Using two characters, Marichu and Pepón, Mastretta points out the oppression that women struggle with when they are obligated to take on traditional and domestic roles, mainly providing for their husbands and family. Mastretta highlights the freedom that writing provides women, and how feminism can only be fostered in specific environments, out of reach from societal pressures.
Mastretta uses Marichu and Pepón to illustrate the constraints placed upon women due to their expected domestic duties, emphasizing how writing offers them freedom and that true feminist progress is possible only within protected environments free from societal pressures.