Like Water For Chocolate Journey

Journey of Food in Like Water for Chocolate

The role of women in Northern Mexico during the change of the nineteenth century are explored in depth by Laura Esquivel. The connection of food, and the role of the Mexican revolution are greatly shown through this novel. In addition, the use of sorrow and intense emotion help create an atmospheric place including loss and loneliness. The overall picture of the novel is effected by Tita’s cooking skills; each month represents the emotion she is currently feeling. This makes it so that when the ingredients are combined and cooked gently, smooth and unusual flavors appear. In Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, the author explains food as a object that is being described in great detail. It

is used as a metaphor and a way to express the range of human emotions through Tita, the actions of Mama Elena, and through the gatherings celebrated at the beginning of each chapter.

Tita starting off as not cooking very often changes into someone who is always in the kitchen and cooking due to Nacha’s death. Tita’s power is expressed in many ways and one of those ways included through her food. Nacha sends Tita to bed so she could “ lick some of the icing off her finger to see if Tita’s tear has affected the flavor. No, the flavor did not seem to have been affected. Yet without knowing why, Nacha was suddenly overcome with an intense longing.” ( Esquivel Pg- 35-36 ) The power of the tear causes Nacha to be harmed and get flashbacks of different weddings she has been through. This occurred right after she had tried the frosting which included Tita’s tear. Furthermore, to explain the power of food, “ Something strange was

going on. Tita remembered that Nacha had always said that when people argue while preparing tamales, the tamales won’t get cooked. They can be heated day after day and still stay raw, because the tamales are angry. In a case like that, you have to sing to them, which makes them happy, then they’ll cook.”( Esquivel Pg-218-219 ) Showing the transfer of Tita’s anger to the food which causes them to quit cooking and to fix this issue, Tita must make them happy by singing to them so they could continue to cook. To illustrate the exchange in power between human emotions and food. Finally, food was referred to as being a healing device, Chencha says, “ Soups can cure any illness” to introduce the power the food has been given. Power which is so strong that it can get a human to return back to their senses. Giving us readers the process and idea of saying how both Tita’s body and emotions contain a lot of power but so do her actions.
The verbal abuse of Mama Elena has a big impact on what Tita cooked and how her food was being treated. One example that shows a product of abuse by Mama Elena is, “Mama Elena spit out the soup on the bedspread and yelled at Tita's to get the tray out of her sight immediately.” ( Esquivel Pg-130 ) Mama Elena pressures and forces Tita to do everything she likes through her words. However, Tita does not receive any good actions from Mama Elena back, Mama Elena always ends up finding a fault in Tita to make her look crummy. Causing Tita to deal with harm which would not be allowed today. Mama Elena’s harm is major throughout the book , another example that shows this would be, “Unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying, or dominating, Mama Elena was a pro.”( Esquivel Pg- 97 ) Tita uses these substantial descriptive words to describe Mama Elena’s merciless personality. This also relates back to the skills Mama Elena uses to get the watermelon cut perfectly right. This is the same method she uses while dealing with humans. Mama Elena, being the oldest, has expressed her large role through words such as “earned her plenty of slaps” and “managed to subdue her youngest daughter” ( Esquivel Pg-13 ) to convey the amount of power she has and the different ways she uses it in her everyday life. Everything done by her is destructive and very precise. Mama Elena’s power and abuse changed the way Tita and the rest of the family could live.
The theme of festivals is portrayed in the book as a means to generate power. In the month of January, it was the first festival. During the festival Laura let's us know this quote “ Take care to chop the onion fine. To keep from crying when you chop it (which is so annoying!) ”( Esquivel Pg-1 ) to illustrate the power of getting ingredients ready and preparing the food. These lines are said at the beginning of the book to let readers know the great relationship between humans and food. Additionally, to explain the large effect humans have and will be facing from food. She starts off with explaining a onion and what emotions it causes Tita and Nacha to have and then it slowly moves on to explaining bigger emotions created by eating food. Finally, Tita and Nacha believe that “ Soups can cure any illness, whether physical or mental -- at least, that was the Chencha’s firm belief, and Tita’s too.” To depict the amount of power the food included. This can be referred true because Nacha says “ About three months ago…Tita had returned to her senses. ”( Esquivel Pg- 123 ) The soups power had helped Tita get better and heal. The soup is being thought of as a medicine because it healed up Tita so they assume that it will heal anyone that is in the need. Festivals changed and evolved Tita and Nacha’s view of food.
The love of Mama Elena changes the actions of Tita in many different ways.

The relationship between them is kind of like the saying “ You gotta be cruel to be kind”( Proverb ). This is understandable if you look carefully look back into the historical context of the book: imagine living in Mexico during the 1900s and having to run your own farm as a single mom, who must look and watch out for all the risks that are possible. Risks which include being raided by the rebels or having to deal with bullets that could possibly kill you. The author of Like Water for Chocolate has Mama Elena say “ I’ve never needed a man for anything; all by myself, I’ve done all right with my ranch and my daughters.” ( Esquivel Pg- 88 ) To explain that she is just as strong as a man is and that she does not need the man of her dreams to help her, and that she knows she is doing the right thing for her daughters and her ranch’s future. While the character is often viewed as a slave, it is also loved by the same person who treats and abuses it as a

slave.
Food, throughout the book was very impactful due to all the abuse and variety of emotions it caused. These were shown through the physical and verbal abuse of Mama Elena and through Tita’s cooking. Every family has a different type of routine they like to follow, and it takes a tough person to fight through the long process and change it. Looking at the idea of the youngest daughter being the one who has to take care of the mother was not something that had been followed through in this Mexican family. Changing the different ways humans viewed life in the past and present time. One example to express the change is, young girls now are being born and are being taught to read and write while in the past they were more focused on family care and less on education. The explanations above are causing humans to explore the past and present in different ways and aspects as they continue to strive for more efficiency in their personal lives.