prison. Valentin, being a revolutionary, is in prison for committing a crime against the state, against the systemic injustice imposed on an oppressed society, Molina for committing a sexually deviant crime. The presence of Valenti and Molina in the cell reflects the power that the oppressors hold over the minority voice of the people who attempt to rise up against them. The torture Valenti endures throughout the novel reflects the use of fear as a tactic to keep oppressed people in their subordinate status. To further this idea, Valentin, after hearing Molina talk about how his friend Gabriel walks tall and straight, states "inside, at least as far as this culture is concerned, without power behind no one walks tall" (62). Va......middle of paper......tity, Molina when she finds someone who accepts her true identity. In both cases they find the affirmation that had previously been denied them due to an oppressive society. Death here is a death of the self, of the repressed self. Affection and attachment, the desire for intimacy and closeness with someone are imprinted in our very DNA. Our true nature is revealed in the existence of our desire for love. However, when an ill-intentioned external force denies us this desire through the use of fear, it has the harmful effect of keeping us locked in prisons of confusion and despair. There is hope, however, that redemption can come by finding affirmation of our individual identity. There is hope in identifying and knowing the true nature of our identities, in being okay with who we are because others are okay with who we are. We love because we were loved first.