Due to her authoritative and assertive personality, Mama Elena is portrayed as a prominent representation of feminism in “Like Water for Chocolate”. Although she is a woman responsible for three of her daughters in the ranch after the death of her husband, Mama Elena takes charge of the place dauntlessly and aggressively. For example, when the revolutionary army stopped by the ranch in chapter five, “her gaze met that of the captain in charge, and he know immediately from the steeliness of her eyes that they were in the presence of a woman to be reckoned with” (Esquivel 89). Because of this, it portrays Mama Elena as a fearless woman who stands on her own grounds against an entire army of men. Thus, this quality help defines Mama Elena’s character …show more content…
IN doing so, this shows Mama Elena’s independence and valiant manner towards protecting her property against the army. Therefore, this also helps understand the femininity of the novel because of the courage Mama Elena takes up in this moment. Another reason why Mama Elena’s character is considered a depiction of feminism is because her traits are often described as being associated with a man’s characteristics. For instance, Tita discreetly explains that “when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying, or dominating, Mamam Elena was a pro (Esuivel 97). By using alliteration, MAma Elena’s character is defined as a woman contained with bold and aggressive impulses. Thus, representing male characteristics and traits that Mama Elena obtain, therefore, making Mama elena’s character a feminist figure. Another depiction of Mama Elena’s male-like traits is when “she could crack sack after sack of nuts in a short time, [and] she seemed to take a great pleasure in doing it” (Esquivel 230). Because of this, the characteristic traits of Mama Elena are viewed more as male qualities due to the powerful illustrated of Mama Elena cracking
Like Water for Chocolate is a passionate story about the love between Tita De La Garza and Pedro Musquiz. It starts out with an explanation of how Tita was born into her life through the kitchen and she has always helped Nacha, the family cook, make the meals. In the first chapter Pedro comes to the farm to ask Tita for her hand in marriage. Her mother quickly declines and arranges the engagement of Pedro and Tita's sister Rosaura. Within a few weeks Pedro moves in with the De La Garza family making it harder for him to stay away from Tita. Tita, on the other hand is trying her hardest to forget about Pedro. She believes that since Pedro married Rosaura he no longer loves her. This all changes when, at Pedro and Rosaura's wedding, Pedro tells
#3.The lesson Mamá wants to tech through the story of Mariá La Loca is that women shouldn’t be too trusting with men. It suggests that women are defined by the men they end up with and how they are treated by them, and should therefore be careful about who they choose to stay
Desert Blood is based on a stereotypical context of the female commodization whereby Rubi, Ximena and Ivon try to fight against the patriarchy so that they can find their individual empowerment at deeper levels. In addition, Ximena and Ivon represent a network empowerment while Rubi represents organizational empowerment. Alba’s novel has given empowerment to the female characters where they manage to break the silence that surrounded the reality of Juarez femicide; this offers a long-awaited voice on the crime as well as the women that needed to speak-up. Alba shows that the women were considered almost worthless and were not considered as the tenable social construct which was maintained and established by the patriarchal
The antagonist, Mama Elena, in the novel, Like Water for Chocolate, written by Laura Esquivel, is portrayed throughout the novel as an authoritarian woman. She is a widow, and the mother of three daughters: Rosaura, Tita and Gertrudis. All three of them fear Mama Elena, because of her personality. Mama Elena's characteristics, of being intimidating, commanding, and cold-hearted, prove that her true nature is to be authoritarian.
An oppressed soul finds means to escape through the preparation of food in the novel, Like Water for Chocolate (1992). Written by Laura Esquivel, the story is set in revolutionary Mexico at the turn of the century. Tita, the young heroine, is living on her family’s ranch with her two older sisters, her overbearing mother, and Nacha, the family cook and Tita’s surrogate mother. At a very young age, Tita is instilled with a deep love for food "for Tita, the joy of living was wrapped up in the delights of food" (7). The sudden death of Tita's father, left Tita's mother's unable to nurse the infant Tita due to shock and grief. Therefore Nacha, "who [knows] everything about cooking" (6) offers to assume the responsibility of feeding and caring for the young Tita. "From that day on, Tita's domain was the kitchen" (7). Throughout the novel, food is used as a constant metaphor for the intense feelings and emotions Tita is forced to conceal.
Overall, Mama Elena and Gertrudis illustrate the idea that Like Water For Chocolate is a feminist novel written by Laura Esquirel. The author does a marvelous job on foreshadowing themes/life lessons, but the most important one for the topic is that some women can be better in carrying the role of a man than most men. To conclude, the confidence, fierceness, ferocious mindset/actions of Mama Elena and Gertrudis presents how Like Water For Chocolate is a feminist
How impressive it would be to read a book all about feminism. A quick glance over Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate, and one may miss all the power women have, but let’s take a closer look and see what we find. Like Water for Chocolate, is a satirical story following a woman named Tita. She struggles through the constraints of her family's traditions, battling with feelings of love and unfamiliar empowerment. This theme connects throughout the book with other characters such as Gertrudis and Esperanza. The author was able to achieve satire, as she brought a new light to feminist power, by reversing the stereotypical roles often found in a romantic plot, such as ‘The Little Mermaid’.
The protagonist, Mama, shows two distinct traits throughout the story. She possesses a hard working demeanor and rugged features, leading to her insecurities shown throughout the story. She raised two children without the assistance of a man in her life, forcing her to take on both roles, and further transforming her into a coarse, tough, and burly woman. Mama portrays this through her own account of herself, saying “[i]n real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man”(Walker 1312). It is very difficult for Mama to raise her kids on her own, but she does whatever
Mama Elena is the widow with three daughters: Rosaura, Gertrudis, and Tita, and she is also the main cause of Tita’s suffering in Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Because of Mama Elena, Tita’s entire life is distorted and she has to spend her time with tears and despair. Especially, Mama Elena abuses the power of family tradition and misuses the power as the head of the household to decide her daughter’s marriage and life.
When Sandra Cisneros wrote “Women of Hollering Creek” she reflected back on her own life experiences. This is a story that is told from the female perspective from start to finish. Like the lead character, Cleofilas, Cisneros is Mexican-American and the only daughter in a family that has seven children. Cisneros studied creative writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1978, (238). Growing up she traveled back and forth to Mexico to visit her father’s family and Cleofilas flees to arms of her father later in the story. She has a blended cultural identity that is relevant in the story by how she uses Mexican and English words together. For example when describing soap operas she calls them by the Spanish name telenovela. This story made me reflect on my own life experiences while I was reading it. I thought about my parents divorce, my aunt’s extremely abusive marriage of eleven years and why women, like me, tend to seek that silver lining when it comes to broken relationships.
In the 1950’s through the 1960’s women were not respected in there everyday lives, in the job field or in general. They did not have the rights they deserved, so during this time the “women’s movement” began. Women fought for their rights and fought for the self-respect that they thought they deserved. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the character Mama, expresses her feelings of pushing or extracting a new side for a woman. Her role explains that woman can be independent and can live for themselves. Through her behavior in this play she demonstrates that women can support and guide a family. Mama is in charge of the family, which is unusual, since men are traditionally the “head of a family”. Through Mama’s wisdom and dialect she expresses and portrays an image of pro-feminism. Mama’s experience in the play A Raisin in the Sun illustrates the expressions, the emotions, and the feeling with which Mama and women had to cope. She was able to characterize this through her passionate dreams, her control and her strong willed attitude.
For example, the lack of presentation from his mother, Beli, was further established throughout the novel as it further developed her overall persona and background as to why she was so blunt and brutally honest with Oscar. From the feminist perspective, it can be deduced that Beli was the epitome of individuality as she had face innumerable tribulations to establish herself with a tenacious attitude towards life and ability to freely express herself, which many women are unable to do so. “Telling Beli not to flaunt those curves would have been like asking the persecuted fat kid not to use his recently discovered mutant abilities. With great power comes great responsibility…Our girl ran into the future that her new body represented and never ever looked back.”(Diaz, Page 94) exhibits the perspective that a feminist would establish during the reading of the novel. However, a woman who identifies under the idealism of machismo can argue that the novel is mainly focused on ridiculing Oscar to the point in which the reader is able to sympathize with the thoughts and emotions that he has had to face throughout the development of his life. “....his tío a box of condoms: Use them all, he said, and then added: On girls” (Diaz, 49) exhibits the concept that Diaz attempted to create in which Oscar’s development is purposely meant to be a prolonged process towards his primary of goal of having sexual intercourse with a woman due to it being a way of teaching the reader that he is essentially shaped by those around him. However, Oscar still attempts to create his own path and make decisions for himself that are
In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel exposes her strong feminist attitude through a controlling first person limited narration and a detailed, descriptive portrayal of the characters. This exploitation of feminist views supports two major themes: change in traditional attitudes towards authority and freedom of expression. In this novel, Laura Esquivel shows how Mexican women can overcome the powerful traditional authority of men and the traditional mindset of women; and how women can overcome society's suppression and express themselves freely. . These two themes have a direct correlation to women's breakthroughs all over the world; especially throughout Latin America.
Women in The Count of Monte Cristo possess unique personalities, but intensely similar restrictions. Currently, women in the United States, as well as other countries, are able to have jobs, travel, and participate in many other activities that the ladies Dumas portrays are not allowed to. Feminist analysis of this book reveals the ways of the time and the delicate balance of society’s typical structure. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas realistically conveys that when women violate their traditional roles, the balance of life is disrupted. This is evident through descriptions of instances in which females are in the home as well as when they are not.
...Halevi-Wise, Yael (1997). Story-telling in Laura Esquivel's Como Agua Para Chocolate. The Other Mirror: Women’s Narrative in Mexico, 1980-1995. Ed. Kristine Ibsen. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. 123-131.