like water for chocolate feminism essay

Feminism in Laura Esquivel’s “Like Water for Chocolate” Essay

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Laura Esquivel’s ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ is a novel that was published in 1989 (Esquivel, 1993). The story brings out a typical Mexican home that strictly follows the traditions passed down by the forefathers. At the center of this story is Tita, a young woman who is the last born in her family. According to the Mexican tradition, the last born girl in a family is expected to take care of her mother until the mother dies before she can marry.

Tita finds herself in such a worrying situation where she has to take care of her ailing mother. As she blossoms into a young beautiful woman, she falls in love with Pedro. Unfortunately, the two lovers realize that they cannot be together because of the responsibilities laid on the young woman. Feminism is brought out in this book in a unique way. It strongly advocates for the freedom of women from unfair traditional practices. Using the character Tita, the author of this book clearly explains how women are sometimes forced, by the archaic traditions, to forego joy and success to take care of this family.

The author also shows that when women are subjected to suffering, it is not just these women who end up suffering but also men. In this case, society has placed a lot of responsibilities on women, some of which are unfair. However, when she falls in love with Pedro, we also see him undergoing the same pain and suffering. The novel demonstrates that that the pain of women is sometimes shared by men. Pedro and Tita both suffer because tradition makes it possible for them to be together. Feminism in this story also comes out based on the setting.

De la Garza kitchen is the setting of this story (Skipper, 2010). According to the Mexican tradition, women were expected to spend most of their time in the kitchen preparing meals for their families. Tita is no different. She is expected to prepare good meals for her aging mother and ensure that she is always comfortable. However, she is demonstrated as a person who is capable of more than just preparing meals. She is a successful and intelligent woman who is capable of achieving greater success given opportunity. The author makes it clear that women can be very successful if the issue of tradition is not used retrogressively to deny them the opportunity to achieve their ambitions.

I strongly believe that Laura Esquivel has used her skills in the literature to champion for the rights of women in a very unique way. She clearly portrays the true challenges that women face in a society that is characterized by archaic traditions. In this novel, the author skillfully intertwines the fate of women to that of men (Taylor, 2003).

The author tells her readers that the fate of a woman directly affects the fate of a man within society. If a woman cannot marry because she is the last born her family, she will share her pain and sufferings with a man who will fall in love with her. This is a very unique way of championing the right of women (Willingham, 2010). I like the fact that she is not begging her audience to re-evaluate some of these traditions that make women suffer. Instead, she tells her audience that if women are to suffer, then men should be ready to share their pain.

Esquivel, L. (1993). Like Water for Chocolate . London, UK: Black Swan.

Skipper, E. (2010). A recipe for discourse: Perspectives on Like water for chocolate . Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi.

Taylor, C. (2003). Bodies and texts: Configurations of identity in the works of Griselda Gambaro, Albalucía Ángel and Laura Esquivel . Leeds, UK: Maney.

Willingham, E. (2010). Laura Esquivel’s Mexican fictions: Like water for chocolate, the law of love, Swift as desire, Malinche: a novel . Eastbourne, UK: Sussex Academic Press.

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Feminism In Like Water For Chocolate

Like Water for Chocolate is a 1990 historical fiction novel written by Laura Esquivel. The story follows the life of Tita de la Garza, who is born with an intense love longing; she can literally feel everyone’s emotions and sense everyone’s feelings. This proves to be most difficult when she falls in love with Pedro, who is not only her first cousin but also her best friend, the man she has been promised to since birth. Like Water for Chocolate  demonstrates what can happen when patriarchy meets matriarchy, and the patriarchy wins.

About Like Water for Chocolate : The Novel that Inspired the Motion Picture Like Water for Chocolate  is a novel following the life of Tita de la Garza and her passionate love affair with Pedro while living in Mexico during the early 1900’s. As we follow Tita through life we learn that she is doomed to turn into stone if she does not get married by the age of twenty-four and that she can sense others’ feelings. Like Water for Chocolate  is a tale of forbidden love, family secrets, and ultimately one woman’s struggle against traditional gender roles.

Synopsis: Like Water for Chocolate  follows the life of Tita de la Garza from pre-birth to death and provides an intimate glimpse into her emotional world, where food is used not only as nourishment but also as communication and familial bonds are never severed despite distance or time. The patriarch of Tita’s household passes away shortly after Tita is born; this leaves his wife (Tita’s mother) in charge of the domestic affairs inside their home.

In accordance with tradition, each daughter in their family is allowed to marry only after the oldest daughter ( Tita) has been married. Because of this, Tita’s mother is determined to find a suitable husband for her and ultimately chooses Pedro, with whom Tita shares a close bond with and who happens to be both her first cousin and childhood friend. Like Water for Chocolate  follows Tita and Pedro throughout life as they struggle with their forbidden love-affair that seems doomed from the start due to their family ties.

Plot: Like Water for Chocolate takes place in Mexico in the early 1900’s during a time when patriarchal tradition was still heavily influential. As such, women were expected to marry men who they shared no familial ties with in order to future problems within the home. This is why Tita’s mother forces her to marry Pedro after the death of her father, as he is not only Tita’s first cousin but also her best friend. Like Water for Chocolate  is a tale that demonstrates the strength and endurance of women as well as their ability to adapt within a patriarchal society.

Main Characters:

-Tita de la Garza – protagonist throughout Like Water for Chocolate , often referred to as “la dependienta”, or “the store clerk” because she works at the family chocolate shop; forbidden love with Pedro; has an intense ability to connect deeply with others (can feel their emotions, sense their feelings)

-Pedro Muzquiz – childhood/first cousin of Tita; other half of Tita/Pedro relationship; forbidden love with Tita

-Gertrudis “Tru” Chan – sister of Pedro, youngest daughter in the family; also quite fond of Pedro

-Mama Elena – matriarch, very traditional woman who holds to old Mexican customs and superstitions yet is strong-willed underneath it all

-Papa Julio – patriarch, dies shortly after Tita’s birth, leaves his wife (Tita’s mother) to take care of the domestic affairs inside the home

-Rosaura Almanza – stepsister of Tita, eldest daughter in the family; married off to a wealthy man at a young age only to be divorced years later for an unknown reason

-Gertrudis “Tru” Chan – stepsister of Tita, youngest daughter in the family

Minor Characters:

-Mama Elena’s parents (Tita’s paternal grandparents)

-Rosa Luz Aurora Esperanza de la Garza aka Mamá Dolores- mother to Mama Elena; dies during childbirth while bearing another daughter after Tita is born

-Don Fernando Muzquiz aka Grandfather – father to Pedro and Gertrudis; dies while working on his farm when Pedro is very young

The feminist subtext of Like Water for Chocolate is rather pronounced. Like Water for Chocolate is not only the story of love and loss, but also that of women’s liberation (Esquivel 10). Tita de la Garza (the protagonist) begins Like Water for Chocolate as an elderly woman, reflecting on her life where she has remained chaste despite marriage proposals from countless suitors because she was never able to bear children due to Pedro’s decision to not consummate their marriage after their wedding night (de la Garza 59-60).

Like Water For Chocolate largely concerns itself with the lives of Mexican women in the early twentieth century. Due to the fact that men held power over land ownership, Mexican women were often married off into other families in exchange for food, money, or land. Like Water For Chocolate explores the ways in which women are oppressed by society’s gendered expectations that focus on their role as child bearers and servants within the domestic sphere (Esquivel 4). Women are valued according to this standard of womanhood since without men they would have no power at all (de la Garza 20-21).

Like many other Latin American societies, Mexican society at the turn of the twentieth century is patriarchal. Women are only respected if they marry and raise children properly. While Tita is still a young girl her mother tells her, “you’re going to be my right hand” (de la Garza), but once she is married off to her older sister’s fiance, Pedro, Tita becomes the main servant of her mother-in-law. While Like Water For Chocolate is not intended as a work of radical feminist literature, its strong thematic presence allows it to be interpreted as such.

It was very common for young women in Mexico at this time to be married off by their parents without consulting themselves because they are seen as part of the property that belongs to their fathers until they are given away in marriage (de la Garza 20-22). Like Water For Chocolate exhibits the way in which many Mexican families were organized around patriarchal structures where men controlled all aspects of life including family finances and community resources (Esquivel 4).

Women have no choice but to submit to their fathers’ mandates in order to gain a better life provided they are lucky enough to have a family that cares about them (de la Garza 20-21). Tita’s father, Juan Francisco, is a very kind and loving man who is willing to do anything for his daughters. However, he still believes that the most important thing for his girls is to find a husband with land and wealth because this will ensure financial security. Like Water For Chocolate explores how Mexican women were valued by society based on their ability to bear children and perform household tasks such as cooking or cleaning.

Tita knew from an early age that she was meant to become Pedro’s wife even though her mother forbade it until both of her older sisters had married (de la Garza 20-21). Like Water For Chocolate explores how many women were forced into roles that they did not want because of the patriarchal society in which they lived. Tita is born to cook and be a servant; it is all she knows. Like Water for Chocolate also explores feminism, particularly radical feminism. The heroines of Like Water for Chocolate assume power only when men alone cannot protect them against other men who are trying to take advantage of their vulnerability.

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Like Water for Chocolate

Laura esquivel, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Within the historical context of greater social change, the novel allows femininity to be defined differently between characters and within each character’s development. Challenging the classic dichotomy between the “virgin/mother” and the “whore” (traditional stereotypes of femininity), the novel allows each female character to struggle with her needs for belonging and security, as well as her desires for adventure, sex, and liberation.

On the surface, Tita fulfills many characteristics of the pure virginal archetype, such as chastity and obedience. Following the family tradition forbidding her from marrying, Tita at first resigns herself to a virginal life. She is prepared to deny her own desires for love and freedom and ignore her loneliness. At the same time, Tita also embodies the ideals of the perfect wife and mother. Though forbidden from having her own family, Tita is the primary caregiver for her mother, sister Rosaura , Pedro , and their children. Her role as the mother figure is emphasized by her miraculous ability to nurse Roberto , Rosaura’s first child. As a self-sacrificing virgin-mother figure, the character of Tita evokes ideas of the Virgin Mary.

However, Tita shatters the Virgin Mary image through her defiant thoughts and desires, and through her eventual rebellion. Though Mama Elena forbids her from expressing her feelings, Tita’s magical ability to infuse her cooking with her desires and emotions allows her an outlet for rebellion. Through her food, she intimately affects people around her even when she feels powerless. In time, Tita must decide whether to remain obedient and become a shell of herself, or to stand up to Mama Elena. Eventually, after a complete nervous breakdown brings her to the home of Dr. Brown , Tita defies Mama Elena and refuses to come home. Tita gradually musters the courage to pursue Pedro’s love, even when he is still married to Rosaura. She gives up the possibility of a proper marriage with John in order to live the rest of her life as Pedro’s mistress.

Rosaura, meanwhile, represents a fractured, hollow version of the wife/mother figure. Determined to maintain the image of a perfect life, she never challenges tradition or society’s values. Rosaura accepts without question when her mother offers to marry her off to Pedro. Rather than searching for her own path, Rosaura begins her adult life accepting choices others make for her. Rosaura loses her relationship with Tita by marrying Pedro, just as she later loses her relationship with Esperanza by continuing the family tradition of forbidding the youngest daughter from marrying. After Tita and Pedro decide to continue their affair, Rosaura resigns herself to a loveless marriage by refusing to allow Pedro a divorce. Throughout her life, Rosaura becomes increasingly miserable and ultimately dies of chronic indigestion – a symbol for her failure to nourish or be nourished in life.

Like Rosaura, Mama Elena represents another warped version of the mother figure. But unlike Rosaura, Mama Elena is powerful and devoid of feeling. She shows no warmth of affection, and instead uses her maternal role to violently abuse and control her children and servants. If Tita is the embodiment of the perfect mother, Mama Elena is its heartless opposite. Even though Mama Elena demands her daughters remain chaste and obedient, she personally defies traditional female ideals of chastity and submission. She is the novel’s most powerful character, capable of inspiring fear in every man or woman who crosses her. Though she denies her daughters the pursuit of true love, Mama Elena hides her own history of forbidden love and infidelities. She is a complex character, who both embodies tradition and authority and defies the patriarchy through her own rebellion.

Gertrudis , like Mama Elena, is another anti-feminine female character. Unlike Mama Elena, however, Gertrudis embraces her rebellion and encourages other women to do the same. Driven to a mystical, passionate frenzy when she eats Tita’s cooking, Gertrudis runs away to make love with Juan Alejandrez , a captain in the rebel army. She later goes to work in a brothel because he couldn’t “quench the fire inside” her. Gertrudis never attempts to hide her sexual adventures, but openly talks about them without shame. Later, by achieving status as a general in the Revolution, Gertrudis defies the social norm that men fight and women stay at home. Gertrudis not only lives and fights alongside men, but also dominates them. At the same time, Gertrudis is considerate of her soldiers. She takes care not to insult Sergeant Treviño when he struggles to follow a recipe for her favorite dessert. She warmly encourages Tita to accept herself and her desires, and to fight against the tyranny of tradition. Unlike her mother, Gertrudis represents female liberation and power that threatens to shake the system through empowerment of others.

In Like Water for Chocolate , there is no such thing as a “good” or a “bad” woman. Women are capable of an array of complex and often contradictory emotions and characteristics. While the novel overall favors revolution over tradition, it takes a nuanced view of traditional female ideals. Warmth and affection are positive female ideals, while chastity and obedience are negative. Tita and Gertrudis are both cast in a positive, heroic light, while Mama Elena and Rosaura are portrayed as unhappy and often villainous. The key distinctions are that despite their different paths, Tita and Gertrudis are both warm and loving, and they seek autonomy for themselves and for other women. Esquivel doesn’t value Tita’s domesticity over Gertrudis’ life as a soldier, but rather emphasizes the value of a woman’s right to choose her path and support others’ paths.

Femininity and Women’s Roles ThemeTracker

Femininity and Women’s Roles Quotes in Like Water for Chocolate

Sometimes she would cry for no reason at all, like when Nacha chopped onions, but since they both knew the cause of those tears, they didn’t pay them much mind. They made them a source of entertainment, so that during her childhood Tita didn’t distinguish between tears of laughter and tears of sorrow. For her laughter was a form of crying. Likewise for Tita the joy of living was wrapped up in the delights of food.

You don’t have an opinion, and that’s all I want to hear about it. For generations, not a single person in my family has ever questioned this tradition, and no daughter of mine is going to be the one to start.

Mama Elena’s eyes were as sharp as ever and she knew what would happen if Pedro and Tita ever got the chance to be alone […] She had let one little thing slip past her: With Nacha dead, Tita was the best qualified of all the women in the house to fill the vacant post in the kitchen, and in there flavors, smells, textures and the effects they could have were beyond Mama Elena’s iron command.

It occurred to her that she could use her mother’s strength right now. Mama Elena was merciless, killing with single blow. But then again not always. For Tita she had made an exception; she had been killing her a little at a time since she was a child, and she still hadn’t quite finished her off. Pedro and Rosaura’s marriage had left Tita broken in both heart and in mind, like the quail.

It was as if a strange alchemical process had dissolved her entire being in the rose petal sauce, in the tender flesh of the quails, in the wine, in every one of the meal’s aromas. That was the way she entered Pedro’s body, hot, voluptuous, perfumed, totally sensuous.

She stopped grinding, straightened up, and proudly lifted her chest so Pedro could see it better. His scrutiny changed their relationship forever. After that penetrating look that saw through clothes, nothing would ever be the same. Tita saw through her own flesh how fire transformed the elements, how a lump of corn flour is changed into a tortilla, how a soul that hasn’t been warmed by the fire of love is lifeless, like a useless ball of corn flour. In a few moment’s time, Pedro had transformed Tita’s breasts from chaste to experienced flesh, without even touching them.

The baby’s cries filled all the empty space in Tita’s heart. She realized that she was feeling a new love; for life, for this child, for Pedro, even for the sister she had despised for so long. She took the child in her hands, carried him to Rosaura, and they wept together for a long while, holding the child.

I have a very good aim and a very bad temper, Captain. The next shot is for you, and I assure you that I can shoot you before they can kill me, so it would be best for us to respect each other. If we die, no one will miss me very much, but won’t the nation mourn your loss?

[…] She placed the pigeon between her breasts to free her hands for the dangerous ladder, and climbed down from the dovecote. From then on, her main interest lay in feeding that pathetic baby pigeon. Only then did life seem to make sense. It didn’t compare with the satisfaction derived from nursing a human being, but in some way it was similar.

Instead of eating, she would stare at her hands for hours on end. She would regard them like a baby, marveling that they belonged to her. She could move them however she pleased, yet she didn’t know what to do with them, other than knitting. She had never taken time to stop and think about these things.

He left because I had exhausted his strength, though he hadn’t managed to quench the fire inside me. Now at last, after so many men have been with me, I feel a great relief. Perhaps someday I will return home and explain it to you.

You know how men are. They all say they won’t eat off a plate that isn’t clean.

During the funeral Tita really wept for her mother. Not for the castrating mother who had repressed Tita her entire life, but for the person who had lived a frustrated love. And she swore in front of Mama Elena’s tomb that come what may, she would never renounce love.

Pedro! What are you doing here? Without answering, Pedro went to her, extinguished the lamp, pulled her to a brass bed that had once belonged to her sister, Gertrudis, and throwing himself upon her, caused her to lose her virginity and learn of true love.

Life had taught her that it was not that easy; there are few prepared to fulfill their desires whatever the cost, and the right to determine the course of one’s own life would take more effort than she had imagined. That battle she had to fight alone, and it weighed on her.

The truth! The truth! Look, Tita, the simple truth is that the truth does not exist; it all depends on a person’s point of view. For example, in your case, the truth could be that Rosaura married Pedro, showing no loyalty, not caring a damn that you really loved him, that’s the truth, isn’t it?

I know who I am! A person who has a perfect right to live her life as she pleases. Once and for all, leave me alone; I won’t put up with you! I hate you, I’ve always hated you! Tita had said the magic words that would make Mama Elena disappear forever.

I, I have some self-respect left! Let him go to a loose woman like you for his filthy needs, but here’s the thing; in this house, I intend to go on being his wife. And in the eyes of everybody else too. Because the day someone sees you two, and I end up looking ridiculous again, I swear that you’re going to be very sorry.

Tita, it doesn’t matter to me what you did, there are some things in life that shouldn’t be given so much importance, if they don’t change what is essential. What you’ve told me hasn’t changed the way I think; I’ll say again, I would be delighted to be your companion for the rest of your life – but you must think over very carefully whether I am the man for you or not. If your answer is yes, we will celebrate our wedding in a few days. If it’s no, I will be the first to congratulate Pedro and ask him to give you the respect you deserve.

Esperanza went to the best school, with the object of improving her mind. Tita, for her part, taught her something just as valuable: the secrets of love and life as revealed by the kitchen.

Feminism in "Like Water for Chocolate"

Introduction.

"I grew up in a modern home, but my grandmother lived across the street in an old house that was built when churches were illegal in Mexico. She had a chapel in the home, right between the kitchen and dining room. The smell of nuts and chilies and garlic got all mixed up with the smells from the chapel, my grandmother's carnations, the liniments and healing herbs" (Esquivel, cited by Egeake, 2009).

A Woman Empowered by Male Contributes

Mexican women, like their counterparts throughout the world, have fought, and continue to fight, a long and hard battle to gain their rights. As portrayed in Laura Esquivel's "Like Water for Chocolate" (1989), tradition in Mexico meant that Tita is forbidden to marry because it is her responsibility to care for her mother until she dies, while culture continues to dictate the role and place of women. Even today, for example, "it is viewed as dishonerable for women to be seen without an escort" (Indigo Guide, 2009) in certain venues in Mexico. As such, Esquiviel's novel focuses in mostly female characters, some of whom she depicts through gender roles that are usually associated with men, thus showing them as cruel and violent, while others, whether "to the table or bed ... Must come when [they] are bid" (Esquive, 1989, p.1).

Mama Elena De la Garza is a harsh, cruel woman who is far-removed from the traditional view of mothers. Instead, Mama Elena is portrayed as an evil mother - an authoritarian, tyrannical, twisted woman, who takes delight in using her power to destroy her daughters - while also being "merciless, killing with a single blow" (Esquive, 1989, p. 47). Mama Elena rules her household with an iron fist, and a dominating power that is often cruel, even heartless. As such, "when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying, or dominating, Mama Elena was a pro" (Esquive, 1989, p. 97).

Tita is Mama Elena's youngest child, which means that she is viewed as being responsible for taking care of her widowed mother. Therefore, when Mama Elena learns that Pedro Muzquiz wants to marry Tita, not only does the old woman refusing, stating "... you have to take care of me until the day I die" (Esquive, 1989, p. 8), but when Tita attempts to reason with her mother, "a very angry Mama Elena left the kitchen, and for the next week she didn't speak a single word to her" (Esquive, 1989, p. 9).

The way in which Mama Elena controls and dominates her children can also be seen in the way in which they jump to obey her every command. For example, on hearing the words, "That's it for today" (Esquive, 1989, p. 8), the children "all sprang into action" (Esquive, 1989, p. 7), each one of them fulfilling a list of chores before going to their bedrooms to "read, say their prayers, and go to sleep" (Ibid.). In addition, their work had to be perfect, and there room for discussion or debate - young women, in the eyes of Mama Elena, did not have an opinion and under no circumstances were they to go against her wishes. If they did, then she disowned them.

Besides her tyrannical behavior, Mama Elena is also a cruel, heartless woman. After having forbidden Tita's marriage, for example, she suggests that Pedro should marry Rosaura, thus treating marriage as if it is a business arrangement rather than an act of commitment between two people who live each other. However, her cruelty is further demonstrated by her forcing Tita to cook the food for the wedding. "I won't have disobedience," she tells the heartbroken young girl, "not am I going to let you ruin your sister's wedding, with you acting like a victim. You're in charge of all the preparations starting now, and don't ever let me catch you with a single tear on your long face, do you hear?" (Esquive, 1989, p. 20). It would seem that although intent on destroying others, for Tita Mama Elena "had made an exception; she had been killing her off a little at a time since she was a child" (Esquive, 1989, p. 47). However, Tita's inability to marry the man she loves due to rules that are predominantly male meant that she "... couldn't resist the temptation to violate the oh-so-rigid rules her mother imposed in the kitchen ... and in life" (Esquive, 1989, pp. 199-200).

Esquivel uses scenes such as this in order to address the way in which tradition and conventional attitudes are so entrenched within Mexican society. Her use of food, for example, is used as a narrative device that point towards the way in which woman are faced with "rules she has not made and over which she has no control" (Halevi-Wise, 1997, p. 123). It is through food that Tita both compares and understands her own emotional and physical state: It "was then that she understood how dough feels when it is plunged into boiling oil (Halevi-Wise, 1997, p. 21); "She felt so lost and lonely! One last chile in walnut sauce left on the platter after a fancy dinner couldn't feel any worse than she did" (Esquive, 1989, p. 61); "At thirty-nine she was still as sharp and fresh as a cucumber that had just been cut" (Esquive, 1989, p. 236). Although expressed with humor, such examples are also concrete, thus transcending abstract notions of what it means to be a woman in Mexican society.

The violence that Tita suffers at the hands of her mother is also depictive of male brutality. For example, Mama Elena appears to be made up of characteristics that are normally attributed to men rather than women, while a closer reading of the text shows that all of the female characters are stronger than their male counterparts. It is Tita, rather than Pedro, who finally dares to confront her mother and Rosura, while even before her rebellion, Tita wields a significant amount of power through the strange effects of her cooking. In addition, it is Tita that ultimately "penetrates" Pedro through the sensual power of the dishes she produces in the kitchen: "It was as if a strange alchemical process had dissolved her entire being in the rose petal sauce, in the tender flesh of the quails, in the wine, and in each and every one of the meal's aromas. In this way, she penetrated Petro's body, hot, voluptuous, aromatic, totally sensuous" (Esquive, 1989, p. 52). In contrast, Pedro, and indeed the other male characters, are portrayed as being indecisive and weak, and prone to petty jealousies. Although, for example, Pedro claims to love Tita, he is not strong enough to challenge her mother's refusal to allow him to marry Tita, but instead accepts Rosaura as his bride. Furthermore, his weak nature is displayed in his refusal to consumate his marriage, as well as the fact that the only reason that he chooses to do so is because "Lord, this is not lust nor lewdness, but to make a child to serve you" (Esquive, 1989, p. 52).

The male characters within the novel also depict various traits that are typically seen as feminine. For example, Pedro is long-suffering, as seen by his willingness to wait a life for the woman he loves, while also being nurturing and patient. Such femininity is also portrayed by characters such as Sargent Trevifio, who despite being a male, manages to decipher recipes, which are normally percieved as being a female domain, while Gerturdis is unable to understand its code, as seen by her reading the "recipe as if she were reading hieroglyphics" (Esquive, 1989, p. 192).

Furthermore, Pedro's intuition is wholly 'feminine' on several occasions (Butler, 1979), as seen by his somewhat dramatic statement that he "... was going to marry [Rosaura] with a great love for Tita that will never die" (Esquive, 1989, p. 11).

Sexuality is also a significant theme within "Like Water for Chocolate" (1989). As argued by Glen (1994), "Tita was the transmitter, Pedro the receiver, and poor Gertrudis the medium, the conducting body through which the singular sexual message was passed" (p. 42), thus once again depicting the way in which stereotypical female and male characteristics are inversed. This concept is demonstrated by the way in which Gertrudis escapes with a revolutionary, who "Without slowing his gallop, so as not to waste a moment, he leaned over, put his arm around her waist, and lifted her onto the horse in front of him, face to face, and carried her away" (Esquive, 1989, p 55), while her time spent in a brothel in order to satisfy her sexual needs is a parodic inversion of sexual roles. The same notion is also displayed by Gertrudis' ability on the battlefield, while Tita and Pedro's first sexual encounter, during which "Pedro ... pulled her to a brass bed ... and, throwing himself upon her, caused her to lose her viginity and learn of true love" (Esquive, 1989, p. 158), simply demonstrates the way in which her culinary powers enabled her to win the man she loved.

"...[E]ach of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves; just as in the experiment, we need oxygen and a candle to help. In this case, the oxygen, for example, would come from the breath of the person you love; the candle could be any kind of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches." (115)

Contemporary Mexico, although having accepted certain feminine values and the egality of women, is still a nation that colored by predominantly male conceptions of society and the role of women. As such, the "sentimentalization of womanhood" (Franco, 1992), is challenged by Esquivel through the use of a "female language" (Vaughn, 1997, p. 41) that is "not bilogically determined but learned through oral tradition" (Ibsen, 1997, p. 114). In other words, Esquivel takes the traditional Mexican view of women and turns it on its head, thus portraying women through predominantly male characteristics and men as the so-called 'weaker sex.' As such, she demonstrates the way in which domesticity has proved to be antithetical to the home: "Whether it is through false words, false behaviors, or false interiors ... sentimental beliefs in Happily Ever After distort, trvialize, and artificially sweeten Home so that it loses its full meaning" (Thompkins, 1997, p. 88), while also undermining what it means to be a woman in contemporary Mexico.

Works Cited

Butler, Cornelia Flora. The Passive Female and Social Change: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Women's Magazine Fiction. Female and Male in Latin America: Essays. Ed. Ann Pescatello. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1979. 59-86.

Egeake (2009). Online article: "Like Water for Chocolate, 1989." Egeake Universities.

Esquivel Laura. Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances and Home Remedies. Trans. Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen . New York: Doubleday, 1992.

Franco, Jean. "Going Public: Rein habiting the Private." On Edge: The Crisis of Contemporary Latin American Culture. Ed. George Yudice, et al. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1992.

Glenn Kathleen M. Postmodern Parody and Culinary-Narrative Art in Laura Esquivel's Como agua para chocolate. In Chasqui 23. 2 ( Nov. 1994): 39-47.

Halevi-Wise, Yael (1997). "Story-telling in Laura Esquivel's Como Agua Para Chocolate." In The Other Mirror: Women's Narrative in Mexico, 1980-1995. (Ed. Kristine Ibsen). Publisher: Greenwood Press. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1997.

Ibsen, Kristine (Editor). The Other Mirror: Women's Narrative in Mexico, 1980-1995. Publisher: Greenwood Press. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1997.

Indigo Guide (2009). Online article: Mexico, Culture and Traditions." Indigo Guide. >

Thompkins, Cynthia M. (1997). "HISTORIOGRAPHIC METAFICTION OR THE REWRITING OF HISTORY IN SON VACAS, SOMOS PUERCOS." In The Other Mirror: Women's Narrative in Mexico, 1980-1995. (Ed. Kristine Ibsen). Publisher: Greenwood Press. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1997.

Vaughn, 1997. "EN DÓNDE VAN A FLOREAR": LA "FLOR DE LIS" AND THE PROBLEMATICS OF IDENTITY." In The Other Mirror: Women's Narrative in Mexico, 1980-1995. (Ed. Kristine Ibsen). Publisher: Greenwood Press. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1997.

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Radical Feminism in Like Water for Chocolate

There are many different definitions of feminism. Some people regard feminism as the idea that women deserve the same amount of respect that men deserve. There are the other schools of feminist thought that hold women superior to men. Yet another believes that the gender roles controlling women are artificially created and not innate knowledge, and thus men and women are equals with only history the determining factor and how gender equality is established.

There are clear feminist overtones in Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Esquivel pointes to a more radical definition of feminism in Like Water for Chocolate. The story focuses on mostly female characters that assume the gender roles typically associated with men. Esquivel presents these strong female figures in such a way as to make the reader begin to question any preconceptions previously held about the capabilities of women.

Feminism has been a concept long thought about. Generally dealing with the idea that men have historically been thought of as superior to women, the feminist philosophy contends that men and women are equal and thus deserve equal treatment. Esquivel makes it clear that all the women characters are not dependent in any way to any men. This independence of men that she creates is a key to understanding the feminist nature of the novel.

Early on with Tita’s father dying we see that now Mama Elena is charged with the care and protecting of her family. At this point Esquivel has already created the first independent strong female character. Mama Elena goes on, for better or worse, attempting the best she can to raise a family in the tumultuous time of the Mexican revolution. She struggles against her rebellious daughter in her own attempt to keep her family’s heritage and traditions alive.

Not only does she raise a family but she also runs the ranch on which the live and on derive their sustenance. Early on in the novel we see that Esquivel presents a character that deserves the same amount of respect normally giving to a male character in this same role. By placing this normally male role in a woman Esquivel questions the typical role of the woman in a home of just raising children by bestowing additional responsibilities.

We see elsewhere in the novel the strength in Gertrudis, Tita’s sister. Gertrudis escapes the ranch after reacting mysteriously to one of Tita’s recipes. She runs away with a rebel soldier, works in a brothel at the Mexico-Texas border, and eventually returns to the ranch as a general in the revolutionary army. Here we witness the creation of a second strong female character. When we first see Gertrudis we see just another female character. But after her return we find that she has become a leader of in the revolution. Again Esquivel takes a potion that is typically male associated and fills that role with and equally respectable female character.

There is then the focal character, Tita. Tita is the pivotal character in defining Like Water for Chocolate as a feminist novel. Tita more than her mother, is the glue that holds her family together. It is she that cares for the ranch and feeds everyone. Tita is the one who ensures that everything goes to plan. After her mother becomes paralyzed, even with her hatred towards her she still continues to care for her.

Tita is the strongest feminine figure in this novel. She continues to strive for what she wants form life and stops at nothing to get it. Through Esquivel creates a sense that Tita is not someone who you would want to get in the way of. Esquivel does this in such a way so that readers come to love and respect the character of Tita as opposed to seeing her as a selfish demanding woman.

Like Water for Chocolate takes an intriguing look at radical feminism. Most importantly, through the portrayal of Elena and, Esquivel takes an approach at shows that although she fits a feminist roll, she does not need to be liked. Elena is opposed by the more endearing and lovable characters like Nacha, Gertrudis, and Tita. With these characters we see Gertrudis make a leap forward and size power as the head of a revolutionary army. Tita of course finally fights her mother and begins her life anew with her own wants and desires.

Works Cited

Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. New York: Anchor Books, 1995.

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Like Water for Chocolate

69 pages • 2 hours read

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Examine Laura Esquivel’s exploration of feminism in Like Water for Chocolate . How does feminism come into conflict with the traditions of the patriarchal Latin American culture she depicts? How do women participate in or resist this culture in the novel?

How does the author portray motherhood? Consider Mama Elena and Rosaura as well as Tita’s relationships with Nacha , Morning Light, Chencha, and Gertrudis . How does Tita become a mother despite never bearing any children of her own?

Compare and contrast Pedro and Dr. John Brown. Who do you think is the better match for Tita, and why?

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