Like Water for Chocolate-Feminsim
English A1 HL
World Literature II
Word Count: 1,187
How does the author of Like Water for Chocolate depict her feminist views and how do they contribute to two different themes of the novel?
In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel exposes her strong feminist attitude through a controlling first person limited narration and a detailed, descriptive portrayal of the characters. This exploitation of feminist views supports two major themes: change in traditional attitudes towards authority and freedom of expression. In this novel, Laura Esquivel shows how Mexican women can overcome the powerful traditional authority of men and the traditional mindset of women; and how women can overcome society's suppression and express themselves freely. . These two themes have a direct correlation to women's breakthroughs all over the world; especially throughout Latin America. Laura Esquivel uses a first person narrator to tell the story through a flashback in a way where she can manipulate the readers point of view and opinion. The novel is narrated by the daughter of Esperanza, which is Tita's great niece because Esperanza is the daughter of Rosaura, Tita's sister. This creates a sense of incredibility throughout all of the novels events and the characters feelings. The narrator wasn't even alive when the events occurred; they were passed down to her through a "grape vine" of stories that were ultimately influenced by Tita's cookbook because it was the only thing that was left after the fire burned down the house. This literary genre in which the author creates an
Garcia 2 ambiguous case in respect to the credibility of the events in order to manipulate them so she can emphasize and exaggerate certain points in the story to exploit her theme is called Magical Realism. It is realistic in the sense that the work can criticize society and "magical" in the sense that the narrator does not have to speak the truth. The narrator can manipulate certain
World Literature II
Word Count: 1,187
How does the author of Like Water for Chocolate depict her feminist views and how do they contribute to two different themes of the novel?
In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel exposes her strong feminist attitude through a controlling first person limited narration and a detailed, descriptive portrayal of the characters. This exploitation of feminist views supports two major themes: change in traditional attitudes towards authority and freedom of expression. In this novel, Laura Esquivel shows how Mexican women can overcome the powerful traditional authority of men and the traditional mindset of women; and how women can overcome society's suppression and express themselves freely. . These two themes have a direct correlation to women's breakthroughs all over the world; especially throughout Latin America. Laura Esquivel uses a first person narrator to tell the story through a flashback in a way where she can manipulate the readers point of view and opinion. The novel is narrated by the daughter of Esperanza, which is Tita's great niece because Esperanza is the daughter of Rosaura, Tita's sister. This creates a sense of incredibility throughout all of the novels events and the characters feelings. The narrator wasn't even alive when the events occurred; they were passed down to her through a "grape vine" of stories that were ultimately influenced by Tita's cookbook because it was the only thing that was left after the fire burned down the house. This literary genre in which the author creates an
Garcia 2 ambiguous case in respect to the credibility of the events in order to manipulate them so she can emphasize and exaggerate certain points in the story to exploit her theme is called Magical Realism. It is realistic in the sense that the work can criticize society and "magical" in the sense that the narrator does not have to speak the truth. The narrator can manipulate certain