How is freedom attained by breaking cultural traditions and norms by certain characters in Like Water for Chocolate and Chronicle of a Death Foretold

International Baccalaureate World Literature

What more could a person want then to have freedom? Revenge. Only human would want to gain back their satisfaction – freedom – however, revenge is their only answer. In like ‘Water for Chocolate,’ written by Laura Esquivel, and ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold,’ written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, we begin to understand why such beings would want to have this freedom. Tita the protagonist in Like Water for Chocolate is screaming for freedom, she wants her mother to leave her alone and she wants to marry Pedro. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Pedro and Pablo have been ‘enforced’ to carry out a duty in which to wipe out the man who has dishonored their family name, the man who has slept with their sister, Angela Vicario.

In Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel describes the pain and sorrow Tita tries to break free from. Tita is in a cage, locked up from her love, locked up from her life and locked up from her freedom. She struggles to gain her free will and encounters many fights and disputes with her mother, Mama Elena “Tita let out a long sigh.”(Page 30) Tita expresses her freedom through the art of cooking, “The batter wouldn’t thicken because Tita kept crying…” (Page 40), however, in February, she made a wedding cake for her sister Rosaura (who is marrying Pedro), so emotional that those who ate it felt nauseous “…she was swept away in a raging, rotting river for several yards; then she couldn’t hold back anymore, and she spewed out great noisy mouthfuls of vomit…” This was her revenge against her mother and her sister. Tita’s passion for cooking got back Rosaura, Mama Elena, and those who ate from the cake. In March, Tita cooked up ‘Quail in Rose Petal Sauce.’ The roses were from Pedro, and Mama Elena demanded Tita to dispose of them. “With that meal it seemed they had discovered a new system of communication, in which Tita was the transmitter, Pedro the receiver, and poor Gertrudis the medium…” Gertrudis has engaged with the passion Tita was transmitting to Pedro. Gertrudis felt free once the wooden walls of the shower fell, “…and she ran out of the little enclosure just as she was, completely naked.” (page 51) Her nudity symbolizes her freedom. Tita’s dish was a reflection of how she wanted to be, however, it reflected on Gertrudis who unlocked herself from her cage. In December Tita has reunited with Pedro “…Tita no longer gave a damn either about what people would say when their love affair was made public.” She has broken free, she is now with Pedro, her mother is dead and she got her revenge. She got her freedom.

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In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez describes a burden Angela Vicario carries. The burden of being a non virgin. Pedro and Pablo, Angela’s brothers, are given the opportunity to restore honor to their family. Angela Vicario was set to marry Baryado San Roman. He was the perfect description of a man. “He looked like a fairy” (page 26). Angela did not really want to marry Bayardo, she felt as if he was too much of a man for her. “ The only thing I can remember is that she was holding me by the hair with one hand and beating me with the other with such rage that I thought she was going to kill me…I was no longer frightened…” (Page 46) Santiago Nasar was the man she claimed to have slept with “…she nailed it to the wall with her well-aimed dart, like a butterfly with no will whose sentence has always been written.” (Page 47). The burden has been lifted off her shoulders. It was now up to her Brothers to gain back the honor again. Santiago Nasar had to die.

In both books, Like Water for Chocolate and Chronicle of a Death Foretold, both authors use the burden and sadness to describe the cage Tita and Angela were trapped in. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, honor killing is the revenge in which Angela gains her freedom, the burden has been lifted, however, in Like Water for Chocolate, Tita’s revenge has been passed on through her passion of cooking, and she faces her mother’s ghost and reunites with Pedro. Both authors have expressed the anxiety of the characters, and the trouble they go through. Angela, like Tita wishes to be free from carrying the burden of being a non virgin, however, Tita wishes to escape her mother’s torture.

In the Latin American books, Like Water for Chocolate, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the traditions are slightly similar. The women are the sufferers. Gabriel Garcia Marquez mentions in his book that “The girls had been reared to get married…the brothers were brought up to be men.” In Like Water for Chocolate, the youngest child is not allowed to get married, she had to stay at home and help her mother and family. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, becoming impure before marriage is a sin, thus honor killing has to be involved.

Revenge is what a person could want more than freedom. To become free, revenge is the factor in which the characters took upon. In like ‘Water for Chocolate,’ written by Laura Esquivel, and ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold,’ written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Tita and Angela become free towards the end, Tita dies with Pedro whilst making passionate love and Angela is free because Santiago is Dead, the honor is stored.

How is freedom attained by breaking cultural traditions and norms by certain characters in Like Water for Chocolate and Chronicle of a Death Foretold

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