Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate exudes an aura of rich Mexican culture erupting with historical significance and mystical realism. Esquivel has attained international notoriety for her signature style of writing. Like Water for Chocolate earned Esquivel eleven Ariel awards of the Mexican Academy of Motion Pictures, and shattered cultural barriers by becoming the largest grossing foreign film ever released in the U.S. In addition, Like Water for Chocolate also won the coveted ABBY award which is designated for the most enjoyable book sold. Esquivel currently dwells in Mexico (Random House 1).
Although the novel touches on several significant issues such as living within social mores, battling obsession, weathering discordant familial interrelationships and triumphing over cultural restrictions, I have chosen resilience in the face of adversity as the focal point of my analysis. The character that exhibits the most resilience in the face of adversity in Like Water for Chocolate is Tita, the protagonist.
Essentially, Tita has been courted by a young man named Pedro; however, she is forbidden to pursue a relationship with anyone because in their culture the youngest child must devote his or her life to taking care of the matriarch. Mama Elena, Tita’s mother, offers Pedro the hand of her older daughter Rosaura instead. Rosaura accepts Pedro’s proposal. Henceforth, the familial and romantic tumult develops. Tita encounters many challenges in the course of the novel; however, the biggest challenge posed to her is escaping the domination of Mama Elena and emerging into the independent woman she has the potential to be.
Several events use magical realism to convey that Tita will lead an existence of struggle against forces of adversity. Magical realism is most wholly defined as reality- based fiction which incorporates fantastical elements, regarded as normal by the characters and readers alike (Faris and Zamora 1). The first incident that forebodes this lifelong struggle is the nature of Tita’s birth. She is born prematurely after her father’s death. Tita’s emergence into the world under a circumstance of immense grief and loss, in which she is literally swept into the world by tears, symbolizes that her lifetime will be full of sorrow and tragedy; for the greater part of her life, this proves to be accurate.
Tita’s first triumph over forces of adversity is accomplished by circumventing the isolation imposed upon her by Mama Elena. Initially, Tita was very subservient to the demands imposed upon her by Mama Elena. She kept her distance from her true love Pedro Muzquiz and respected the fact that Mama Elena married him off to her older sister Rosaura. Tita took on her duties as the youngest of the family, which were inclusive to fulfilling each and every demand of Mama Elena. However, Tita’s heartache grew every time she saw Pedro and Rosaura together in the guise of a happy new family. She began to rebel slowly, by doing things that would not be appropriate in the eyes of Mama Elena.
When Rosaura gave birth to her first son Roberto, she needed a wet nurse because she was unable to breast feed him. Tita took it upon herself to begin to nurse the child in secret. Another example of rebellious behavior in Tita is her gradual disregard for the requests of Mama Elena. For example, Mama Elena had a special dark room in which her bath water was heated and scented with lavender flowers, then strained with a clean cloth, and combined with a few drops of aguardiente. Aloe water for Mama Elena’s hair was prepared separately. After doing these things, it was Tita’s responsibility to go iron Mama Elena’s clothes so that Mama Elena would have warm clothes to put on directly after her bath.
Because Tita was dealing with the grief of parting with Pedro and Roberto, after Mama Elena declared that Rosaura’s family must relocate to San Antonio, she began to exhibit peculiar behaviors. She stopped helping Chencha cook for a time and she could not execute her domestic duties correctly. One night, in close proximity to the relocation of Pedro and Roberto, Tita prepared Mama Elena’s bath water too hot, forgot the aloe water for her hair, and burned Mama Elena’s chemise.
The significance of these non-intentional actions is that Tita began to find her own life and feelings significant. She could not focus her attentions on the demands of others, no matter how domineering the individual. Tita’s ultimate rebellion occurred when Mama Elena died. She finally began to succumb to her romantic feelings for Pedro, and they consummated their love in the very same dark room Tita spent much of her life fulfilling the tedious commands of Mama Elena. Tita’s final abandonment of Mama Elena’s emotional dysfunction is developed early on in the story via magical realism.
Mama Elena is unable to produce milk for Tita in her infancy and therefore appoints Nacha, the ranch cook, as her caretaker. Mama Elena’s physical inability to produce milk parallels her inability to nurture Tita emotionally. Henceforth, Tita receives her nurturing from Nacha, via fantastical recipes, food and emotional support. Tita’s resilient spirit and strength of character are conveyed when she fulfills her need for nurturing elsewhere, instead of becoming a cold, closed off person like Mama Elena.
The second and most major struggle imposed upon Tita in the course of the novel is lawful separation from her true love. Family tradition requires that Tita, the youngest child, devote her lifetime to taking care of Mama Elena, the matriarch. The significance of this is that Tita is not allowed to fortify or establish relationships outside her home life and is emotionally repressed.
The worst part of the repressing stipulation is that when Tita’s true love, Pedro Muzquiz, asks for her hand in marriage, Mama Elena says no and instead offers him the hand of her older unwed daughter Rosaura. Rosaura is free to marry because she is not the youngest. Pedro accepts Rosaura’s hand in marriage so that he may always be in close proximity to Tita. However, Tita does not understand Pedro’s reason for acquiescence to the marriage and is heart broken beyond repair at the onset of Pedro and Rosaura’s engagement.
However, Pedro and Rosaura’s engagement facilitates Pedro’s day-to-day contact with Tita. The romantic tumult festers as Rosaura is discovered to be with child. When Rosaura’s first child Roberto is born, Tita breast feeds him because Rosaura is physically incompetent. This situation establishes Tita as a nurturer characterized by a strong domestic force, because she has been reared in the kitchen. The fact that Rosaura cannot produce milk for Roberto exemplifies that she lacks domestic instinct. Tita and Pedro are one emotionally, and this is the reason she is able to nurse his child physically.
Mama Elena soon takes notice that Rosaura and Pedro’s marriage has not inhibited the genuine love between Tita and Pedro. Furthermore, she takes notice that Roberto is actually bringing the two closer together. In a second effort to kill the love between Pedro and Tita, Mama Elena implements distance; she moves Rosaura’s family to San Antonio. Eventually Roberto dies. It is suspected that his separation from Tita is the cause of his death. The death of Roberto symbolizes the death of the only bond between Rosaura and Pedro. Roberto’s death further establishes that Rosaura and Pedro were not meant to establish a family together.
Even through her mother’s coldness and gestures of malice intended to inhibit her feelings for Pedro, Tita is resilient. The distance and obstacles take a toll on her emotionally, but she does not let the struggles completely kill her spirit or deter her feelings for Pedro. However, she does suffer emotional withdrawal when she finds out about the death of Roberto. Because Mama Elena is emotionally detached and maternally incompetent, she sends Tita to an asylum.
Mama Elena’s decision to send Tita to an asylum could have closed Tita down emotionally forever, but because the resilient and loving Tita is capable of giving and receiving nurturing, she is able to seek comfort from Dr. John Brown. Dr. Brown cares for Tita personally at his own home instead of at a hospital. Dr. Brown plays a duel role in the life of Tita. Though he is technically responsible for Tita’s physical health, he also acts a dependable emotional support.
Not long after Tita’s slow recovery, Mama Elena becomes injured in a raid by mutinous militia. Tita returns to the ranch in hopes of repairing her relationship with her mother and taking care of her in her time of need. However, Mama Elena is bitter inside and rejects Tita’s kindnesses to the extent that she suspects Tita is trying to poison her in her cooking. Sadly, Mama Elena’s festering bitterness leads to her own death. She continues to take a powerful emetic to prevent poisoning which results in an overdose of the supplement, causing her ultimate end.
Mama Elena’s death opens doors for Tita’s life. She is free to accept Dr. Brown’s proposal and it is befitting since she has apparently fallen in love with him. Another complicating factor for the newly emotionally freed Tita is that Rosaura and Pedro also decide to return to the family ranch. Though Dr. Brown has asked Pedro for his marital blessing, Pedro cannot repress his poignant feelings or physical desires for Tita. The very same evening Pedro seeks Tita out and makes passionate love to her.
Not long after, Tita’s feelings of guilt surface as she begins to notice symptoms of pregnancy. Mama Elena returns in spiritual form to scold Tita and curse her unborn child. When the inebriated Pedro is informed of the pregnancy, he serenades Tita from below her window. The specter of Mama Elena returns more vehemently than ever to chase Tita from the ranch. Tita rebukes Mama Elena’s presence with, “Once and for all leave me alone!” and for once declares her individuality and freedom from repression with, “I know who I am!” (Esquivel 199). Mama Elena is vanquished into an insignificant flame and Tita is relieved of all the symptoms of pregnancy she had been experiencing.
The incident conveys that Tita is in charge of her fate all along but because she has been passive and obedient even after Mama Elena’s death, she is actually continuing Mama Elena’s emotionally abusive cycle of repression and deprivation. After Mama Elena’s ghost is vanquished, it propels out of the window atop Pedro. Pedro is seriously singed by the flames, and Tita is thereafter consumed in nursing Pedro back to health.
Soon after, Dr. Brown returns from an excursion to the United States. Tita must then confess her intimate relations with Pedro to Dr. Brown. One again, Tita’s strength of character is exemplified. It is not easy to confess that you have wronged someone you love. However, because she is a resilient person who genuinely cares about the people in her life, she decides to tell Dr. Brown about her physical relations with Pedro.
John puts the decision in Tita’s hands, simply stating that he still desires her hand in marriage but that she must decide who it is that she wants to share her life with. Some time elapses and the novel resumes in the future. A wedding is described and it is soon revealed to be the wedding between Esperanza, the second child of Rosaura and Pedro, and Alex, the son of Dr. Brown. Rosaura has died and that is the only reason Esperanza is free to marry. Likewise, Pedro and Tita are free to consummate the enduring love that has been forbidden for such an extended period.
The mystical realism that pervades the novel reaches a pinnacle when Tita and Pedro enjoy their first evening together without any inhibitions. Their ethereal love is so incredible that they traverse from earth to the spiritual realm. Tita is hesitant because she wants to spend more time living and loving Pedro back on earth; however, Pedro advances forth so Tita is persuaded to follow. The spiritual porthole closes behind Pedro. In a last attempt to rejoin Pedro, Tita devours the candles that lit their evening of passion. She is attempting to ignite her inner fire which is symbolic of Tita claiming her independence and identity. The image of the inner flame represents a force to be reckoned with, wherein desires are satiated and this is particularly significant to Tita because her biggest lifetime struggle has been to fulfill her personal desires.
Tita reopens the spiritual haven created by the passion between her and Pedro. Tita joins Pedro on the other side, and their consuming passion pervades the spiritual world and ravages the physical world by setting the family ranch ablaze. The only surviving artifact of their existence is Tita’s book of recipes which signifies the immense role that cooking played in her life. A deeper thematic signifiance underlies the survival of the book of recipes. The book of recipes parallels Tita’s earthly existence.
In essence, for the greater part of her life, Tita was Mama Elena’s recipe. Tita was a person that Mama Elena created by sanctioning her feelings, preventing personal growth, and telling her who she was supposed to be. Tita decides she is finished living a life “like water for chocolate”: this is a Mexican expression for agitation which refers to the vigorous boiling the preparation of chocolate requires (SparkNotes 2). However, in the end the strong and loving Tita overcame all of Mama Elena’s attempts to repress her by letting go of the years of pain and turmoil Mama Elena’s sanctions and decisions imposed upon her.
Tita conquered many adverse forces in the course of Like Water for Chocolate. She rose above her mother’s coldness, and multiple attempts at inhibiting her love for Pedro. Tita also rose above death, loss, and destiny. Tita’s strength of spirit allowed her to escape the life of sorrow she was ordained at birth. The main theme in this winding tale of tribulation and triumph is that no one can tell you who you are if your inner flame burns strongly enough.
If you are not afraid to own your passions and likewise allow your passions to own you, you may pursue them with all of your heart and be rewarded with a full and satisfying life. Everyone encounters forces of adversity during their lifetime and the true measure of one’s inner flame is resiliency against these spiritual tests. Tita conquered every tragedy and challenge posed to her and salvaged her ability to live and love every single time. Tita lived as a slave to her mother’s beliefs, but she died as an independent person with a strong sense of self. Tita died at complete peace with herself and her actions. That is all anyone can hope to accomplish during his or her lifetime.
Works Cited
Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. United States: Anchor Books, 1992.
Faris, Wendy B. and Zamora, Louis Parkinson. “Identifying Characteristics of Magical Realism” Essays in Magical Realism: Theory, History and Community
edited by Wendy B. Faris and Louis Parkinson Zamora 26 Nov. 2003 http://www.southern.ohiou.edu/realmagic/info.html#characteristics>.
Random House. Author Unstated.”Law of Love” Biography of Laura Esquivel 26 Nov.2003 http://www.randomhouse.com/features/lawoflove/author.html>.
SparkNotes. Author Unstated. “Like Water for Chocolate Analysis” Like Water for Chocolate Study Guide and Summary 10 Nov. 2003 http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/likewater/analysis.html>
