4A+Quote+Quests

Please post your quote quest assignment as a word document - clearly mark your name and the topic. Have you defined whether your topic is a motif, symbol or theme? Please be sure to do so. To upload a word document, simply click on the 'File' icon and follow the instructions. Finally, please read other students' work and add two comments on the page, again clearly marked with your name. Thanks.

Hey Jeffery, I really liked your idea that the bathing ritual represents the hardships that Tita has to endure while living/taking care of Mama Elena, and the fact that no matter how careful she is with the process, she is and will never be able to please her completely. I also agree with the idea that everyday things can become a ritual, this is especially true with this book, as the cooking of food is done in a very meticulous and step-by-step manner. - Anna

Jeffery-I really like the organization of your thoughts, you clearly put a lot of time into this. I really like how you questioned mens roles in society, but I feel like you could've explored that a little more and gone more into depth about why Gertrudis also found it hard to make the cream fritters. Gertrudis clearly breaks norms-and in that case, the "rituals" of every day life, by joining the army, and running away from home, which seems to reflect her cooking, making it seem like men are unable to complete household tasks, but why is it that Gertrudis, being a woman, was able to excel so much in the "mens" role in society? -Ragna. Hi Inaki, I like your work on the revolution and how you relate the characters in the book to real people during the Mexican revolution. However, is it possible to talk about your theme in context of the book, like Tita actions would be seen as rebellion? -Dion

Inaki, I've always loved this idea of yours that each of the characters symbolize a different aspect of the society at that time. You have clear support and quotes which back up your ideas, however I wish you had explored your personal interpretation a little more in the quotes, and found some which reflected the characters more. All in all a great summary and I hope you can use this assignment for your world lit paper!! :) -Ragna.

Karen: I like your idea about how knitting was Tita's way of venting out all her frustrations in life and therefore the blanket represents Tita's problems and insecurities. This makes a lot of sense because everytime she had a problem or a "chill", TIta would turn to her blanket for comfort and warmth. So you are right in saying that the blanket is Tita's way of "shielding" herself from the world's harshness and unfairness. Also, the juxtaposition between the knitting that Mama Elena wants Tita to do as a woman and the knitting that Tita does for herself creates a sense of Tita never being able to escape Mama Elena's control over her.

- Ashley

Karen: I like that you show how Tita's knitting is solely to protect her from the cold which she is constantly exposed to. It's also very interesting that you mentioned knitting is a motif, but the blanket is a symbol. This really helped me understand how Tita protects herself from all the problems she has. I like that you noticed the blanket being 'big enough to cover the whole ranch' and how this relates to how many problems she has. - Charlotte VD. Ragna: You made it very clear why water is so important in the book and why it is also mentioned in the title. I agree with your interpretation of water not being able to "put out" the passion of the characters in the book. However, you didn't really explain the significance of that and also why the characters continuously turn to water to ease their inner burnings. Maybe there is a connection the chilli quote? The fact that their inner burnings could be like eating chilli and they are trying to use water to relief their discomfort of the spiciness.

- Ashley

Good idea, Ashley (about the characters internal fire), I mentioned it a little when it talks about the fire in the shower, but you're right-I could have explored a little more on the "un-extinguished" internal flames within the characters themselves. -Ragna.

I really like your idea that birds represent Tita. The idea that the "bird inside the egg" represents Tita's wish to have children but inability to have them. Also the example that the hens represent the fight between Rosaura and Tita is interesting to me. Birds, to summarize, represent many facets of Tita's life. Freedom, slavery, violence, death. Akshay

Hi Anna! your three connections to birds was great. When I was reading the book only saw birds as a representation of Tita's final freedom. But your analysis of the birds on Tita's fate was really interesting. The dead rooster could almost foreshadow Pedro's death as Tita lie next to him hopelessly. Her fate was already settled by Mama Elena despite the fact that it seems as though Tita and Pedro finally were allowed to be together. They might have had each other for that moment, but they lost their youth and the other possibilities in life that this 'freedom' and 'control' that Tita got in the end seems to be a compensation out of pity. - Connie

hey ashley! Since we did the same topic i went through both yours and mine to see if we have covered the entire book and i think we did :) i really like how you used the descriptions of the heat with Tita's cooking to show how the food symbolizes different characters. i also liked how you incorporated magical realism into your explanations quite frequently.---abie Akshay-

Hi Akshay! You've mentioned good examples of violence in the book, mostly between Mama Elena and Tita, but have you considered the 'violence' or 'battle' between Tita and her food? This is just something that came to mind when I was reading your analysis and I thought it would be interesting. There are certain parts in the book where Tita describes her disgust to clean out a chicken or other animals she is preparing. This could be a form of violence too, almost representing Tita's own violent struggle with herself, maybe? Something to think about (- Connie

Hey Akshay, I thought your quotes were well chosen. Yeah when I read through the book I also noticed the theme of violence in those parts, especially between Mama Elena and Tita. However I do not quite agree with your idea that Mama Elena does not regard Tita as her daughter.You have to find more substantial evidence to back that up. Although she vents her frustrations on Tita, I believe that Mama Elena still regards her as a daughter. Perhaps Mama Elena opposes strongly and becomes Tita's 'enemy', because she does not want her daughter to repeat her same mistakes she made when she was younger. Alternatively it could be because she selfishly wanted Tita to stay and take care of her. - Jeff

Dion: Dion: you have obviously worked very hard on this. I like that you have tied everything together, and this really made me see the importance of the birds, as I had never really thought about it before. I love the last quote you show and how you relate this to Tita's freedom and their (Tita and Pedro's) passion for eachother. Another thing I found really interesting was your connection between Mama Elena and Tita's ability to 'fly'. This is really interesting, Dion, and it really helped me understand the birds in the book. - Charlotte VD.

Hey Dion, WELL DONE. Thats quite alot of quotes you got there. Come to think of the part when Tita imagines there is something inside the egg, when I was reading it, I thought that she imagined the chick because she was overwhelmed by disbelief that Pedro was to be with Rosaura for the rest of his life, however your idea of it being a symbolism was interesting. Although I thought it symbolised the death of the idea of a ‘new life’ with Pedro, with emphasis on that new life. I also thought the connection between Mama Elena and Tita's ability to 'fly' was interesting, I didn't knew that birds played such a huge part in the book. -Jeff (by the way, this is a theme in the book - cos I forgot to put it on the document) Hey Charlotte! You definitely did a very thorough search through the book to find as many quotes as you could which i think is really helpful. I really liked how you clarified what all the quotes meant and showed, however, i think you could have gone into more detail with them maybe talking about what the different things, such as Tita's ability to breastfeed Roberto, symbolize. You did explain why Tita breastfed roberto instead of rosaura which was good :) I like your very good coverage of the topic throughout the entire novel because it makes sure that we get to experience this theme throughout the entire book instead of just certain sections of it! --abie ANIKA_EARTH I like your broad expanse into subjects concerning the Earth such as nature (flowers), food, ground, and earth. So I'll start from the beginning. Perhaps you could clarify a little better about why the quotes are related to land. I do like the fact, however, that everything Tita owns, is from the land such as the pots and pans. I do like your idea of Mama Elena burning Pedro just to show Tita the punishment for breaking society's rules. Further on how flowers show love and fertility is another excellent point. I also like to point out that when you say that the fruit represents fertility- fruit comes from flowers, showing how they are interconnected. I also like how you pointed out that Tita wished that the Earth could swallow Rosaura up, showing that how Earth in its own way represents death (since the ashes of the dead are buried there). But at the same time it gives them life through food. Overall good job -Akshay

Abie---Fire

Abie I think you did a really thorough job at interpreting the quotes you chose, it is very apparent from your document that fire is incredibly important throughout the novel. I also wanted to say something though where you explain about how the power that love has over women is more powerful than the power that the love has over the men. I don't think I understand this part, because Pedro get so jealous, so that is also fire burning I think, especially when he is on the ground rolling around because of the ghost of Mama Elena, this fire symbolizes how the passion between Pedro and Tita is more powerful than the societies expectations because they hold each other even though they are surrounded by the people at the party. But I also think it shows jealousy, and how the power of love he has for Tita like burns him, how he desperately wants her and cannot control himself. It is also shown by John Brown when he is showing Tita how to make the matches, it shows the love that he has, it is really sad how much he loves her. The power of love that he has for her overcomes him, he wants to marry her no matter what, but i guess at the end he takes control and realizes that he cannot force Tita to do something she doesn't want to do. I found it so interesting how you used when Gertrudis felt her body was on fire, as a symbol for the passion Mama Elena had for her lover of African-American descent ( Juan I think?). Anyways REALLY REALLY good job, you seem like you really have a good idea on your topic of fire! :) -ANika

Connie - Relationships: Hi Connie, I really like your analysis of the quote. Some additions I would make would probably be the theme of Passion. I feel like passion will better qualify the relationship between Pedro and Tita and Gertrudis and the general. The idea of gratitude might also be added on to love in the case of Tita and John. Also, If your theme is relationship in general, can we also explore the relationship between food and the different characters in the novel?-Dion

Hey Dion, I probably subconsciously catogorized Passion and Love together. I did mention that Pedro and Tita's relationship seemed to be more on a physical level rather than an emotional level. However, I do still think that what Tita and Pedro have may be considered 'love'; same goes for Tita's relationship with John. Your point on mentioning the relationship of food and other characters is really interesting and definitely a good idea to research into! - Connie

Tradition by Dylanatkin: -Hi Dylan, well done on your analysis and interpretation of quotes in the novel that are entailed with tradition. I think you really got a hold of how important tradition is in the Latin American community, and the contrast between the traditional values and the unconventional point of view (Tita). However, it is ironic, because in a way the traditions is something that the characters all have in common and makes them equal, but in reality the viewpoint of these traditions separates them. Like Tita is set apart from her sisters because of the tradition that she is the youngest, but also Rausara, because she is older and only benefits from this tradition, attempts to enforce it on her child, Esperanza. I like how you found the irony in Gertrudis -Anika

Pregnancy and Birth by Janina:

Janina, I really liked the first part of the analysis of the quote. I like how you said that Tita's pregnancy is actually a curse that Mama Elena cast on her. I think that you did a good job expressing that Tita's pregnancy is kind of like a burden of her and Pedro's love. I think you could have elaborated on Tita's childbirth- maybe say the significance of her crying? That she was born in the world crying, destined to live a life of sorrow and despair? Also, I think the childbirth of Roberto and Esperanza shows how a love towards a child doesn't necessarily have to come from the mother- since Tita obviously loves the children more than Rosaura. Other than that, great job! -Karen