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'LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE."
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Examines the inheritance of family traditions in Laura Esquvel's book.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Examines the inheritance of family traditions in Laura Esquvel's book. Centers on one family of women in Mexico and how they deal with their inheritances of joy, grief and pain that have been passed down from generation to generation. How food is used in the book. Describes the characters, and the roles that they play in each other's lives.
Paper Introduction:
Introduction
Many things get passed down in families, from eye, hair and skin color to the grandfather clock in the front hall and the antique dishes in the china cabinet. Among these inheritances are the intangibles such as family traditions, mythologies and code of conduct. Sometimes these intangibles make life richer, other times they do nothing but make life bitter and hard. The book, Like Water for Chocolate, is about one family of women and how they deal with their particular inheritances of joy and grief and pain. Esquivel uses family recipes and home remedies to discuss the other intangible inheritances that have been passed down from generation to generation. In fact, the title is taken from a food term used in the book to describe one character’s fury with the outcome of things in her family (151).
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At her niece's wedding, her final communicationto her friends and family is physical sensuality transmitted through thechiles in walnut sauce that she makes for them. Esquivel uses family recipes and home remedies to discussthe other intangible inheritances that have been passed down fromgeneration to generation. But she has to leave the ranch first, after thishorrifying experience, to do so.Conclusion Many traits may be passed from father to son, or mother to daughter,some as benign as the way one holds a cup, others as deadly as physical orsexual abuse. The setting is the De la Garza ranch in northern Mexico during atumultuous time in Mexico's history at the turn of the 19th century. Nacha died before she was able to see change, but shecame back to light the candles for Pedro and Tita in the end, casting herblessing on their final union. Since sheis not allowed to express emotion or feeling around her mother, her onlyescape is food. Work CitedEsquivel, Laura. At no time, however, does Mama Elena appear to haveinherited any love at all that she feels free to pass on to her daughters.In effect, Mama Elena forbade all true love that fell within her sphere ofinfluence, since she herself had been denied. Tita's grief was so strong, however, that it overtookNacha after just a bite of the wedding cake, bringing up all the oldregrets and hurt that she had stored away. Other times, like the ox-tail soup thatChencha brought after Tita had her collapse, it brings her back to theworld of the living (127). Thoughabsent through most of the story, when Gertrudis does reappear years later,she seems to be the only one of the three sisters who was able to reach herfull potential. In Nacha's case, her suitor was turned out my Mama Elena's mother.She never again had a suitor and learned well how to put aside and suppressold griefs. She does this by never praising them and always correcting them.Tita especially, seems to have earned her criticisms in all that she did,including her cooking. It was important to her how society sawher" (188). In the end it killed her (41). Most of her anxiety is over what the neighborswould think or how they would see her if Pedro left her or was openly seenwith Tita. Though everyone tastes the food that is set beforeMama Elena and says that it is good, still she tastes the bitterness,something she was responsible for passing on to her own daughter (133-134).Gertrudis Considering the history of her conception and birth, it would appearthat Gertrudis inherited her mother's latent (and repressed) physicaldesires and she works these out while living in a brothel for a time.Eldest of the three daughters, she is the only one that acts impulsively onher physical desires, awakened after tasting Tita's quail in rose petalsauce (55). For example, besidesforbidding Tita to marry at all (due to the tradition of the youngestdaughter being forced to care for the mother until she dies), sheessentially forced Rosaura to marry Tita's boyfriend, as well as keepingaway any suitors that Chencha, the maid, may have had (152). Unlike her mother, she is not able to suppressher feelings and desires, nor is she able to succumb as Rosaura does orflee as Gertrudis does. Sometimes theseintangibles make life richer, other times they do nothing but make lifebitter and hard. Tita's storybegins as she is born on the table in the kitchen, crying from the onionsthat her mother has been chopping. This affects behavior, expectations,choices, and the roles that they play in each other's lives.Mama Elena Matriarch of the De la Garza family, Mama Elena rules the ranch withher iron will. Sincethe De la Garza family lives on a ranch, there is pressure to maintain acertain level of social standing. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1989 (1992). This generation was not deniedwhat the rest have been denied and the chain of grief is broken. She takes it becauseher distrust of Tita has driven her to believe that she is being poisonedby her own daughter. Underneath she also inherited the mistakenconcept that true love was frivolous, often evil, and needed to be weededout or repressed. However, this need to repress love may stem from thefact that the death of her husband (two days after birth of her youngestdaughter, Tita) is caused by a heart attack he has after hearing that hisoldest daughter is the result of an illicit love affair between his wifeand a man of mixed racial heritage (137). "Rosaura was weak. For despite the fact that Roberto and Esperanzawere Rosaura's children, they only seemed to flourish when in Tita's careand being fed by her milk, teas and gruel. Rosaura also inherited her mother's ambition for social standing andkeeping up appearances. "Unquestionably, when it came to dividing,dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroyingor domination, Mama Elena was a pro" (97). Responsibility and duty dictated that love, wants,and desires be repressed, almost to the point of death to the individual.Tita, Gertrudis, and Chencha (and Pedro and John) recognized this toxicinheritance for what it was, "Mama Elena threw her a look that seemed toTita to contain all the years of repression that had flowed over thefamily" (1 ) and chose to change, while Mama Elena and Rosaura saw it as ameans of survival. Nacha becomes her surrogate mother who comforts her whenshe is scolded and supports her after she is told that she will nevermarry, as her fate (being the youngest daughter) is to take care of hermother until she dies (15). Introduction Many things get passed down in families, from eye, hair and skincolor to the grandfather clock in the front hall and the antique dishes inthe china cabinet. When Tita realizes that Pedro has died and she understands that shewill be left behind unless she can stoke the fires within herself as Johnexplained to her long ago (115). It is only after being raped by a banditon the ranch and feeling utterly destroyed that she is able connect withher long lost suitor. Like her mother,however, Rosaura eventually dies of a digestive disorder.Tita Tita is the main character of the book and the story revolves aroundher interaction with food, her recipes and her home remedies. The most telling description of her is in regards to herability to carve watermelon. Chencha was also denied her suitor, first by her parents who opposedthe match and then by Mama Elena, who was opposed to any match (152).After this, life for Chencha became one long string of lies in order tosurvive Mama Elena's wrath (129). Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments, with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies. Because Tita's father dies right aftershe is born, Mama Elena must turn her attention to running the ranch. The first experience she has with this is the day of her sister'swedding. She has not only become an impulsive, fun-lovingadventuress, but she has also developed her leadership and disciplinaryskills (learned and passed down from her mother it is assumed) to achievethe rank of general in the revolutionary army (178).Rosaura Rosaura was the only daughter who was able to please her mother aswell as thrive under her rule, since she got what she wanted from it -- ahusband (kept monogamous under the watchful eye of his mother-in-law),children, and a home where others cooked and cleaned. By then, she and Pedro andJohn have broken the long succession of inherited guilt and repression.Esperanza, who would have been consigned to a life of servitude to hermother, is marrying her true love, Alex. Inso doing she represses any grief she may have had for her husband andleaves Tita in the care of Nacha, the cook. This is what she tries to do when her daughter Esperanza isborn as youngest daughter by assigning her Tita's previous role of carryingfor her mother until she dies. On the surface, Mama Elena appears to have inherited the concept ofresponsibility and duty. The positive aspect of this wasthat it made Mama Elena formidable, so that when she was faced withrevolutionaries she was able to hold her own (91). Among these inheritances are the intangibles such asfamily traditions, mythologies and code of conduct. As Tita grows up under Nacha's care she learns not only how to cook,but how to love. As mother of three daughters, it was Mama Elena's duty andresponsibility to pass concepts of respectability and correctness on tothem. In the De la Garza family, the acceptance of joy and lovewas considered evil. They also had to deal with inheritancesof repression and guilt from Mama Elena. In this way, she was especially equipped to help Tita dealwith her problem. She does this by using the comforter thatshe has been knitting for the last twenty-two years to get warm, then eatscandles until the fire within burns bright and she can follow Pedro intothe tunnel of light (245).The Other Women: Nacha and Chencha Nacha and Chencha are both women connected with the De la Garza familyand affected by them in some way. From thatmoment on food becomes her way of communicating to the world around her.Sometimes it is communicating her love to Pedro, as when she cooked thequail in rose petal sauce (52). Because Rosaurathrived in this atmosphere it was only natural that she would want tocontinue it. Roberto dies when removed fromTita's care because he will take no other food but hers. For this reason, the kitchenbecomes Tita's world, and later her solace. In return, Titamay care for Esperanza. In fact, the title is taken from a food termused in the book to describe one character's fury with the outcome ofthings in her family (151). Mama Elenamay indeed have inherited this from her own mother since it was her motherwho forced Nacha, the cook, to turn her beau away so many years ago (36).This drastically affected the lives of all the women on this ranch as theylived on as spinsters under Mama Elena's thumb. She pours her grief into the wedding cake and makes everyone sickand kills Nacha, earning a hiding from her mother as well (41). This gets her into trouble when she questions MamaElena, even when barely a flicker of emotion shows on her face. The book, Like Water for Chocolate, is about one familyof women and how they deal with their particular inheritances of joy andgrief and pain. Christensen, Carol and Thomas Christensen, trans. When Mama Elena eventually dies, it is a digestive disorder that shebrings on herself by taking too much ipecac syrup. So, even after Pedro and Tita decide to be together it is onlyafter making a pact with Rosaura, "it was vital to Rosaura to maintain theappearance that her marriage was going splendidly" (237). For Gertrudis, all of Tita's food is good, and she derivesphysical pleasure from it whenever she has a chance to partake.
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