This Mexican romance is told in the traditional magic realist style and incorporates more than twelve authentic recipes into its plot and underlying themes. Meet Tita, the youngest daughter of the authoritarian Mama Elena. Shortly after her birth Tita is raised in the kitchen and thus learns the healing, seductive, and supernatural arts of the kitchen from the family cook Nacha. According to Mama Elena and her cruel version of the family tradition, Tita is forbidden to marry and must instead devote her life to caring for the aging, petualnt Mama Elena. So when Tita and Pedro fall madly in love, Mama Elena quickly marries off Pedro to Tita's sister Rosaura. Pedro only agrees so that he can insure he is always close to Tita. So, Tita must cook, clean, and care for the family, while being denied her basic human freedoms and desires (I mean, really, the love of her life living in the same house but married to her sister?!). But when Rosaura and Pedro's young son dies suddenly, a domino effect of change cascades upon the De La Garza family.
Tita's creativity, love, and self-preservation reveals the deeper theme of the importance of exercising one's passions. Tita must question futile family traditions while upholding the important ones of the family's kitchen, as her sisters neglected to learn the culinary arts. Tita's struggle to care for a family that does not understand or appreciate her efforts mirrors the challenges of commitment that many young people face to this day, as one must learn to negotiate personal fulfillment with sustaining meaningful familial bonds.
Esquivel's writing style reminds me of mythology: simplistic and succinct in its selection of details while providing a deeper symbolic resonance in its comedy and tragedy of Tita's supernatural ability to infect her dinner guests with her emotions through the food she prepares. Overall, the novel explores how we are all more connected by the things we share and enjoy (good food!) yet too easily influenced by our more selfish desires. Tita shows us how to strive towards balance and still live a fulfilling life.
Where does Like water for Chocolate come from? So this book seems like this is a more of a conversation book, as if the story was being told in person.
ReplyDeleteGreat question! At first I thought it might mean something about not being satisfied ("like water INSTEAD of chocolate"), but then I looked it up, and according to some various sites, it might mean one is feeling passionate. Since hot chocolate is made with water instead of milk in Mexico, and it has to be boiled, it relates to one feeling "steamy." This relates to the book of the love triangle, as well as the whole idea that food can bring comfort and pleasure.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Morgan because it does seem like a book of conversations. Also because it would seem like a great discussion topic for a freshman class.
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