Destiny v. Desire.

Lauren Hoff

IB World Literature 2

Dr. Killduff

September 13, 2004

Destiny v. Desire

Laura Esquivel believed that although everyone is born into a certain destiny, many people fight that destiny for their desires. In her book, Like Water for Chocolate, this is exactly what the main character goes through. Tita, the main character, is told by her mother that she can never marry, since she is the youngest child, even though the love of her life, Pedro, has asked for her hand in marriage. This sets off a chain of affects within Tita, as she has many ways of fighting her destiny. She puts her emotions through food, causing reactions in everyone that eats her meals. She also practices flat out rebellion with her mother, getting so frustrated her mother tries to send her an asylum. Along with her rebellion, she carried on a relationship with Pedro, even while he was married to her sister, Rosaura. All three of these examples are ways that Tita fights her destiny for her desire of being with Pedro.

In the De la Garza family, it is tradition for the youngest daughter to stay unwed and take care of the mother until the mother dies. Tita, being the youngest, has to take on the responsibility of things like “preparing Mama Elena’s bath…” which was “quite a ceremony.” (pg.93). Things like these were Tita’s everyday tasks. To Mama Elena, having Tita care for her was a tradition she was not willing to break. During the time of the Mexican revolution, the time the Esquivel set the story, tradition was something not messed with. Being pampered with such things like the “ceremonial bath” is all that Mama Elena has left of her woman hood, since she has become the head of the ranch, taking over the mans job, when her husband died. It is obvious that she does not want to give up this little bit she has left. Tita, who has found the love of her life can not help but be completely opposite of Mama Elena’s views. She believes that the tradition is not something to be held up. Tita thinks of the tradition as “…foul, filthy, frightful repulsive, revolting, unreasonable…” (pg.151), especially when Rosaura lets it be known that her only child, Esperanza, will have to carry out the tradition. Since Tita can not marry Pedro, he marries her sister Rosaura, to be closer to Tita. In this case, not only is Tita fighting her own destiny, but her love is also helping her fight it. He is putting himself closer to her, making her desire even stronger than is has been previously. Once again, Mama Elena holds onto her tradition, by “not letting her out of her sight for a single instant” (pg.79) to make sure her and Pedro do not try to kindle their love affair.

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To fight this tradition, Tita uses two forms of rebellion, the first being with her food, which she used early on in the story. Tita was taught by the cook Chencha, at a very young age the culinary arts. Tita’s cooking often has an effect on people, to the point that when they eat her meals, they felt the same emotions that Tita had while cooking the meal. Her cooking is a way of acting out against the tradition because the emotions brought on that are “cooked” into her foods often times are caused by her love and passion for Pedro or her bitterness towards her mother for not letting her be with Pedro. For example, when at Pedro and Rosaura’s wedding, the cake “seized the guests and scattered them across the patio and the grounds and in the bathrooms, all of the wailing over a lost love” (pg.39), just as Tita had done for Pedro while making the cake. By doing this, this was Tita’s early stages of fighting her mother’s tradition and her destiny. These attempts were almost subconscious, since Tita did not intend to stir her emotions into the food she prepared.

As the story went on, Tita moved from subtle attempts, to blunt attempts to let her mother know she would not deal with her tradition any longer. After Mama Elena had sent Pedro, Rosaura and their new son Roberto to San Antonio, Tita began to show more verbal and visual attempts at fighting for her desires. While her mother is criticizing her, Tita finally lets out “I’m sick of obeying you!” (pg.99). This causes Tita to almost go insane, clutching the only thing she has left, a baby pigeon which eventually dies in her arms. Tita has never before fought against her mother, or her destiny. It’s almost as if she is confused and not sure what to do now that she has somewhat of freedom. Mama Elena tries to place her in an asylum, but instead Tita goes to Dr. John Brown’s house. When Tita returns from Dr. Browns to take care of her mother, it is her old subconscious way of fighting her destiny that eventually causes Mama Elena’s death. Mama Elena will not eat the soup Tita makes her “because it is nasty and bitter…” (pg.130). Mama Elena thinks it is poisoned and will not eat it. Although in truth subconsciously Tita is making the soup bitter since this is the way she feels towards her mother, just as she had made the weeding cake. Since she will not eat, Mama Elena eventually dies.

Through this journey of hardship, Tita eventually wins her desire, Pedro, over her destiny and “Never again would they be apart” (pg.245) Laura Esquivel has always been interested in the “relationship between outer reality and inner desire”, and in this novel she explores this relationship to the fullest extent. Tita’s long journey turns out victorious in the end, just as Esquivel believes it is the only way to find your true self.

Works Cited

Esquivel, Laura, Like Water for Chocolate; 1992, Double Day, United States

Esquivel, Laura, Salon Magazine (from prompt handout)