Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews March 28, 2023 March 21, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
At the beginning of her memoir, Catalina is a young woman living in a convent, on the verge of taking her vows to become a nun. She eventually transforms herself into a soldier with a male persona, adept at killing both on and off the battlefield. In positioning herself as a man, she exhibits many stereotypically male traits, including bravado, competitiveness, and aggressiveness. She possesses a quick temper and responds to insults with her sword. She writes very little about her feelings—her memoir is almost entirely devoid of introspection. She appears to have no compunction about killing men for reasons as trivial as offending her over a game of cards. Despite the fact that she generally depends on violence to solve problems in her day-to-day life, she is very intelligent, and many times she survives by using only her wits. She moves from place to place regularly, never settling down or developing close relationships with others, perhaps for fear that they will discover her greatest secret—that she is a woman.
Although Lieutenant Nun covers more than twenty-six years, Catalina shows very little personal or emotional growth. The Catalina at the end of the memoir is nearly identical to the Catalina from the beginning; the passage of time is apparent only when Catalina writes that it has. Her development is primarily in terms of the violence she commits. She becomes a better soldier over the years, and she also becomes more readily able to kill at the smallest provocation. Despite her abilities as a soldier, or perhaps because of them, she rarely expresses emotion. One of the few times she describes how she feels is when she expresses joy about meeting her brother. Another is when she is plunged into despair after killing him. Catalina’s life, and her secret identity as a woman, doesn’t allow for many intimate relationships. Her relationship with her brother is the most important relationship in her life, but she devotes only a few words to it. Catalina clearly values her skill and prowess as a soldier and as a man far more than she does her emotional development, which she likely associates with her biologically designated gender—one she has worked so hard to hide.
Please wait while we process your payment