Preview

Like Water for Chocolate

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1852 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Like Water for Chocolate
Like water for Chocolate

1. Author’s Background:
Esquivel was once married to actor and director Alfonso Arau. She currently lives in Mexico City.
In March 2009 Laura Esquivel ran as preliminary candidate of the Local Council in District XXVII of Mexico City for the PRD. Her candidacy was supported by the current Izquierda Unida, which combined various PRD groups. Despite irregularities, all ballots were recovered, confirming her victory. Laura Esquivel is currently the official candidate not only for the PRD, but also for the PT and Convergence, the actress Dolores Heredia being her substitute. 2. Literary Aspect. Like Water For Chocolate tells the story of Tita De La Garza, the youngest daughter in a family living in Mexico at the turn of the twentieth century. Tita's love, Pedro Muzquiz, comes to the family's ranch to ask for Tita's hand in marriage. Because Tita is the youngest daughter she is forbidden by a family tradition upheld by her tyrannical mother, Mama Elena, to marry. Pedro marries Tita's oldest sister, Rosaura, instead, but declares to his father that he has only married Rosaura to remain close to Tita. Rosaura and Pedro live on the family ranch, offering Pedro contact with Tita. When Tita cooks a special meal with the petals of a rose given to her by Pedro, the still-fiery force of their love (transmitted through the food) has an intense effect on Mama Elena's second daughter, Gertrudis, who is whipped into a lustful state and flees the ranch in the arms of a revolutionary soldier. Meanwhile, Rosaura gives birth to a son, who is delivered by Tita. Tita treats her nephew, Roberto, as if he were her own child, to the point that she is able to produce breast milk to feed him while her sister is dry.
Sensing that Roberto is drawing Pedro and Tita closer together, Mama Elena arranges for Rosaura's family to move to San Antonio. This separation devastates Tita. A short time later, news arrives that Roberto has died, most likely due to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    (R) Antonio’s thoughts reflect the responsibility which he feels to live up to his mother’s expectations, even amidst the struggles of a desensitizing experience as he witnesses Lupito’s death. He displays a high level of maturity and experience as he thinks not just of the horror of the event, but also of the consequences and repercussions of this death.…

    • 3587 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Eating is a fundamental activity. Food, itself, is a major component of survival, for without it there would be no life on this earth. Throughout the evolution of man, it has come to have a greater importance with multiple significances to human beings. In fact, it has become a defining factor for families, classes, and cultures all through history. Hispanic societies are no exception. Furthermore, Hispanic women writers have written articles, screenplays, and novels using cuisine as their driving force. A great example is Laura Esquivel’s novel, Like Water For Chocolate.…

    • 1871 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Like Water For Chocolate

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Like Water for Chocolate, Nacha acts like a mentor and mother, changing Tita to view the world through the lens of the kitchen and establishing the centrality of food to the story, in addition to demonstrating the cyclical nature of time.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    • Eleven-year-old Juana lives with her Amá and Apá in their little shack at the outskirts of their village in Mexico.…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is the significance of the song, “The Eyes of Youth,” that Gertrudis plays on…

    • 1653 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Moms, where would we be without them? In Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel this question is answered through the perspective of different characters. Placed during the Mexican Revolution Tita, the protagonists, struggles in her pursuit for happiness. Pinned down by society and traditions that date back many generations ago her life becomes a constant fight that has no clear winner. Her mother, Mama Elena, on the other hand tries to preserve the traditional life that Tita struggles to cope with. These polar opinions clash in Like Water For Chocolate and with the aid of symbolism Laura Esquivel showcases how these two ways of thinking are reflective of human nature. Laura Esquivel uses symbolism to comment…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Breaking Through

    • 648 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Francisco’s dreams are to go to college and have a better future for himself and his family. Although his home situation and him being emigrate from Mexico, struggling with English cause him to face many obstacles before he reaches his goal. Due to his home situation, Francisco learns to be very responsible. One perfect example would be when Roberto and Francisco come back to Bonnetti ranch with out their parents. Roberto and Francisco had to go to school and work and lastly save money to send to their parents back at Mexico. Francisco says, “The sounds of Papa’s coughing, the rattle of his aspirin bottle, and the rolling of Mama’s twelve-inch lead pipe as she pressed dough to make tortillas were absent.” Francisco says (19)…

    • 648 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Like water for chocolate

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Nacha is something like her mother figure. Tita grew up in the kitchen and Nacha is the house cook so she always clings to Nacha especially when she has a problem in. Mama Elena is very mean to Tita and takes away her chance for love. This is why they are not close.…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Something else that is significant to this novel is Mama Elena’s struggle. Mama Elena also suffered the pangs of lost love due to her mother. Although the reactions of each woman to her predicament helps sort out the differences between Tita and Mama Elena. While Mama Elena let the loss of her love make her a controlling and menacing mother, Tita obeys her mother’s command but still has the lifelong struggle of trying to find love which she eventually gets after all the conflicts are absent from her life. “For twenty-two years she had respected the pact the two of them had made with Rosaura; now she had had enough of it. Thier pact consisted of taking into consideration the fact that it was vital to Rosaura to maintain the appearance that her marriage was going splendidly, and the most important thing for her was that her daughter grow up within that sacred institution, the family- the only way, she felt, to provide a firm moral foundation. Pedro and Tita had sworn to be absolutely discreet about their meetings and keep their love a secret. In the eyes of others, theirs must always be a perfectly normal family. For this to succeed, Tita had to give up having an illicit child. In compensation, Rosaura was prepared to share Esperanza with her, as follows: Tita would be in charge of feeding the child, Rosaura of her…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    After all these years, Tita finally consummated her love for Pedro. However, this blessing quickly became a curse when Tita started experiencing signs of pregnancy and her dead mother came back to haunt her. Mama Elena’s recurrent visits caused Tita to be anxious and frighten. Her mother forced her to go far away from the house and this was the last straw to Tita’s patience and respect for her mother. With the seven words, “I hate you, I’ve always hated you!”, Tita expelled her mother’s ghost. Soon afterwards, Tita’s menstrual fluid rapidly escaped her body and just as her swollen belly alleviated, Mama Elena’s spirit turned into a fireball. The angry fireball aimed its trajectory at Pedro and in just a few seconds, Pedro’s body was set on fire. The magical realism in this incident uses fire to illustrate Mama Elena’s rage after she found out about Tita’s so called “adulterous affair with her brother-in-law.”…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Like Water for Chocolate

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout the film, the main overall theme is that a woman had an illegitimate daughter with someone while she was married, her husband left her, and she was alone with three girls and the youngest, Tita, was to never marry because she was to take care of her mother until the day she died. As Tita grew her and a boy, Pedro, fell in love, but her mother would not allow her to marry, and instead, he married her sister, Rosura, to be close to her. Pedro and Rosura had their last child and Rosura vowed she would not be able to marry because she too, like Tita, would have to take care of her until the day she died. Tita very much hated this idea, as she hated how her mother controlled her and forbade her to not marry her only love, as seen at the end when Rosura dies, Pedro and Tita are now able to get married at last. This silly tradition of the youngest girl taking care of her mother shows the power of family traditions and most likely, a Latin American tradition. The mother was in charge of her daughter, she said she was not to marry and she did not. Then the sister wanted to follow through with the same tradition that had made her sister so miserable.…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    journey enrique chapter 3

    • 607 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During this time Enrique get to know Diana, his nine-year-old sister. Soon enough Enrique and her mom start to have some problems because the different mentality they have. After some hard days between them they finally reconcile, but the difficulties persist. One day, Enrique encourages Maria Isabel to come north, and she agrees to leave the baby behind.…

    • 607 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    With the Del Valle’s family, there are 2 unordinary sisters among their family members: Rosa, Clara. Their father, Severo Del Valle, elected as a politician at Liberty Party. During the celebration of being a politician, Rosa dead by poisoning after she had a cup of brandy. Clara got shocked and muted because she was predicting that one of the family members will die accidentally. Clara spoke to the family when she decided to get married with Esteban Garcia who was Rosa’s fiance. While E.Trueba and Clara were trying to get married, she met Ferula who will affect her life as a sister-in-law after Clara’s marriage. Ferula and Clara’s friendship has been developed, Mr. Trueba was getting jealous so that he kicked out his sister later on. Ferula’s soul came to the family afterwards.…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Like Water for Chocolate is about the love between two individuals (Tita and Pedro) and how their love was squandered by the societal norms of the age. Tita, the youngest daughter in her family, falls in love with Pedro. They have a “secret” relationship but when Pedro asks for her hand in marriage, Tita’s mother, Mama Elena, refuses. In her family’s traditions, people do not marry for love; they marry for convenience, and that is exactly what she continues with Tita and her sisters. Tita tries to rebel from her mother’s traditions but proves difficult when her love is being married to her sister. Mama Elena succeeds at keeping Tita and Pedro apart by having Rosaura (Tita’s eldest sister) and Pedro move to…

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Novela

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Maria Teresa is a hard working woman that leaves her business in the city and goes to work at the family’s country estate. She is convinced that it will not be an easy task but it would not be impossible. Her family inherit La Tormenta from her mother when she passes away. When Maria Teresa arrives to the estate, she realized that situation will not be like she had imagined she is faced with a hostile environmental filled of conflicts. When she takes over the administration responsibility, she meets Santos Torrealba (Christian Mejer), the estate’s administrator, and realizes that they are very different people. Since the first day, they declare war and both of them realize that they can’t live under the same roof. They can’t avoid seeing each other but each time they do they confront each other, ending in an unfavorable quarrel. They try to do the impossible to separate themselves from each other to avoid any conflict, but instead of that an intense passion filing grow between them. Maria Teresa find herself among people with different morals, feelings and ambitions that affect her, making her job more difficult. She is a strong woman; sure of herself and thinks she will be able reach her goal even though the towns’ people don’t believe it.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics