Like Water for Chocolate (Novel)

The novel “Like Water For Chocolate”, written by Mexican Novelist Laura Esquivel, revolves around the life of a woman, Tita de la Garza. It shows how most of the youngest daughter of middle and upper class family lives, her sacrifices, her sufferings, and her contentment. The de la Garza family has three daughters of which Gertrudis and Tita belong, and their mother is Mama Elena. These three people are blood related and they do have traits that are common to each other but there are traits that contradict the other.

First off, is Mama Elena, she is a symbol of a mother who has an absolute authority, a strong personality and a stubborn individuality. She is such a strict mother to her daughters that they don’t get enough freedom, and does not like depending on men. When her husband died two days after Tita was born, she took control of the management of the ranch. In their house, she does not accept the opinions of others; she also wants everything to be perfectly and properly done. —— “I’ve never needed a man for anything; all by myself, I’ve done all right with my ranch … It’s worse to have chiles with no water around!” (p 80).

Gertrudis is the first daughter of the family. She has this enthusiasm on things where rhythm, music or movement were involved, of which her parents and other siblings do not have, that is a bit of strange if you haven’t known that she was a child from another man. She is an open-minded person, seems to see things in the right perspective and very expressive.

And Tita, the one that was prohibited to marry while her mother still alive. She has to take care of her mother, and obediently follow her until the end. She has a big love for her family that she can’t run away with her lover, Pedro, which made her suffer more from the hand of her mother. She grew up in the kitchen, like it was her real home, with Nacha as her mother. When her sister Rosaura and Pedro married, she was left depressed and felling cold. Her love for Pedro last for a long time until she died because of it.

Love Life

            Both Mama Elena and Tita experienced the feeling of not being able to marry the love of their life. Mama Elena was forced to marry Juan de la Garza when her parents found out her relationship with Jose Traviño a Negro. On the other hand, Mama Elena did not allow Tita to marry Pedro, forcing the latter to marry Tita’s sister Rosaura just to be near Tita. Mama Elena and Tita were not able to stop by the opposition of their respective parents, and they both secretly had some communication and meeting with the one they truly love. While Gertrudis follow what her heart says, and when she ate the Quail in Rose Petal Sauce, that was cooked by Tita with the rose given by Pedro to her, she felt hot with her body burning, then nakedly run around their ranch until Juan Alejandrez (a soldier) took her out of the ranch.

            Both Gertrudis and Tita got what they wanted in the end but Tita died because of the too much happiness she felt and the desire to follow Pedro wherever he goes. And after the lustful feelings Gertrudis had, she had a happy life with her husband Juan. While the other two got what they wanted, Mama Elena died and buried with her love for Jose Traviño.

Ability To Nurture

            Even though Tita has not been able to be a mother or bear a child, she was able to feed the first child of Pedro and Rosaura and became attach to the child. Mama Elena lost her ability to breastfeed Tita when she was little because of the shock of the death of Tita’s Father.

Mama Elena brought up her daughters in the way she was brought up. She is the one who will choose to whom her daughters to be married to. Whereas, Tita wanted to …… 

Attempts At Gaining Personal Freedom

Mama Elena was about to run away with Jose Traviño, but he was killed leaving her with no other option but to live with Juan de la Garza.

·         “When Mama Elena’s parents discovered the love that existed between their daughter and this mulatto, they were horrified and forced her into an immediate marriage with Juan de la Garza, Tita’s father… When she found out she was pregnant, Mama Elena had planned to run away with Jose…After that terrible grief, Mama Elena resigned herself to life with her legal husband.” (pp136-137).

             Gertrudis was able to free herself from the hands of her mother and their family’s tradition. She was able to finally show and express her true and hidden feelings when she run away from her home. She became the leader of a band of revolutionary troop. When she gave birth to a child that has a dark complexion, she learned from Tita that she was the fruit of Mama Elena and Jose Traviño’s love. This fact saved her relationship with Juan and gave a clear explanation of her sense of rhythm and the traits of a leader running through her blood.

·         “Tita shrugged her shoulders in answer, although she knew perfectly well who had given Gertrudis her rhythm and other qualities. That secret she planned to take to her grave; but it was not to be…. It was a hard blow for him to take, but at least they didn’t separate; instead they lived together forever and were happy more often that not.”(p 180)

            On the other hand, Tita can’t just leave her family just because of her love for Pedro. She has tried to answer back her mother and gave opinions, but was not able to get good results. But when the first child of Pedro and Rosaura died, she begun to disobey her mother.

·         “Tita felt the household crashing down around her head. The blow, the sound of all the dishes breaking into a thousand pieces…” (pp 99-101).

 Mama Elena asked Dr. Brown to put Tita to an asylum, but instead, he brought her to live with him. When Tita’s mother got sick, she returned to the ranch and took care of her until she died. Although Mama Elena’s dead, Tita was not able to escape her. The “ghost” of Mama Elena started bothering her when she and Pedro secretly see each other and even made love in Mama Elena’s private place in the house. Mama Elena’s ghost gone when Tita answered her back with words that she wanted to say for a long time ago, he hatred she felt for her mother. When Rosaura died, and their second child was married to Dr. John’s son, Tita and Pedro were able to free their longing for each other.

These three women all tried to gain their freedom from their respective parents, but not all of them had a good outcome. Tita and Gertrudis were able to gain their freedom at the end of the novel. They both had a chance to be with their true love before they die and to do what they wanted to do. Whereas, Mama Elena died not being able to live with her true love and still attached to their family’s tradition.

Views On Tradition

            Mama Elena sticks to her belief in their family’s tradition that the youngest daughter has to take care of her mother until she dies. (10-11)

            Both Gertrudis and Tita do not like what Mama Elena’s “family tradition”. Because Tita was the youngest, she has been questioning herself on why is there such an absurd tradition in their family. And when Pedro insisted to name his daughter Josefita, Tita refused thinking that the child might experience what she had been experiencing.

“Gertrudis - She is not constrained by traditional definitions of gender, race, class, or any other hierarchical notions of one’s “proper place” of “role.” (She becomes a general”) —-

·         “For one thing, she wanted to know who started this family tradition. It would be nice if she could let that genius know about one little flaw in this perfect plan for taking care of women in their old age…If she couldn’t marry , was she at least allowed to experience love? Or not even that?”(p 11-12)

·         “Pedro insisted that the child should be given the same name as Tita, Josefita. But Tita refused to hear of it. She didn’t want her name to influence the child’s destiny.”(p 146)

·         “She wished Esperanza could marry, without Rosaura being able to stop her, so she would never know this pain and suffering. She wished that the child would have the strength of Gertrudis had shown and run away from home.”(p 175)