A Broken Bond
A Broken Bond From the moment that the mother feels her child kicking, there is a very strong bond developed. In one’s life, a strong maternal bond is crucial. In Laura Esquivel’s novel Like Water for Chocolate, it seemed liked Mama Elena was unaware of the importance of this relationship. “Unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying, or dominating, Mama Elena was a pro.” Mama Elena was destined to ruin Tita’s life. Esquivel shows a bitter relationship between Tita and Mama Elena which contributes to how Tita is as a person. Early in the novel, the reader is introduced to the abnormal mother-daughter relationship right away as Nacha, the family cook, “offers to take charge of feeding Tita” (Esquivel 6) after Mama Elena’s “milk dried up from the shock” (Esquivel 6) of her husband’s death. In some cases, mothers say that they feel extremely close to the child while feeding it. Bonds between mothers and their babies are indescribable of course. Needless to say that even as a child Tita and her mother were distant. The distance between them only grew, due to Tita being raised in the kitchen by Nacha. Although the relationship was odd, she was accustomed to how her mother treated her and never made any remarks about the mistreatment or relationship. Mama Elena had a bizarre and highly unfair tradition that the youngest daughter may not wed but instead had to stay home to take care of the mother until she passed away. This tradition went on from generation to generation in Mama Elena’s family without ever being broken. Although Mama Elena emphasized the importance of this tradition, Pedro and Tita were very much in love with each other. Pedro’s followed his heart and asked for Tita’s hand, which of course was denied by Mama Elena due to the tradition. Mama Elena offered her other daughter Rosaura to Pedro. (Esquivel 11) Tita grew resentful towards her mother not only because of her