Like Water For Chocolate By Laura Esquivel

Magical Realism

As a helpless girl living under the power of an evil mother, Tita’s character in Like Water for Chocolate can be viewed as another Cinderella. However, unlike other Cinderella fairy tales, the novel tells a mystical fantasy portrayed in a realistic setting. Magical Realism is a literary tool that incorporates fantastic or mythical elements into a realistic fiction. This style of writing roots from Latin America and is commonly used in Hispanic stories today. The novel is written by Laura Esquivel, who is a writer from Mexico that creates a romantic tall tale about her great-aunt’s life during the Mexican Revolution. Although the book may contain unrealistic events, the author makes them believable by combining them with things

the audience are familiar with; such as real life history and cooking recipes. Esquivel uses Magical Realism in Like Water for Chocolate to make the story more applicable for the reader, provide insight into the characters’ emotional perspective, and to describe the unexplainable feeling of love.
The author challenges the reader’s imagination to enable them to relate their own life to the characters’ experiences. One example of how Magical Realism makes the story more relevant is “The way Nacha told it, Tita was literally washed into this world on a great tide of tears that spilled over the edge of the table and flooded across the kitchen floor”(Esquivel 6). The passage foreshadows that Tita is going to live a miserable life because she was not only born crying, but she was forced out into the world by her tears. When people are extremely upset, the metaphor that they are drowning in their sorrows is commonly used. Such a thing is unlikely to happen, however, the author exaggerates the story to allow the reader to understand how unfortunate Tita’s life will be. Secondly, “The little light, all that was left of Mama Elena’s image, began to spin feverishly. It went through the window and shot out onto the patio, like a firecracker out of control. . . The firecracker moved fast, approaching Pedro, whirling crazily, with enough violence to make the lamp closest to him explode into a thousand pieces. The oil quickly spread the flames onto Pedro’s face and body”(200). Esquivel illustrates Tita’s fear of the consequences for her forbidden affair with Pedro by integrating it with the real life fear of ghosts and being burned alive. By bringing a phobia to life, the author empowers the audience to envision how petrified Tita was when she encountered her mother’s ghost. A dreadful past can be exceptionally haunting in reality, which is the message Esquivel conveys in this example of Magical Realism. In this novel, the reader accepts magic into the rational world to earn a better awareness of the story.
Life is full of unexpected events and unstable emotions.

Laura Esquivel utilizes unexpected alterations of reality in the novel to depict the characters’ mental state of mind; one that the reader can view through their own eyes. The first example, “Soon the chickens were inescapably trapped by the force they themselves were generating in their mad chase; they couldn’t break loose from that whirl of feathers, blood, and dust that spun faster and faster, gathering force at every turn until it changed into a mighty tornado, destroying everything in its path. . .which lifted her several feet off the ground and took her on three hellish orbits within the fury of beaks before flinging her onto the opposite end of the patio”(218). Tita becomes utterly distressed when Rosaura forbids her to take care of Esperanza. This disturbing occurrence with the chickens sways the reader to contemplate the effect this had on Tita. The physical and emotional pain she felt was so extraordinary, that it created a tornado of despair she could not withstand. Esquivel makes it impossible to oversee her perspective of the story by exaggerating the events that take place. In addition, “The moment they took their first bite of the cake, everyone was flooded with a great wave of longing. . . But the weeping was just the first symptom of a strand intoxication- an acute attack of pain and frustration- that seized the guests and scattered them across the patio and in the grounds and in the bathrooms, all of

them wailing over lost love. . . not very many of them made it to the bathrooms in time- those who didn’t joined the collective vomiting that was going on all over the patio. . .Rosaura, retching, abandoned her place of honor. . . but as she crossed the patio she slipped and every inch of her dress ended up coated with vomit. She was swept away in a raging rotting river for several yards”(40). Tita’s tears that fell into the cake batter were so powerful, it provoked everyone at the weeding to weep and vomit. The author’s reason for creating such a ripple effect is to show the reader how dreadful the wedding was for Tita. This causes the audience to be empathetic and explore a whole new level of emotion. Tita’s feelings are expressed through her fantastical ability to alter people’s emotion with her cooking. Magical Realism acts as the window to Tita’s emotional perspective of the world around her.
Laura Esquivel’s attempt to explain the indescribable idea of love is accomplished through her use of Magical Realism.

An example of these magical stories, “Gertrudis was really stricken, her whole body was dripping with sweat. Her sweat was pink, and it smelled like roses, a lovely strong smell. In desperate need of a shower, she ran to get it ready. . . Her body was giving off so much heat that the wooden walls began to split and burst into flame”(54). Tita’s lust-filled blood that was in the rose petal sauce acted as an aphrodisiac and caused Gertrudis to remember the moment she fell in love with one of Pancho Villa’s men. Love is often interpreted as a burning desire for someone else, which is the trait Esquivel uses when she claims Gertrudis set the shower on fire. The physical symptoms Gertrudis experienced were embellished by the author to produce a sensational painting of what love can to a person. Another example of love, “Surely Pedro had died at the moment of ecstasy when he entered the luminous tunnel. . .There at its entrance was the luminous figure of Pedro waiting for her. Tita did not hesitate. She let herself go to the encounter, and they wrapped each other in a long embrace, again experiencing an amorous climax, they left together for the lost Eden. Never again would they be apart. At that moment the fiery bodies of Pedro and Tita began to throw off glowing sparks. They set on fire the bedspread, which ignited the entire ranch”(245). The passion Tita and

Pedro felt when they were making love was so compelling, their spirits left their bodies and descended into paradise. After years of hiding their affair, Tita and Pedro became vulnerable, therefore surrendering themselves to the love they no longer wanted to fight. This enchanting story reveals that the affection Tita and Pedro had for each other developed into an inescapable fire, for love bounds two people together forever. Love is difficult to put into words, but Esquivel does just this by using Magical Realism.
The positive effect Magical Realism has on Like Water for Chocolate is that it illustrates things that are simply inexplicable. Fantastical and mythical elements bring about new perspectives of a practical and rational world. By fictionalizing stories, the author exposes the underlying meaning of the novel. Unlike other escapist fictions, the setting is reality; only another reality from the one we call objective. These fables tell the truth about how the characters’ experiences effected them physically and emotionally. Without Magical Realism, the audience would not be able to fully understand the novel. After all, is there any true particular way of looking at the world?