Like+Water+2A

Laura Esquivel

 * Esquivel was born in 1951 in Mexico, the third of four children of Julio Ceasar Esquivel, who is a telegraph operator, and his wife Josephina.
 * She grew up in Mexico City and attended the Escuela Normal de Maestros, the national teacher's college.
 * After teaching for 8 years, started to write screenplays in 1980s.
 * **has a husband whose name is Alfonso Arau. He helped direct the movie version of the novel, and Esquivel wrote the screenplay herself.**
 * **She also wrote screenplay for popular Mexican film called "Chido One".**
 * **Most recent novel, //The Law of Love//, also talks about the importance of love and is a magical realism style type of novel.**
 * **"Esquivel sets herself a mission to explore the redemptive powers of love and art and displays boundless enthusiasm for parody." - Lillian Pizzichini.**


 * "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
 * Experiences in her families kitchen provided the inspiration for her writing //Like Water for Chocolate//.

Magical Realism
// - magical realism involves time shifts, dreams, myths, fairy tales, surrealistic descriptions, element of surprise and shock, and the inexplicable - Tita's recipes have mystical effects on those who eat them - the ghosts of Mama Elena and Nacha - Tita can magically cry rivers of tears - magical realism into bedroom and kitchen (similar to Gabriel Garcia Marquez) - storytelling, gossip, and advice (inspires the characters) - developed by Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier - often infused with distinct fantastic, mythical, and epic themes - unique product of latin cultural...result of indigenous religion, myth, and catholic church //

> > Essays1. **Magical Realism**The two major points are:Why is there an absence of religion? To free the characters from a religious moral code, which allows the characters to pursue their desires to their full extent.What makes magical realism so magical? Because it explores and exaggerates emotions which we all share, for example sexual and sensual pleasure are brought to life in a fantastical way: "Possibility is veiled by the impossible" > 2. **Magical Realism in Like Water for Chocolate**Kitchen a paradox - represents both shelter (express creativity) and oppression (confines and limits them) Magical qualities of Gertrudis - she's not only a woman but a mulatto, and as such represents mixed race people in the novel. Her promotion to general shows the realisation of a fantasy of minorities and women rising to power > 3**. Verbal and Visual Representation**Structure - the structure is inspired by women's monthly magazines which included recipes and fiction, and were written in installments (hence the two be continued....)Transubstantiation - the act of the wafer and wine being transformed magically into the body and blood of Christ during communion. In the story, Tita's body is transubstantiated through her flesh and as Pedro eats it, it's as if they are making love.
 * History!
 * The Revolution lasted from 1910-1917.
 * Governments continually beset by internal and external conflicts
 * November 1910 Francisco Madero led revolt against President Pofirio Diaz after having lost a rigged election.
 * Madero became president in 1911 Nov.
 * Madero soon overthrown & executed by Victoriano Huerta. Under Huerta, people Venustiano Carranza, Francisco "Pancho" Villa, and Emiliano Zapata led revolts.
 * End of 1915, war ended, but Villa & CZapata continued opposing the new govt and maintained rebel groups for years.
 * Connection to novel!
 * Soldiers, bandits and rebels are regularly mentioned. It is important to the narrative as for example, the bandits attack compels Tita's return home after her mother has disowned her.
 * As the Poncho Villas revolutionary forces clash with the Mexican regime, Tita wages her own battle against her mother.
 * The book maps the trajectory of feminist history in Mexican society, and it is as effective parody of Mexican women.
 * It makes a woman's voice heard and gives them a new identity. Rejection of the old order's dictatorship, a revival of democracy, under the leadership of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. The revolution helps explore themes of masculinity and gender identity, to examine how individuals appropriate for themselves the revolution's goal of liberty.
 * It makes a woman's voice heard and gives them a new identity. Rejection of the old order's dictatorship, a revival of democracy, under the leadership of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. The revolution helps explore themes of masculinity and gender identity, to examine how individuals appropriate for themselves the revolution's goal of liberty.

**//Like Water for Chocolate: Chapter Questions//**
 * January: Christmas Rolls (5-19): Bex**

1) What kind of language does Mama Elena use to Tita? How does Esquivel establish their relationship? "Isn't that something? Your ma talks about being ready for marriage like she was dishing up a plate of enchiladas. And the worse thing is, they're completely different! You can't just switch tacos and enchiladas like that!" (14) This is said of Mama Elena's language by Chencha, the maid, and it basically sums up her clinical disregard for Tita as well as her unsentimental view of love. Her relationship with Jose isn't exposed until much later, when readers are exposed to the truth of what love lost can do to a person. Mama Elena speaks harshly to her daughter, enforcing wildly illogical rules in her household, demanding respect even in the address she is given when she forgives Tita for calling her "Mami", the more proper term.

2) How are relationships of power set up in this chapter? Mama Elena is clearly established as a dictatorial autarch, a sort of matriarch in the absence of a male figurehead for the family. Without a husband or son, Mama Elena is in charge of the ranch and her three daughters who are submissive not by nature but by convention. The household employs two older women, Nacha the cook and Chencha the maid. These characters are low in terms of status but play a significant role in the lives and upbringing of the three girls. This emotional affiliation Esquivel makes with the staff can extend to the civil unrest she may be alluding to, placing her sympathy with the rebels or lower class. The diction Esquivel utilizes is the main contributer to a reader's understanding of the power structure within the family. Where Mama Elena is concerned, words like "subdue", "rebelliousness", and "ruling", often associated with the political climate of the time and relate her character to that of a dictator, transitively making Tita assume the part of the rebels prior to their uprising. Punishment is a recurring idea in this excerpt, physical as well as mental. Mama Elena applies silence when she can as a form of penalizing Tita, as well as "slaps". Tita refers frequently to her bruises without very much emotion. In my opinion, the most significant quote that adds to the hierchy is "You don't have an opinion, and that's all I want to hear about it." (11) It contributes to the developing theme of identity self-awareness, as well as Mama's unreasonable demands on her children. 3) What food metaphors can you find in the first chapter? What effect do they have? What is the connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter? Esquivel creates in her story an example of "transcendental cooking", conveying a character's emotions through food. With the addition of magical realism, Tita's creations begin to embody herself, causing grief and passion when respectively paired with her tears and blood. Food is a life force, and I think it eventually becomes life. If flame is passion and love, then it is used in nearly every recipe and description involving food to make it whole and complete. This chapter details the recipe for Tita's favourite dish, Christmas Rolls. It fails to provide her with the warmth and welcome they usually do. She is literally swept into the world on a tide of tears induced by onions, and was said to have only been enticed out of Mama Elena's womb willingly by rolls.

4) What examples of foreshadowing do you find in this chapter? The January segment is, as first installments in a series often are, full of foreshadowing. Most notably, the phrases "From then on they knew, she and the table, that they could never have even the slightest voice in the unknown forces that fated Tita to bow before her mother's absurd decision, and the table to continue to receive the bitter tears that she had first shed on the day of her birth" (11) and "Not that night, nor many others, for as long as she lived, could she free herself from that cold" (19) lend themselves to the theory that Tita will have to endure a cold, or lost love, until the end of the novel. The first pertains more to the suffering she bears under her mother's stringent regime. On the same page, "doubts and and anxieties sprang to her mind" when she began to question her family's tradition and mother's "absurd" decision.


 * February:** **Chabela Wedding Cake (25-41): Teddy and Terrence**

1) Examine this and the last chapter. How are **humiliation and despair** built up in these chapters? In Chapter 2, humiliation is represented by Tita's failure to marry a man who she loves, and making wedding cake for the wedding between her lover and her sister. It must've been a great humiliation for Tita, who sees hallucination of an unborn chicken (which symbolizes imfertility). Tita's humiliation maximizes as she, either on purpose or not, blends her tears with the cake icing. The feeling of despair the transcendents to other people who attended the banquet. The last chapter is similar to Chapter 2 in that it involves a banquet. It describes a dance between Tita and Pedro, and eventually their relationship disregarding their positions, builds up the humiliation in readers. On the same time, the readers feel sorrow as they knew that both Tita and Pedro died in the fire of love. //The important thing here is that in chapter 2, the humiliation and despair are Tita's - at the end of the novel, Rosaura has been defeated and died in humiliating physical circumstances. Also, John// //is humiliated (although he does not despair) by Tita's thorough rejection of him. Thus, love is shown to be paradoxical - Tita and Pedro have found intense happiness, yet John is alone and rejected, and Rosaura is totally (if not publically) humiliated. Ms K.//

2) What might the author be trying to suggest about Mama Elena? The author has many antagonistic descriptions on Mama Elena, because Mama Elena is the character that oppresses Tita, the protagonist, in the most horrible manner. While the author describes clearly that Mama Elena is a tyrant and oppressor that makes Tita's life hard, she also suggests that Mama Elena herself is the scapegoat of the society, since it is true to some extent, that the society made her oppress her own daughter, under the name of tradition. //Also, she is presented as being extremely physically violent. Is she a masculine figure, perhaps? Later we see her as a castrator.//

3) How are Tita’s emotions and her culinary creations linked? In what ways is Tita’s cooking a source of power? Tita's emotions and her culinary creations are clearly linked through the outcomes of magical realism. Tita's emotions of 'lost love' flowed into the tears that dropped into the cake. When "Nacha licked some of the icing off her finger to see if Tita's tears had affected the flavor... [she was] overcome with an intense longing" (Esquirel 35-36) for lost love. The cake also affected everyone at the wedding because "the moment they took their first bite of the cake, everyone was flooded with a great wave of longing" (Esquirel 39). All the guests were wailing over lost love due to Tita's power through her culinary creations. Her emotions flows into her culinary creations-- whoever who eats whatever she makes, feel what she feels.

4) What food metaphors can you find in the first chapter? What effect do they have? What is the connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter? The recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter also has a clear connection. The Apricot Paste recipe to make the cake holds the metaphor for the resentment towards Pedro. The Icing of the Cake recipe holds the metahpor for the emotions of experiencing lost love. The wedding cake that needs so many eggs could also symbolize fertility. All these combine to form a deeper meaning of the novel in this chapter. The eggs are compared to Tita who has potential to create many things but Mama Elena suppresses her just like she cracked the egg. The people who ate the icing felt what Tita felt. After adding all these meaning together, it may be safe to conclude that it foreshadows a bad marriage for Pedro and Rosaura since the wedding cake preparation has its own problems. The wedding cake may be a metaphor for a marriage pact. The food metaphors foreshadows the future. It's magical realism allows the reader to feel the emotions that have been imbeded into the cake.

//More importantly, the wedding cake symbolises Tita's humiliation and her servility to Mama Elena and Rosaura. By contrast, we see her triumph in December when she herself also experiences joy at her niece's wedding. Also, I would suggest it's ironic that she has to spend so much time preparing a wedding cake for the man she herself wants to marry.//


 * March: Quail in Rose Petal Sauce (47-60)** (Lancelot and Joel)

1) How is the 'physicality' of life detailed in this chapter? It was described through the image-rich language of magical realism where the tiniest details of human fantasy are emphasized. This can be seen when Pedro eats the quail dish and allows Tita’s feelings to travel through every corner of his body. Furthermore, the narrator describes how Gertrudis cannot hold the feeling of love within herself ultimately releasing that passion, burning down the shower stall and making love to Juan riding away.

2) What is the price of authoritarianism? Analyze your own response to Mama Elena. The ultimate price is that there is an absence of passionate love in the house and a presence of suffering because Mama Elena simply “kills” all the love there is just as how she cast Pedro and Tita away from each other when Pedro brought Tita roses. “She realized that you can’t be weak when it comes to killing: you have to be strong or it just causes more sorrow. I occurred to her that she could use her mother’s strength right now.” (pg. 49). That quail in some ways symbolizes love and that when one tries to kill love; he/she should be quick and not let it drag along afterwards. For Rosaura, she should not have to suffer and see her husband love someone else. For Tita, she should not have to see her love sleep with other women. This would all not have happened had Mama Elena not force this through her authoritative powers to enforce this and the result is that suffering quail (love).

3) Why is the quail in rose sauce a particularly memorable dish? How do here sister Gertrudis’s experiences affect Tita? It is extremely memorable dish because it is the product of true compassion between Pedro and Tita. Incorporated in the dish is the immense heat from their desire and lust for each other. This explains why Gertrudis “lights on fire” after eating the dish and desires for man. Because she eats the dish and Tita’s passion is conveyed to her through the dish. After seeing Gertrudis run off naked with a man, Tita wishes the same can happen to her too. Secretly she and Pedro want each other but cannot have each other because of Mama Elena. Seeing Gertrudis being able to do so in some ways make her long for that freedom from Mama Elena’s control and enjoy love even more.

4) What food metaphors can you find in this chapter? What effect do they have? What is the connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter? In the first few chapters, the recipes all signify something that tells us about the love present in the novel. The wedding cake symbolizes the “love” between Tita and Pedro because Tita was the one who made that cake and also the one who destroys it. Later, the Quail in Rose Pedal Sauce symbolizes the passion between Pedro and Tita because the rose turned bright red after it was stained with Tita’s blood leading to Gertrudis’s burst of emotions after the consumption of the dish. By integrating these recipes in the novel, Laura emphasizes the love relationships between the characters.


 * __General Questions__**

1. Why is Tita at home in the kitchen? Who else is, and isn’t, and what might this signify? Tita has always been in the kitchen since she was born. Besides Tita, Nacha was also accustomed to the kitchen enviroment. However, Rosaura (after she burned her hand) fears the kitchen and despises those who dwell in it. This signifies the contradictory relationships within the family. Rosaura's hate for the kitchen opposes Tita's love for cooking which emphasizes on their rivalry.

2. How does the youngest daughter rule determine the plot? Why does Mama Elena impose it? The youngest daughter rule determines the plot because it highlights the oppression that Tita goes through. Mama Elena not only imposes it in order to keep a family tradition alive, but also to posses a authoritarian power alive in the house. Since Tita's father died, Mama Elena becomes the figure-head leader of the house, thus becoming somewhat of a dictatorial character.

3. What point of view is adopted in the novel, and what effect does this have? Is the narrative believable? Is it involving? The novel is a third person narration of Tita's life through the narration of Esperanza's daughter. The narrative is believable for the story is similar to a recipe that is passed down from generation to generation; it is a first-hand account recorded by the family.

4. In what ways is Tita’s cooking a power source? Tita's cooking is a power source for it grants her the only absolute power in the house. Being the only qualified cook in the household, Tita (for once) has total control over something that affects the entire family. Whatever she makes, the family must eat.

5. What does the novel have to say in its first chapters about “the way history gets written”?

April: **Turkey Mole with Almonds and Sesame Seeds** **(65-81)** **Brenda and Julien**

1) In what ways does the author explore the idea of satisfying love in this chapter? The idea of satisfying love is incited on page 66 as the author leads up to Pedro and Tita’s meeting in the kitchen. Tita singing and moving around in the kitchen leads to the smells which draw Pedro near to her, sexually aroused. The moment where they connect is the satisfaction of love where both parties participated in their experience. However, with Chencha’s entrance into the kitchen, preventing them from going further, the author might be trying to say that love needs to come in small doses. This is repeated again when Pedro sees her breastfeeding Roberto and Mama Elena’s approach stops them from going further. Thus, when satisfying love, the author has portrayed the idea that you cannot have too much too soon for fear of discovery, especially in a forbidden love like Pedro and Tita’s.

//Also, perhaps the author is showing the eroticism of delayed satisfaction.//

2) How does the author use TIME to create a sense of atmosphere? Within this chapter, there is the use of flashback where the narrator describes how Tita singlehandedly delivered Roberto from Rosaura and took care of the both of them. The flashback helps in explaining Tita’s connection to Roberto. This creates a sense of atmosphere in that the tense situation in the flashback serves to justify the warmth, love, and joy that are throughout the chapter in the kitchen between Tita and Pedro and at the party, when Tita gets to show Roberto off to everyone.

3) What food metaphors can you find in this chapter? What effect do they have? What is the connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter? Not so much metaphors, but food similes are prevalent within this chapter:

-"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." (67) - “It was not a beautiful head; indeed, it was shaped like a cone of brown sugar” (73) -“Wrapped up like a taco, the baby was sleeping peacefully” (73)

The first food simile is used to describe Tita’s soul before and after she has finally reconnected with Pedro after many months of loneliness. The effect is that it makes the reader associate the image of a ball of dough transforming into something as beautiful as a tortilla upon contact with fire and thus understand how Tita’s soul was similarly transformed.

The next two similes have to do with the baby Roberto and serve to foreshadow the boy’s connection with Tita as he is enveloped in food metaphors. The reader can easily imagine the skin tone of the baby with the description of brown sugar and the blankets wrapping him securely with the image of a taco.

The connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter are that the dish served as a passage towards Tita’s discovery that she was able to breastfeed Rosaura’s baby as well as her joy. The joy put into the dish was a result of the pride Tita felt for delivering the baby successfully, and thus affected the baptism guests—giving them a sense of euphoria that Tita put into her work. The completion of the dish immediately preceded Tita’s supernatural discovery that she could breastfeed Roberto, though she had never been pregnant. The use of magical realism connects this recipe with the joy and spirit within Tita’s cooking and let the baptism party be successful.

May: **Chorizo (87-101)- Aileen, Spencer & Andrea**

1) What kind of language does Mama Elena use to control Tita?

Mama Elena always finds fault in everything Tita does for her. She is always critical of her, and uses a critical tone. This causes Tita to try to please her more, but as time passes it makes he feel helpless like a baby pigeon. Tita often bemoans the rebuke she receives from her mother. Mama Elena only gives Tita orders that Tita feels must be obeyed. Tita is being oppressed. Mama Elena is a very authoriative figure that is forceful, manipulative, and demanding. //Language such as 'summons' p95, 'she always got an infinite number of things wrong' p94, show her commanding language. Her Language when she brings the news of Roberto's death is most significant - she is so cold. She just demands both Chencha and Tita get on with their work - 'It annoys me to see you cry.' p.99 She seems devoid of emotion.//

2) What is significant about the movements in language and action towards Tita's rejection of her mother's authority?

Even the general was afraid of Mama Elena's gaze. However, Tita meets her mother's gaze as she rejects her authority. She uses a forceful, rejecting tone. This is the tone that Mama Elena uses.

3) Comment on Tita’s descent into “madness” and departure from the ranch. Throughout the novel, it can be said that the birds are meant to symbolize Tita. Mama Elena shooting the chickens- The chickens being birds symbolizes Tita. Tita’s mother frightens her and she does whatever her mother tells her to do. Sergeants trap the pigeons and doves ( page 91) Tita is being trapped in the house. Specifically the kitchen. However, at the end her mother traps her in the dovecote which is filled with birds. As Tita descents in madness she can not do anything else but feed the baby pigeon which reminds her of Roberto. She is emotionally and physically corrupted by her mother's forceful personality. " Unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, destroying, or dominating, Mama Elena was a pro." ( page 97) In this quote Tita reveals her views of her mother and what her mother does to not just her but everything around her. The author provided this scene of Tita becoming mad to reveal the character flaws that Tita attains. She isn't always so strong and isn't two dimensional. There is more to Tita, that not only the mother isn't aware of but the reader too.

//I don't think the birds symbolize Tita, but perhaps they do help us to understand her state of mind at various points in the novel, as well as showing Mam Elena's personality. We see her character developed through how she treats food, animals and birds, and people.//

4) What food metaphors can you find in the first chapter? What effect do they have? What is the connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter? -The violent watermelon slicing. It can be associated with how Mama Elena is destroying Tita's life. " Unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, destroying, or dominating, Mama Elena was a pro." ( page 97) In this quote Tita reveals her views of her mother and what her mother does to not just her but everything around her. -How the chorizos end up having worms in them after Mama Elena prepares them (since Tita is gone from the ranch, or locked up with the doves). The worms in the food symbolize Mama Elena's cold hearted emotions that cause the food to go bad. It needs Tita's touch.

June: **A Recipe for Making Matches (107-118) - Ashley** and Charlotte :)

1) Apart from not wanting to, what other clues are given in this and all the previous chapters why Tita will not speak? She's too upset because of Roberto's death, which is demonstrated by the baby pigeon. She also refused to build a relationship with Alex showing her want to avoid pain again. She was like a mother to Roberto and his death nearly killed her, especially when Mama Elena put even more pressure on her. This caused her to "crack" and because of everything she experienced in such a short time, she couldn't speak any more.

2) Review the first half of the novel and ask yourself if there is any plausible analysis which makes sense of Mama Elena's pursuit of power. //Perhaps we need to look at the social and political context of the novel. She is a "weak" woman in charge of a ranch alone, with no husband to support or defend her. Perhaps she feels that she needs to maintain absolute control of her family in order to retain the ranch and defend it from attack - she wants to protect the family as a whole, their property and status, and to do this she thinks everyone must obey her will. Additionally, if the ranch represents Mexico as a whole it is possible that she represents the authority figure(s) who the revolutionaries (Tita) wish to overthrow.// Well, Mama Elena seems to be quite a sad person. Maybe she wants Tita to be the same as her, sad and a generally mean person.

3) What food metaphors can you find in the first chapter? What effect do they have? What is the connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter?

The recipe in this chapter is the recipe for matches, which is technically not food. However, Tita portrays the process of making matches as the process of preparing a meal. This is the one recipe in the book that John prepares, rather than Tita. John teaches Tita how to make the matches and shows her how phosphorus and oxygen burst into flame at elevated temperatures. He then tells Tita that everyone has the elements in our bodies that are needed to produces phosphorus, but we need to discover what will set off the explosions to nurture our soul. The matches and phosphorus provide a metaphor that helps Tita understand her own situation. She knows what sets off her explosions, but each time she lights a match, it is blown out. The inner fire symbolizes Tita's journey to becoming an individual. //Fair enough, but in my opinion the matches symbolize the// //spark of passion rather than her journey. I think her journey is represented by her silence. In my view, it's ironic that John teaches her about how to make matches or create passion, when he himself as a lover cannot spark that passion in her.//


 * __General Questions__**

1. What are we to make of the miracle of Tita breast feeding Roberto?

2. Explain who “the Kikapu” is and why she is important to the story.

3. What is unusual about the packing of Gertrudis’ suitcase? What do we learn about the relationships of sisters from the packing?


 * July Ox-Tail Soup (123-139)** Charlotte And Aileen :D

1) Who should Tita marry? John or Pedro? Tita should marry Pedro. We think this because it is him she feels true love for. Yes, he caused her a lot of pain, but this is because of societal rules, the youngest daughter must not get married and she must care for the mother. Tita is the youngest daughter, so according to tradition, she has to take care of the mother for the remainder of her life. If Pedro could have had his way then he would've married Tita, but she wasn't allowed to be married, as was aforementioned. If Tita had actually married Dr. Brown, that would be too painful for both of them as Tita would never be truly happy and Dr. Brown would think she loved him. Tita may have developed feelings for Dr. Brown but she'd never be able to forget Pedro.

2) Comment on the significance of stories and lies in this chapter. Well, Chencha was going to lie to Mama Elena about Tita. She was going to describe Tita as being an escaped lunatic now begging on the street when Tita is actually doing ok in Dr. Brown's house. However, she never gets to this because she gets raped. Perhaps Esquival does this to show

3) What food metaphors can you find in the first chapter? What effect do they have? What is the connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter?


 * August Champandongo (145-159) Brenda Lee**

1) In what ways are needs set out in this chapter?

-The ritual need to make the Champandongo and her own need to impress John. -Pedro's need for Tita's body and this is expressed through his two attempts to consumate his love with Tita on the stairs and outside the shower which finally gets fulfilled when they made love in the dark room. -Esperanza's need for Tita's warmth and the kitchen environment. (The baby required Tita to bring the pot into Rosaura's room because she needed that warmth she was used to in the kitchen. Also, she cried all day long when she got the hint that Tita was going to get married and leave her.

Need- to keep Esperanza from the same fate that she has Pedro's needs for her to not marry John war with her own individual choices-she's choosing John to hurt Pedro and seek a better, more stable life Pedro is denied his need to consummate his love with Tita 2 times

2) How might Tita lose by marrying Pedro?

Sense of security with John as well as right to have children Cannot make it public and cannot have children to help Esperanza. Marry Pedro-loses sister and Esperanza Which ever choice she makes, John or Pedro, she loses somethings and gains others. -If she marries Pedro, she will get to experience true passionate love, but she will not be able to have children with Pedro based on the agreement she made with Rosaura. -On the other hand, if she marries John, she will have security, a stable life and children. However, she loses that spark of passion in her.

3) What food metaphors can you find in the first chapter? What effect do they have? What is the connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter?

Food metaphor- "Tita was literally "like water for chocolate"--she was on the verge of boiling over." (151) Effect: The reader has a mental image to associate with the extent of Tita's rage towards Pedro, as "nobody had an explanation for his behavior; some believed the thoguht of not having any more children hurt him deeply." (151) "She felt her head about to burst, like a kernel of popcorn." (151)

The Yeast on Bread - Simile of her Anger "The anger she felt within her acted like yeast on bread dough. She felt its rapid rising, flowing into every last recess of her body; like yeast in a small bowl, it spilled over to the outside, escaping in the form of steam through her ears, nose and all her pores." -pg.149

"If only Rosaura had burned her mouth to a crisp! And had never let those words leak out, those foul, filthy, frightful, repulsive, revolting, unreasonable words. Better to have swallowed them and kept them deep in her bowels until they were putrid and worm-eaten." -pg. 150


 * September Chocolate and Three Kings Day Bread (165-181) Joel & Julien**

1) How is loneliness suggested in this chapter? Tita is alone in the house because of her pregnancy. Not only is it a problem to her relationship with Pedro and Rosaura, it also distances her from them as well. Her assumed child makes it harder for Tita to talk to Pedro, for she is afraid of the repercussions that may ensue if people found out. Ironically, a child (something that should bring a famliy closer together) creates distance between Tita and Pedro. In addition to Tita, Rosaura feels her own sense of lonliness in the chapter. Due to her fat and flatulence, Pedro becomes physically distance from her (he has always been mentally distant from her). We believe that Esquirel expresses his thought that loneliness comes out of memories of times that evoked togetherness rather than isolation from the world.

2) What advice would you give to Tita about her situation? I would advise Tita to talk to Pedro because it is equally his child as well as hers. He, in a way, forced himself on Tita in the dark room in October.

3) What food metaphors can you find in the first chapter? What effect do they have? What is the connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter? The chocolate and bread both represent Tita and Rosaura's past. Both recipes evoke memories of a better time; for Tita it was her time with Nacha, and Rosaura's memories were those of her mother's house.


 * __General Questions__**


 * 1) What secret does Tita discover about her mother’s past?


 * 1) How is Esperanza like Tita?

October Cream Fritters (187-203)

1) How far do you think this chapter deals in attractive lies?

- Tita wants to be pregnant, but finds out she is not. phantom pregnancy. shows what she actually wants. social and emotional truth.

2) What food metaphors can you find in the first chapter? What effect do they have? What is the connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter?

Cream Fitters- dessert!

Egg- fertility. Smashes eggs- abortion of pregnancy. White, light, beaten, fluffy eggs, Sweet syrup that boils in water. ->as the recipe unwinds, so does the TRUTH. Maybe that is an attractive lie too- the recipe is sweet and light- contradicts Tita's emotions- she actually does want the baby and is depressed!

November Beans with Chile Tezcucana-style (209-224)

1) What is the nature of gratitude in this chapter? The apparent gratitude in this chapter appears in Tita. Tita feels gratitude for John Brown and his aunt, for treating her in such a good manner. However, it is crucial that the gratitude does not equal to Tita's true love. In this chapter, even Tita herself cannot distinguish between the two feelings, so that it makes her feel very convoluted. Considering the usually friendly nature of the word "gratitude", it is very ironic that the very gratitude is indeed making Tita very painful and confused.

2) Which of the two sisters has 'right' on her side? I may be biased in my answer to this question. Rosaura has married Pedro legally and thus may have the 'right' on her side. But according to the moral code in this story, Tita backs herself up with the notion that Pedro and Tita are in love for a long time. Tita says "i had the same right to marry as you did, and you had no right to stand between two people who were deeply in love" (Esquirel 213). This is true, so i believe that Tita originally has the 'right' on her side. Thus, she has the most 'right.' Rosaura only justifies her actions based on the family traditions of suppressing the youngest daughter. 3) What food metaphors can you find in the first chapter? What effect do they have? What is the connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel in this chapter?

TORTILLAS- "All the while she was arguing with Rosaura she kept breaking off chunks of tortilla, until she has divided them all into minuscule pieces" (Esquirel 216-217). All of Tita's anger in her argument with Rosaura is transferred into the tortilla pieces. So when she feeds them to the chickens, the chickens all had so much anger in themselves that they fought each other. TAMALES- "Tita remembered that Nacha had always said that when people argue while preparing tamales, the tamales won't get cooked" (Esquirel 218-219). Tita needs to sing with joy in order for the tamales to cook. The cooked tamales may represent Tita herself. She needs love like the tamales to become happy/cooked. The connection between the recipe and the meaning of the novel is anger. Anger in Tita is transferred to the culinary cooking she is making. The magical realism of anger in the cooking effects the reader greatly for it allows the reader to feel what Tita felt. It also seems to justifies Tita's anger. This makes the reader support Tita more.

December Chiles in Walnut Sauce (229-246)

1) In what ways is this final chapter emotionally satisfying? "She let herself go to the encounter, and they wrapped each other in a long embrace; again experiencing an amorous climax, they left together for the lost Eden. Never again would they be apart." Tita is free from the bonds of society and is happy.

2) What aspects of the writing may/may not contribute to that?


 * __General Questions__**


 * 1) How would you characterize John Brown’s reaction to Tita’s revelation about her and Pedro?


 * 1) Do Tita and Mama Elena love each other? Does Mama Elena’s secret redeem her?


 * 1) What does Esperanza’s life represent?

1. What is the meaning/relevance of the recipes? -relevant to novel’s structure (women’s monthly magazine) -recipes have thematic relevance to events in chapters -recipes provide foreshadow/symbol -recipes express the emotions of the characters in each chapter -the cook book is Tita’s personal ‘diary’…she shows an alternate view on women’s history -it was Tita’s only way of control within the house
 * __ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS__**

2. What’s the meaning of the title and why is it only mentioned once? -“like water for chocolate” represents Tita’s boiling point and her climax of frustration -it is a common Spanish saying to express anger -(Ms. Kemsley) John is the water and Pedro is the chocolate; Tita chooses water over chocolate therefore “like water for chocolate”

3. What is the signifiance of the: fire/quilt/birds in the novel? //fire:// -passion //quilt:// -comfort //birds:// -thwarted fertility

4. How does the author use paradox and irony in the novel? //paradox:// -kitchen is a prison, yet a refuge -food nurtures people, but Tita’s cooking kills Mama Elena, Nacha, and Rosaura -the house is a place of love, but the daughters must leave to find love -Mama Elena’s character is a paradox; she is supposed to love, but she oppresses //irony:// -Mama Elena oppresses Tita for finding true love, but she also harbored a forbidden love -one does not need to be the biological mother to raise children (Tita and Roberto/Nacha and Tita) -Tita finds happiness through death, yet death is a thing of despair -John teaches Tita about the ‘lighting of one’s matches’, yet he will never ‘light’ Tita’s love -fire is an archetypal symbol of pain and suffering, yet Esquriel uses it to show passion

5. If Tita’s touch with food shows her nurturing caring personality, then why does her food kill Rosaura and Mama Elena? -though Tita is a caring and loving character, subconsciously she hates Mama Elena and Rosaura thus ‘poison’ them through her food -Tita’s cooking shows her nurturing personality, so when Mama Elena and Rosaura eat the food it kills them because she are not caring

6. Why is John such a perfect yet ‘bland’ character? -John is perfect, but he is too 2D (he does not have the passion and life that Pedro does)

7. What do the doves represent? -they represent freedom (when Tita and Pedro make free love for the first time, they fly away)

8. Why is religion largely absent in the novel? -religion sets limits of how one must behave; in order to make the audience to empathize with Tita, Esquirel takes religion out because it causes the reader to judge her secular behaviour