The codes of conduct imposed on females by Spain's dictator Francisco Franco after the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) created a stifling environment for women until his death in 1975. Beginning with Carmen Laforet's 1944 Nadal Prize-winning novel Nada, novels by women - many of which explore female identity - began to proliferate in Spain. The works examined in this study - Nada, Primera memoria (1960) by Ana Maria Matute, La placa del Diamant (1962) by Merce Rodoreda, Julia (1969) by Ana Maria Moix, El cuarto de atras (1978) by Carmen Martin Gaite, El amor es un juego solitario (1979) by Esther Tusquets, and Questio d'amor propi (1987) by Carme Riera - feature female protagonists struggling for self-realization and, by extension, for change in a restrictive Spanish society. Schumm's analysis of the seven novels demonstrates how examination of metaphoric tropes and mirror images provides insight into the protagonists' development.