Mama Elena’s similar experience of love, with José Treviño, kept suppressed all her life, builds an emotional barrier around her heart. The “bitter poison” of denied romance destroys Mama Elena’s capacity to be loved or to allow Tita to love. Her rejection of food gives the reader the key to understand the driving forces behind Mama Elena throughout the plot. This literary effect can also be seen in Rosaura in the opening of the novel. While Tita dazzled her sisters with a cooking display, “Rosaura was cowering in the corner” .
Tita confronts her abusive mother, she not only grows to understand her responsibilities as a daughter, but lives the excitement of chasing her ambitions as she experiences true love. Upholding tradition, Tita, the youngest daughter of the De La Garza family, is subject to the duty of caring for her mother without any opportunity to marry. Throughout the story, Tita’s opposition is expressed by her resilience and submissiveness in her relationship with Mama Elena. With her reserved right to love or find a sense of independence, Tita is compelled to conform to her traditional duty. “Are you starting with your rebelliousness again?
At the age of sixteenth she marry a young man named Pedro Gonzalez, Patria was the last sister to join the revolution against the regimen. Belgica Adela “Dede” Mirabal (March.1.1925-present) is the second sister she was never actively involve in the movement. She always had a interest in helping her father in the family business.Dede is the only surviving sister. After her sisters’ assassination she raised her sisters children and works on keeping her sisters’ legacy alive at the Museo Hermanas Mirabal. She currently lives at Salcedo province at the house where they where raised.
In preparation for Pedro and Rosaura’s wedding, Tita takes on the responsibility of baking the chabela wedding cake, representing marriage as it is shaped by tradition. Tita releases her feeling of heartbreak and cries over the loss of Pedro, pouring tears into the cake batter and icing mixture. Chencha tastes the icing to ensure that the taste isn’t ruined and is “overcome with an intense longing.” (35) Memories of all the weddings she has witnessed rush through her mind, overwhelming her with the yearning for a marriage of her own. After one bite of the cake, the wedding guests become intoxicated with the same longing, followed by “an acute attack of pain and frustration.” (39) The pain experienced by the guests show the hidden resentments with the traditions that have controlled their lives.
Major Themes Tears Tita’s onion-induced crying brings her into the world prematurely. Thereafter, tears reemerge in the novel as symbols of Tita’s deep emotional connections. While cooking with Nacha, Tita realizes that her tears come not only from sadness but also appear when she is deeply moved. Tita’s tears often cause flooding, as on the day of her birth and on the day Chencha brings ox-tail soup to end Tita’s days of silence. Tita’s tears renew and cleanse.
How are the protagonists in ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ and ‘The Outsider’ trapped? ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ is a novel written by Laura Esquivel and was published in 1989, originally in Spanish. This novel tells a story about a girl by the name Tita, who wants to marry her lover, Pedro Muzquiz, cannot because of her mother, Mama Elena’s strong belief for the family’s tradition where the youngest daughter must take care of their mother until the day they die. ‘The Outsider’ is a novel by Albert Camus and was published in 1942, originally in French. This novel follows Meursault’s life as an independent young adult.
Typically, a husband who can’t consummate a marriage should be abandoned without hesitation. When Bertrande is “urged by her relatives to separate from Martin, she firmly refuse[s]” (28). This decision reveals Bertrande’s “certain character traits…a concern for her reputation as a woman, a stubborn independence” (28). Bertrande cleverly calculates the advantages she possesses as a result of Martin’s incompetence. “Her refusal to have her marriage dissolved…freed her temporarily from certain wifely duties…gave her a chance to have a girlhood” (28).
Nanny wanted to feel like Janie was stable, so she could rest in peace. In a way, this makes sense because it seems like Nanny is only trying to do what's best for Janie's future, but in reality Nanny is just teaching Janie that in order to be "alright," she has to have a man by her side. Janie soon rebelled and met Joe Starks. The book and movie both do an exceptional job at showing Janie developing her own mind about what/who she wants. This is definitely a step in the right direction, but she's still using Nanny's tactic by jumping from Logan Killicks right to Joe
Laura Esquivel’s novel Like Water For Chocolate is set in a ranch in Mexico and tells the story of Tita, a young Mexican girl who, forced to obey her family tradition, is not allowed to marry the man she loves. As one of the cooks, her whole life revolves around the kitchen, so much so that the food she prepares becomes infused with her emotions. Although Esquivel uses the literary device of magic realism in her novel to highlight the importance of food, food generally plays a significant role in any culture. The harvesting of food, the preparation and the act making food in both family homes and in festivals are traditions that are passed down from generation to generation. In Mexico specifically, food is a social custom that builds relationships in families and communities, and is also symbolic (festivals and celebrations).
At the end due to the inability of Abby to succeed in her liberty, she witnesses lack of strength and the fear her mother has at the Blarney Stone. In Morrison’s Sula, the mother’s emotional and nurturing detachment from the daughters through generations helps all of them create a female-self identity. This lack of nurture may be a direct result of the maternal figure's focus on survival, as Eva can't take time to show love for her children but is able to sacrifice a leg to ensure physical endurance. In her mind these acts confess her love for them while in Hanna's head, the emotional connection that she needs from her mother is not present. As Hannah becomes a mother herself and a mother being the first model of love that the children experiences, she emotionally detaches herself from Sula as she was detached from her mother.