Like Water For Chocolate And Modernism

Literature has always been a universal tool used to show an individual’s perspective on society’s negative and positive aspects. It gives people the freedom to speak their mind and express their emotions on paper. It has enlightened people on problems and allowed them to form their own opinions. This influence has been ongoing for centuries, continuing to inspire those all around the world. Until now many literary styles, such as realism and modernism, are still used in many best-selling novels including Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1989) and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951). From the 1860’s to the late nineteenth century, realism was developed in France, spread to the United States, and onward into Europe (Realism).

Cather was unique in the sense that she was neither a modernistic or realistic writer; she was both. She is not recognized as solely a modernist because her “fiction seems, on the surface, less challenging, experimental, or disillusioned” than expected (Murphy). Despite her writing being dissimilar from those who followed the same literary style, she created her own refined “brand” of modernism. In her various works, she expresses many of the elements of modernism such as “experimenting with narrative structures, narrative voices, and symbols, exploring inner consciousness as a major theme and embracing communities steeped in tradition and history as a relief from the upheavals and alienation of modernity” (Murphy). In other ways, she was also considered a realistic writer. As mentioned before, realism portrays the lives of ordinary people. In several of Cather’s books, she described life in the frontier and the hardships it came with. Although some of her writing were fiction, many of her recounts were based on the experiences she went through personally. For example, in Cather’s short story, A Wagner Manitée, she depicts real settings of the east coast and frontier (Cather). It also portrayed realism by explaining how a young woman’s ideas of love and adventure could come out different than expected. This conveys the reality of life, hence the name