Like Water For Chocolate Pro-Feminism Essay

Superior Essays
Like Water for Chocolate; a Pro-Feminist Novel?
Like Water For Chocolate is a strong example of a pro-feminism book. A feminist book is a book in which female characters are described as being able to do the things men do with the same result or better. The proof of Like Water for Chocolate being a feminist book lies in two of the story’s female characters, Gertrudis and Tita. They are both strong, realistic characters, who are not afraid to be who they are. These women are also placed in the position of power, while men are dragged along by the women’s actions. The story revolves around the action of these characters and other women, and it is because of this role reversal that Like Water for Chocolate is a feminist novel.
In the majority of classic literature, men are the main characters, with women filling the roles of love interests and background characters. Another common theme is that men are usually driven by their emotions and their need to do
…show more content…
She is the first of the three sisters to free herself from Mama Elena’s dominion, and does so by riding away on horseback with Juan Alejandrez, who at the time was a captain of the rebels. A couple days later, the family finds out from a parish priest, Father Ignacio, that Gertrudis had ended up at a brothel on the border. Mama Elena then proceeds to disown Gertrudis. Some years later, Gertrudis returns to the ranch and the ranch and tells everyone that she had risen to the rank of general in the army. In a display of feminism, Esquirel states that Gertrudis “. . . began a rapid ascent through powerful positions until she came to the top.” (Page 179), showing that she had surpassed everybody, including men, to become one of the leaders in the army. Within the period of a couple of years, Gertrudis had gone from the typical stereotype of an obedient, domestic, and powerless woman to a woman in command of hundreds of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Traditions in Like Water For Chocolate deviate a lot. The main two traditions that are existent in the duration of the novel help to construct the plot and mood, as well as develop the antagonist, Mama Elena. Large family meals, a symbol of communion, are very habitual in the central and southern American cultures and are typically prepared on a communal basis with multiple different people working together. This in of itself is a hallmark of the commendable tradition many families enjoy. A contrapositive tradition practiced is the youngest daughter staying home to care for her mother at old ages.…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In literature, the role and function of women varies depending on the author. Particularly in the past, there were playwrights who portrayed women as frail, passive figures to be only used as pawns for mistreatment from men. We can see this portrayal in William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, as well as Arthur Miller’s, Death of a Salesman. The female characters in these two plays are to be considered as two-dimensional characters that only serve to help develop their male counterparts character. However, a closer study reveals that the true roles these female characters took on had purpose; for some, they were the most prominent characters of the play.…

    • 106 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The novel Like Water for Chocolate written by Laura Esquivel is a love story like no other I have read. As soon as I started reading this novel the main characters Tita and her mother, Mama Elena jumped out at me because they share similarities and differences to my Mother Engracia and my grandmother Ignacia who also went by Nacha for short. Engracia like the protagonist in the novel, Tita suffered emotional and verbal abuse from her mother. However, Engracia was different from Tita because she never ran away from her problems, but instead decided to face them even when she was suffering from her mother’s abuse. Nacha and Mama Elena are both not only strict, but cold and emotionless towards their daughters.…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The love between a mother and daughter is very important to the mother and daughter. It can be shown in many different ways, including tough love but how far is too far? Like Water for Chocolate is about the De la Garza family. The narrator is Tita's great- niece. She tells the story of Tita’s forbidden love with Pedro who marries her older sister Rosaura and other important details of Tita’s life.…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    For whatever reason, writers tend to categorize female characters more strictly than they do male characters. Generally using the “Big 8” archetypes, women are placed into confining molds with little to no room for variation. Whether they play the role of the sweet, virginal Innocent or the plain and wise Sage, women, especially when written by male authors, rarely exhibit the same complex personalities as their male counterparts. Even worse, authors sometimes pervert these archetypes, exaggerating the worst qualities of each, as seen in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.…

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She has to cook for them so the family can move on in life, When Mama Elena was paralyzed Tita had to cook for Mama Elena, but she told her she can’t cook because she is afraid that Tita might try to poison her so she put Chencha in the kitchen. These are just a few of the characters/examples of how “Like Water for Chocolate” shows feminism in the novel. Between being in charge, being aggressive, and being in charge in the kitchen, there are many forms of feminism in this. This is important because many women in the world today are still being treated unequally.…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Like Water for Chocolate; a Pro-Feminist Novel Like Water For Chocolate is a firm example of a pro-feminism book. A feminist book is a book in which female characters are capable of doing all the things men do, with an equivalent result or better. The proof of Like Water for Chocolate being a feminist book lies with two of the story’s main female characters, Gertrudis and Tita. They are both strong, realistic characters, who are not afraid to be who they are. These women are also placed in the position of power, while men are yanked along by the women’s actions.…

    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel is a fictional novel focusing on the women of the De La Garza particularly the conflict between Tita and Mama Elena her mother. Right away the conflict between traditions of what a woman should be, Mama Elena telling Tita she could not marry until she died, and Tita desiring to be with the man she loved. There are many other relationships important in the story for example Tita and Rosaura pointing out the difference between desirable and undesirable woman. The novel also goes into male roles and the difference between the roles they possess and how they are different and at times similar. The main male roles are that of Pedro, Dr. John Brown, and the soldiers in the revolutionary army.…

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Each story has many perspectives: the ones of women, men, children, the powerful, the powerless, the conqueror and the conquered. A different side of the story is brought to light by each new perspective, all of them immensely influenced by culture and society. In societies all over the world, women are seen as inferior to men with minuscule powers or rights. Strongly influenced by culture, these ideals are set in society as gender roles. While some societies grow by taking into account new values, attitudes and behaviors, other societies still place weight on traditional gender roles.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Literature written during the Anglo Saxon period focuses on the importance of male roles and their ability to shape the outcome of a nation. Many of the Anglo Saxon texts depict women in very traditional social roles reflecting their given status quo, whereas men are depicted as heroes, Lords, Knights, and kings. Men are stereotypically known to influence both leadership and political power in society. As a result, Anglo Saxon literature was written from the male perspective, it focuses largely on the masculinity of patriarchal society and exemplifying how women are often overlooked and their experiences considered trivial. After a close reading of Beowulf, it is clear that women compose a significant portion of this narrative.…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, is a dystopian novel narrated by a handmaid named Offred who’s one purpose in life is to conceive children. Atwood is known for including bits of feminism in her work, but The Handmaid’s Tale takes things to the extreme. Feminism is an ideology that promotes the equality of both men and women, and it has been an issue for centuries. In Canada, women did not get the right to vote until the early 1920’s and women were not accepted into the workforce until the late 1950’s (Statcan). The Handmaid’s Tale represents feminism in an antifeminist environment through male supremacy, restrictions on women, and point of view.…

    • 1675 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This means that women are somewhat under-represented in plays. They are considered as secondary characters to men and are only in the storyline to substantiate a male character’s life. Literature Review According to (Wilfred. L.Guerin, 2005), feminism is not just about white, educated and heterosexual women but it is about…

    • 1795 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Epitome of Masculinity There is no grey area when dealing with the expectations of men and women in a tribalistic society; there is only black or white. Men and women are on completely different ends of the spectrum regarding how society perceives them. In the Igbo culture, men are considered the head of family and society while women are considered caretakers and are subordinate to men. Men are expected to have an active and aggressive personality while women, however, are expected to be subservient and passive. These expectations shape how society is supposed to be and influence the decisions of individuals.…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Attaining independence through opposing gender roles in the 1600-1800 In the play Twelfth Night and the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen female and male characters experience a phenomenon that had rarely been seen before in this time period. Gender roles had been an important part of history since the beginning of time and seemed to be respected and followed by citizen of all kind in England during the 1600-1800. Society had expectations for women and men and how they were expected to act, the assumption that women and men had to act their certain ways had been challenged and faced immediate qualification. Men were anticipated to be strong, willing and brave while women had to essentially be background noise in the focus of their lives.…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Feminism is the act of women’s right on the perspective of equality of the opposite sex. Women are presented as an element of this patriarchal world. In today’s society, we see examples of this in literature stories. In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, women are portrayed as longing for affection, whereas in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, women are depicted as having the sense of freedom and self-awareness.…

    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays