Tita’s rebellion is a critical moment in the Esquivel’s novel as it is the first time that she has done this directly to her mother. When Chencha informs Tita and Mama Elena about the death of Roberto, it provokes Tita to tell her that she is “sick of obeying” (89) her orders. Mama Elena responds by smashing her across the face with a wooden spoon and Tita accuses her, saying she “killed Roberto” (89). Through these quotes, Esquivel exposes the strength of Tita as she has refused to conform to her mother’s rules, and has broken the control that Mama Elena has so flagrantly had over her. The situation makes the reader question what is about to happen due to Mama Elena vile personality. Further more the rebellion of Tita impacts the novel immensely as it results in Dr. Brown taking in Tita to care for her after her alleged breakdown.
Tita takes awhile to adjust to her freedom at Dr. Browns’ house due to the fact that she is used to being controlled. When Tita was at her house “what she had to do with her hands was strictly determined, no questions asked.” (98). For this reason, when she goes to Dr. Browns house and realizes she does not have the duties like at her home, she does not know what to do. She does not have to “fix breakfast, feed the animals, [and] wash the dishes” (98) and “she had never decided for herself before” (99). Therefore, Esquivel uses this part of the novel to emphasize the impact of the control Mama Elena has over Tita. The readers are also impacted as they now see how control can destroy a person’s independence and makes them wonder how one can cope with such restraint. Esquivel illustrates how Tita copes with this by her relation with food.
The emotion Tita puts into the food she prepares controls the emotions of the people who eat it. For instance, Tita “kept crying” (31) into the batter of the wedding cake she was making for Rosaura and Pedro’s wedding. As a result when the guests ate the cake they started “weeping” (39) and then were “wailing over lost love” (39). Therefore, because Tita put her sorrow into the cake, the guests became overwhelmed with despair when they ate it, which indeed shows the impact of her emotions put into food. Another example of Tita’s control over emotions through her food is when Pedro gave Tita roses. Mama Elena told her to discard them but instead of throwing them away Tita made a rose petal sauce. “Tita’s blood and the roses from Pedro proved quite an explosive combination” (48) since while making the sauce she was thinking about how much she longed for Pedro. The food impacted Gertrudis greatly as “on her the food seemed to act as an aphrodisiac” (48). In this situation, the lust that Tita put into the food resulted in Gertrudis becoming naked and she tried getting a shower due to the fact that “an intense heat” (49) was causing her to “sweat” (49). Furthermore the sweat smelt like roses and “the scent of roses given off by her body” (51) was smelt by Juan- a solider- who went to Gertrudis and made love to her. It is said that “a higher power was controlling his emotions” (51) which shows that Tita controlled the feelings of the ones who ate her food. Although Juan did not eat the food directly, the smell coming off of Gertrudis who did eat it was enough to control his emotions. Therefore, the feelings Tita puts into food impacts the characters throughout Esquivel’s novel by controlling their emotions and indeed, their reactions. In addition to this, the fact that Gertrudis took a shower to try to cool her down is significant because it shows the importance of controlling temperature in the novel.
In Esquivel’s novel the need to control temperature is prevalent among the characters whereas cold represents devoid of emotion. After Tita found out that Pedro and Rosaura were going to marry each other she described an “infinite coldness” (18) in her heart. Thereafter, the narrator went on to say that she couldn’t “free herself from that cold” (21) “for as long as she lived” (21). The reaction from Tita exemplifies the lack of love Tita is feeling. In other words Tita could not alleviate the pain she felt of not being able to be with the one she loves, Pedro and thus, the cold represents this pain. On the contrary heat refers to love. While Tita is at Dr. Brown’s house his “warmth towards her” (98) made her feel better each day. This quote describes how Dr. Brown loves her and subsequently illustrates how love makes one feel. The most significant illustration of the need to control temperature is in the title itself and is also the moral of Esquivel’s novel. When making chocolate the temperature of the water needs to stay under control. “When the water comes to the boil for the first time, remove it from the heat and dissolve the chocolate completely; beat with a chocolate-mill until it is smoothly blended with the water” (162). The water is then returned to the heat two more times then removed and beaten. This relates to Tita tremendously because being too heated with passion is equally as harmful as being too cold with despair. Moreover, this impacts Tita and the reader because it teaches them that passion and despair needs to be controlled like water for chocolate. In addition to this, the fact that love and sadness is demonstrated in the making of chocolate, it serves as a critical metaphor in Esquivel’s novel.
To hyphen the impact of control in the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel uses literacy devices such as imagery. The way the author describes Mama Elena’s cruel personality, symbolizes the control she has over Tita; this is shown when the author states that “Mama Elena was merciless, killing with a single blow” (47). This quote demonstrates that Mama Elena kills quickly but on the other hand “she had been killing [Tita] a little at a time since she was a child” (47). This is symbolic because due to the control Mama Elena exerts on Tita she makes an “exception” (47) for her and is “killing’ (47) her throughout her life. Though Mama Elena is not physically killing her, the killing represents the pain and hurt she afflicts on Tita.
Throughout Esquivel’s novel Like Water for Chocolate, cruelty and passion are the key issues that influence the impact of concern in the narrative. The author uses Mama Elena’s control over her daughters, temperature, food, Tita’s rebellion and imagery to demonstrate this concern and they work to release the reader’s emotions and give them a beneficial moral as well.
Bibliography
Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. 2nd. London: Transword Publishers, 1993.
