Secret Romance

The comic Secret Romance represents Maite’s desire to escape from her dull and mundane life as a legal secretary. She spends much of the week looking forward to the newest issue of the romance comic, and she fantasies frequently about its characters, plotlines, and settings. She bemoans the disparity between her own life and the world of Secret Romance. As she becomes involved in the mystery of Leonora’s disappearance, Maite appears to conflate the events around her with the sentimental dramatics of the comic series.

Music and Records

Similar to Secret Romance, Maite’s record collection helps to concretize the life that she desires yet cannot attain. She jokingly refers to her extra room as her ‘atelier,’ and spends much of her time there listening to music. She often refuses to buy the Spanish-language copy of popular records, and instead opts for the...