Although she knows that she won't hear the voice of the ugly crucifix anymore, she feels happy and free, thinking of all the images she now hopes to carve.

One of the central themes in El Cristo Feo is the building of personal identity and self-improvement as forms of withstanding the oppressive practices in domestic work.

[6][7] When Ordalisa starts carving the deformed figure of the ugly crucifix, it awakens in her the desire to leave a mark on the world, to express her thoughts and emotions.

In this manner, Yánez shows Ordalisa relinquishing her submission and docility through creativity and artistic creation,[6] which together she expresses in the physical changes and in being more concerned about her own desires.

The transformation brings Ordalisa to question the relations of power in domestic work and abuse that she had been subjected to, which in the end gives her sufficient security to abandon the house in search of a new future.

[7] In relation to the creative search of female artists, Yánez places attention on the disadvantages that they suffer in comparison to men due to gender roles.

Towards the end of the novel, this idea of maternity is resumed by Ordalisa and finishes identifying her new conception of divinity, saying to the ugly crucifix: "I remember my mother, because being who you are, if it is in reality, you are what I want to imagine, you are concerned equally about my body as my soul.

The first draft featured a protagonist inspired by a person of her surroundings, but the possibility of it being obvious who the character in the novel was based upon caused Yánez to discard this idea.

Among the positive aspects, he underlined the authenticity and development of the characters of Ordalisa and the male boss, in addition to the optimistic nature of the work and the perspective with which it presents the social critique in comparison with classic protest novels.

[3] The professor Miriam Merchán also emphasised the character of Ordalisa, referring to her as a "symbol of the situation of the marginalization of women and the possible routes that open for their acceptance as human beings".