From the start, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, is driven by food. The plot of each story is characterized and based upon the recipe of each specific chapter. Esquivel often combines magic realism with the traditional mexican dishes to twist the plot and reveal her themes throughout the story. The main character Tita is passionate about cooking and in turn, her own emotions often boil over into the food itself. This causes the food to take on magic realistic properties and effects herself and those around her. From birth to childhood and teen to adult, Tita treats food preparation with respect and puts her heart sweat and tears into cooking.
The first month of this recipe story is a dish known as Christmas Rolls. A key part …show more content…
Tita is assigned by her mother to assist Nancha in the kitchen with the baking of the cake. Titas sadness brings sour and bitter tears that cloud her eyes and fall as if they were rain drops. Upon seeing this, Nancha tells Tita “I know how you feel so stop crying, you're getting the meringue watery. “ (35) This is important because Nancha relates to Tita telling her she understands her suffering that Mama Elena has brought. Nancha conects with Tita on levels beyond friendship through hours of talking in the kitchen and mentoring Tita. At the wedding when the people eat the cake, Tita's tears in the meringue bring about magic realism once again and the bitterness causes everyone to vomit and her own sister to fall into it. Mama Elena is furious and Tita recalls being “more worried about saving her own skin than anything else.” (41) Tita in the beginning of the story shows timidness and fear while later in the story she finally stands up to Mama …show more content…
When Tita was sad so was the food, when Tita was passionate so was the food. Tieing in her emotions so closely to food through magic realism allowed Esquivel to reveal to the audience Tita's emotions on a much deeper level than typical structure of a story. Titas struggles and triumphs in her social relationships all had food as the basis of the relationship, without food Tita would have kept her emotions inside and would not of had the opportunity to express
The first month of this recipe story is a dish known as Christmas Rolls. A key part …show more content…
Tita is assigned by her mother to assist Nancha in the kitchen with the baking of the cake. Titas sadness brings sour and bitter tears that cloud her eyes and fall as if they were rain drops. Upon seeing this, Nancha tells Tita “I know how you feel so stop crying, you're getting the meringue watery. “ (35) This is important because Nancha relates to Tita telling her she understands her suffering that Mama Elena has brought. Nancha conects with Tita on levels beyond friendship through hours of talking in the kitchen and mentoring Tita. At the wedding when the people eat the cake, Tita's tears in the meringue bring about magic realism once again and the bitterness causes everyone to vomit and her own sister to fall into it. Mama Elena is furious and Tita recalls being “more worried about saving her own skin than anything else.” (41) Tita in the beginning of the story shows timidness and fear while later in the story she finally stands up to Mama …show more content…
When Tita was sad so was the food, when Tita was passionate so was the food. Tieing in her emotions so closely to food through magic realism allowed Esquivel to reveal to the audience Tita's emotions on a much deeper level than typical structure of a story. Titas struggles and triumphs in her social relationships all had food as the basis of the relationship, without food Tita would have kept her emotions inside and would not of had the opportunity to express