Imagination Feeds Memories: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquive and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitgerald

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The memories of individuals provide the nourishment required for self- prosperity in life. By allowing the past to feed one’s soul, the future becomes open to the potential retained in the past. In both Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the reminiscence of the past sheds a collection of lights on the journey of preceding virtues through numerous and comparable literary intentions.

Both authors utilize symbolism to suggest the influence of valuable memories in conceiving the desired dreams awaiting their present eyes. In Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel acknowledges the significance of memories in the past through the usage of recipes passed down from generation to generation by the main character Tita’s ancestors. The recipes reawaken the past, make the present reality more real, and capture the desired future with respect to these memories. In this context, food symbolizes history. In the novel, Tita’s memories revolve around her childhood cooking in the kitchen with the family’s cook, Nacha. During her youth, Tita learns about the appealing connection between food and emotions, which she uses to cope with her strong emotions throughout her life, happy or sad. One connection made in the novel involves Tita struggling to cook a tamale; Tita remembers “…Nacha had always said that when people argue while preparing tamales, the tamales won’t get cooked…In a case like that, you have to sing to them, which makes them happy, then they’ll cook"(134). Esquivel’s symbolic nature of recipes allows for Tita to build the foundation for the imagination of future dishes shaped by her memories and her emotional connections to the food.

In comparison, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes s...

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...ities were unimaginably numerous, and satisfaction with one’s life thrived.

Both Like Water for Chocolate and The Great Gatsby utilize similar literary techniques in order to suggest the significance of imagination in reminiscing upon the past. These styles emphasize the emotional desires and struggles associated with memories to a context in which all may relate. Although the novels offer adverse plots and themes, these distinct connections between the styles may reason for the great success of the novels in internationally. The recognition of memories above the realistic context of the past presents a story in which the lives of the characters appear worth far more than they truly are. Internationally, people tend to imagine their pasts in much the same way in order to compensate for their mortal inabilities to express their true potential in the world.

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