Manuel Puig's The Kiss of the Spider Woman, through many different discourses, tells the story of the developing friendship between two prison cellmates, Molina and Valentin. The initial natures of Molina and Valentin are primarily revealed through dialogue between the two. As they interact throughout the course of the novel, their friendship evolves into a very meaningful relationship that progressively transforms them both. These changes are ultimately revealed when at the end of the novel, both characters are exposed through discourses very different from their customary dialogue: Molina through a police report and Valentin through a drug-induced dream. .
In the beginning of the novel, Valentin is obsessed with living in reality and harboring no illusions about the world around him. Molina constantly tries to draw him into his fantasy world of movies, but Valentin will never succumb. As Molina relates different films to Valentin, Valentin frequently chides him for getting too caught up in details and not simply telling the stories straight. He remains detached from the films by mocking them, much to the frustration of Molina. When recounting the interaction between two protagonists of a film, Molina says, "Okay, so then he wants to kiss her. And she won't let him get close," to which Valentin retorts, "He must have had bad breath, he didn't brush his teeth yet" (14). Additionally, when Molina tells Valentin the story of a Nazi propaganda film, Valentin is concerned only with the factual political issues and not with love story Molina describes. He says, "It interests me as propaganda, that's all" (79). Despite Molina's best efforts, Valentin is able for a while to keep a firm grasp on reality to counter Molina's fantasy. When Molina cajoles, "Enjoy life a little! Are you going to spoil our dinner thinking about what's going to happen tomorrow?" Valentin replies, "I don't believe in that business of living for the moment, Molina, nobody lives for the moment" (27).
