Like Water for Chocolate seems to be a title not well-known; nevertheless, I found myself intrigued in the plot within the first few chapters. It was also a fairly quick read.
This novel, written by Laura Esquivel, is written with a Latin American style with the setting residing in Mexico. There are 12 chapters in the book, and each chapter is a month of the year- starting in January and ending in December. Along with these chapter titles, a unique recipe is written for each month. Throughout the course of a chapter, the narrator speaks of the events occurring and weaves in the recipe and all of the instructions until it is served in the actual plot. It is quite an usual way to write a novel, but it adds to the passion of this romantic story.
The novel begins explaining the birth of the youngest daughter, Tita, and also the main character, and her younger years. Tita was born in the kitchen and therefore grew up loving food and taking great pride in creating each meal. She was the most skilled in the kitchen of her two other sisters- Rosaura and Gertrudis. As the plot progresses, Tita begins to realize that food can have "magical" powers, which change the attitudes and bring out true feelings in the people who consume her food. Eventually, Tita falls in love with a man, Pedro, but her mother, Mama Elena, won't allow Tita to marry him because of an ancient tradition. This tradition states that the youngest daughter in the family cannot marry because she must take care of her mother until she passes away. Mama Elena is a very strict lady and holds down Tita and punishes her harshly for anything she does wrong.
Tita struggles with this tradition, especially when Pedro marries Rosaura. Pedro only married Tita's sister so he could be as close as he could to Tita, but Tita is extremely upset by the whole concept. She is heart-broken, and the relationship she had with her sister Rosaura is severed. Mama Elena keeps a watchful eye over Tita and Pedro to make sure that nothing happens between the two. Time passes and Rosaura has two children with Pedro- the first dies and the second lives. The second child takes after Tita, which Rosaura is bitter about.
Eventually, Mama Elena dies and Tita is relieved somewhat of her extremely restricted lifestyle. She is able to see Pedro more, and when Rosaura dies, Tita is free from all the pressures that her family traditions placed on her. In the end, Tita passes away while making love to Pedro. The two go into the light together, after living life hiding in the dark.
The novel can be explicit, and other minor details add to the intensity of the plot. Overall, the tragedy that plays a decent role throughout the plot is heightened at the very end, creating a sense of sadness for the life that Tita had been forced to live.
-A. Pruett
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ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds like a very unique writing style.
ReplyDeleteThis story somewhat reminds me of the Leah and Rachel story in the Bible. There, the father wants the man to marry Leah, even though the man and Rachel love each other. However, both women love the man, but Leah is the one who has kids with him. Now, the story of Leah and Rachel isn't exactly the same as this story (from your description), but I feel like this novel is based off this popular story from the Bible.
-Summer Q.
This novel seems interesting but it bothers me that tradition keeps people from their true passion. In this particular example the goal for Tita maybe to love, but generally speaking tradition was not meant to inhibit a being's true potential it was supposed to be a valued aspect of culture. This is similar to the poem we read on Friday for the practice test. The author in that piece was saying that true contemproary writers need to respect tradition when identifying their own work as unique and an additive to society.
ReplyDeleteVisha V.
Yes I agree that tradition is not cool because it is based on culture as opposed to being based on how a person feels.
ReplyDelete-Jonathan S.
This was a good post. I enjoyed it. Seems like a book that was just an easy quick read. But its always those kind of books that have the deeper kind of meaning. Your writing is very good as well.
ReplyDelete-Kyle Fischer