Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - Essay Example

?Like Water for Chocolate Like Water for Chocolate is an amazing amalgam of a variety of themes that Laura Esquivel presents before her readers to have an accurate judgment of the society that inspires her writing. Through the character of Tita, the protagonist, and her family members, Esquivel intertwines the social, physical and mental status of the Mexican woman and her capacity to free herself from the traditional way of living with the impact of delicious food cooked by her on the people who taste it. Thus, the strength of the woman to revolt against set traditions in order to materialize her aspirations and her ability to win the hearts of people through her domestic activities are put together to illustrate both the theme of revolution and food. The Mexican revolution has been set as the background of the novel by the writer to illustrate the strength of women in general as in history they had taken an active part in it. Regarding the novel, the concept of revolution, as described in the web paper “Revolution in Like Water for Chocolate”, is demonstrated through the conflict between mother and daughter, which emerges from the traditional compulsion for the youngest daughter to stay a spinster till the death of her mother in order to take care of her while sacrificing her own aspirations and desires of living a happy married life. From the very start of the novel sympathetic and sad atmosphere of detachment between mother and daughter is set as we see Tita being handed over to Nacha, the cook, soon after her birth. Mama Elena’s inability to feed Tita enhances the lack of warmth and affiliation between them, which facilitates Tita to revolt against the tradition. Esquivel has shown her great affiliation with food as she expresses many emotions through it. In the web paper “The Significance of Food in Like Water for Chocolate” food has been described as a recurring symbol. According to the paper, it is hard to find a single scene without eating or the preparation of food, and some banquets end up hilariously. All these scenes carry meanings which are beyond the apparent ones. Life and excitement are conveyed through food. Food, sex and magic revolve about Tita and Elena. The opening lines “Take care to chop the onion fine. To keep from crying when you chop it (which is so annoying!), I suggest you place a little bit on your head” (5) are suggestive as they speak of the effect of food on the humans. All the preparations of food are connected to the memories and emotions of different characters, mainly Tita, which help the readers explore different aspects of their personality. The very opening scene speaks of the destiny of the protagonist through its setting where kitchen serves as the birthplace of Tita. Mama Elena gives birth to Tita while having tears in her eyes produced by slicing of onion presents the idea that kitchen is Tita’s true domain where she can marvel and food is the source through which she is going to affect the people around her. This idea is further enhanced by her being handed over to the cook who onwards teaches her secret recipes that had been transferred to her as a traditional art. The detailed description of the texture, shape, smell and sight of the food is important as it signifies the emotions of Tita that influence its eaters to respond in a certain way. The plot of the novel revolves around the delicious recipes which Tita cooks, belonging to Nacha with whom Tita celebrates a better mother-daughter relationship as she cares much for her sufferings of lost love and hopelessness of getting married and having children. Tita’s own mother prefers tradition to the happiness of her youngest daughter. She denies accepting Tita’s love for Pedro and her deep sorrow at the loss when she refuses Pedro’s proposal for Tita and demands his marriage with Tita’s elder sister Rosaura in order to follow the tradition as well as being selfish to keep Tita as her care-taker. Her bitter response to Tita speaks of her cruelty and selfishness as we hear her saying, “If he intends to ask for your hand, tell him not to bother…” (10). So, this generates a feeling of hatred between them, which is boosted by the physical violence that Tita gets from her mother to snub her desires in order to make Rosaura’s loveless marriage a success. Though Tita sacrifices many years of her life to save and nurture her relationship with her mother in spite of her brutal manners, eventually she decides to revolt against all the hardships and leaves family ranch and live a life that she desires. It is noteworthy that every chapter of the novel starts with a new recipe which centers the events as well as renders the cook with the quality to pass on her emotions. The wedding cake, which contains Tita’s tears shed at her helplessness and intense misery, takes the revenge of emotional violence and induces a sense of loss and sickness in the guests. The name of the novel also contributes to bringing in light the importance of food as an expression of heartfelt emotions of the characters as we are told, “Tita was literally ‘like water for chocolate’-she was on the verge of boiling over.” (151). The misery of Tita for being bound to tradition is elaborated through a Mexican phrase that emerges from a cultural recipe. Tita’s sexual desire and strength of passion are so great that, when transferred to her sister Gertrudis via another recipe of Tita, makes her ride off naked with a soldier and makes her rigid mother recall her old lover. Food also plays an important role in nurturing the love theme of the novel which leads to set revolution between two women. Pedro’s expression of love for Tita and his longing for her even after his marriage is presented through his response to food which in return evokes Tita to get rid of the ways of living which are imposed on her, “It wasn’t enough that he had made his wife jealous earlier, for when Pedro tasted his first mouthful, he couldn’t help closing his eyes in voluptuous delight and exclaiming: It is the dish for the gods!” (51). So Tita’s feelings of unfathomable love were transferred to Pedro who felt so elated to have such food. Pedro’s encounter with Tita is most of the times in kitchen, signifying that the fulfillment of all her desires is confined to domestic regime. Tita’s motherhood, which is denied to her by tradition, seeks freedom at her sister’s inability to feed Pedro’s child, which speaks of her loveless marriage and hatred that she nurtured in her heart at her husband’s intimacy with her sister. These sufferings of Rosaura make her blame Tita for influencing Pedro through her recipes and at the same time request to cook something that liberates her from the misery caused by gas and indigestion. This death paves the way for Tita to get her desires fulfilled, but her mother comes on her way with her traditional mind. Tita suffers emotional violence inflicted by her mother for being separated from Roberto, which results in his death as well as physical violence that finally enrage her to give voice to her discontent and rebellious beliefs. The emotions of illness, which Tita experiences at the hand of her mother and sister, are the main ingredient of Tita’s cooking, which get transferred to them and take the form of physical ailment. Apparently Rosaura suffers from indigestion and production of gas in her stomach, but these symptoms are physical forms of her hatred and harassment at Tita’s hand and Tita’s sufferings at her inability to cherish a married love life. The illness of Mama Elena signifies a marred mother-daughter relationship as the food tastes like poison to her as the hatred of Tita for her mother does not allow her to cook delicious food and the emotional rage gets its way in the food and tastes poisonous to her mother. Mama Elena’s cruelty and bitterness towards her daughter disables her to enjoy the food and leads her to death from vomiting. So the impact of food on her decides her destiny which correlates to her giving birth to Tita in the kitchen and making her live through serving food. Esquivel expresses the time of death of Mama Elena as “a turning point” as Tita is expected to have a new destiny, as now she is free to get back to her love. We find Tita unable to free herself from her mother’s control as her ghost comes to haunt her with accusations and warnings which she snubs by screaming at her mother’s ghost and asserts her perfect being to live a life of her own choice by saying, “Once and for all, leave me alone; I won’t put up with you! I hate you, I hate you, I’ve always hated you!” (191). These magic words make Tita get rid of her mother’s ghost and get a relief. Hence, there is a dramatic alteration in the life of Tita as now she is free from the traditions. The arrival of Dr. John at this point is remarkable as he comes with spiritual insight and apprehends her thoughts. His rational approach towards her situation makes her confess about her consummation of love with Pedro, and his encouragement allows her to refuse him and regain her lost love and personal freedom. Towards the end of the novel, the only presence of Pedro and Tita at family ranch illustrates the personal freedom of Tita where she can cherish her love life without any fear of emotional and physical torments, but her sufferings become intensified as she fails to escape them. It is quite ironical that Pedro dies during their love making where they both feel so blessed that Tita observes a laminated tunnel that leads to a spiritual world. Tita attempts to ignite her inner fire in order to accompany Pedro in the spiritual world recalling the advice of John’s grandmother, “If a strong emotion suddenly lights all the candles we carry inside ourselves, it creates a brightness that shines far beyond our normal vision and then a splendid tunnel appears that shows us the way that we forget when were born and calls us to recover our lost divine origin. The soul longs to return to the place it came from, leaving the body lifeless” (243-244). Dennard, in his article “The Encrypted Recipes in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate,” says that Tita finally gets the future which she had desired for all her life only after the death of her mother’s ghost. It is ironical that she fails to break herself from the traditional ties as she actually never gets married and never cherishes motherhood literally as it was not her destiny to give life to someone, but she figuratively does become a mother figure (Dennard) To conclude, we observe women playing a central role in the novel, which is rare in Latin American Literature. There is a remarkable illustration of revolution between the women to get an escape from the tradition for the fulfillment of the deepest desires. The personal freedom is experienced by the protagonist in quite an unexpected way after years of intense suffering. Food plays an important role in the novel to convey different emotions of the protagonist. The secret traditional recipes, which are passed on from generation to generation, influence people in a specific way. It is explicit that Esquivel attaches emotions of jealousy, bitterness, lust, love, pregnancy, sickness and motherhood to specific food. Through the food the importance of the role of woman is brought into light and men are rarely focuses of the writer. Works Cited “The Significance of Food in Like Water for Chocolate.” 123HelpMe.com. Web. 16 May 2012. . “Revolution in Like Water for Chocolate.” 123HelpMe.com. Web. 16 May 2012 . Dennard. M. E. The Encrypted Recipes in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. . Read More