Essay On Like Water For Chocolate By Laura Esquivel

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Like Water for Chocolate, written by Laura Esquivel, is a novel about the magical events with the De la Garza family. The story takes place in Mexico around the time of the Mexican Revolution. Although the narrator is a young lady whose name is never mentioned, the main protagonist is Tita De la Garza and she is the narrator’s great-aunt. In the book, we follow Tita as she grows up as the youngest of three daughters to Mama Elena. The family tradition goes that the youngest daughter of the family must be her mother’s caretaker until she or her mother dies. That means that Tita may not partake in anything that would keep her from fulfilling her duties; that includes marrying. Tita sees this tradition as unfair and she is not afraid to rebel. Esquivel uses magical forms of communication and the symbol of the food in this story to explore how rebellion affects the characters and to suggest that rebellion will lead to freedom. The events,…show more content…
When Mama Elena gives Tita’s love to Rosaura, Tita pours her emotion over preparing her wedding cake, “ The moment they took a bite of the cake, everyone was flooded with a great wave of longing,” (39) The wedding cake that Tita prepared is filled with how strongly Tita feels that Mama Elena would not let her marry. When Tita was relatively free of Mama Elena and came back to take care of her, the food that Tita cooks has a peculiarity according to Mama Elena, “Mama Elena asked the doctor to lock the door and confided to him her suspicions about the bitterness of the soup,” (132) Mama Elena doesn’t know it, but the bitterness she is tasting is Tita’s pity. Tita feels sorry for her other being paralyzed and her stroke of bad luck, and is feeling that way while she prepares the food. The taste of the foods tells us how Tita feels while she is being controlled by Mama Elena and after she has already escaped from her
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