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Like Water for Chocolate was published in 1989 and in 1990 became a number one bestseller in Mexico. It was written by Laura Esquivel. This novel is separated into twelve chapters, one for each month of the year. Each chapter begins with the careful instructions to one of the protagonists recipes. In this novel the mother, Mama Elena, is a person who is filled with anger because her parents did not allowed to marry the person she loved and was then forced to marry another man. She took out her anger on her daughters.
This novel shows the reader how Mama Elena's life of frustrated love took its toll on her three daughters. In some Mexican families there is a tradition that instructs that the youngest daughter not marry. That daughter was to remain at home to care for her mother. The narrator of this novel tells the story of her great-aunt Tita. Tita was the youngest daughter of Mama Elena. Mama Elena observed this tradition.
When Tita was fifteen she fell in love with a young man named Pedro. She knew of the tradition, but she hoped that her mother would allow her to marry Pedro. When Pedro came to ask for Tita's hand in marriage Mama Elena politely explained why it was impossible for Tita to marry. Mama Elena told Pedro's father, But if you really want to Pedro to get married, allow me to suggest my daughter Rosaura, whos just two years older that Tita. She is one hundred percent available, and ready for marriage... Pedro agreed to marry Rosaura.
Tita was devastated. She later found out that Pedro had only agreed to the marriage to be close to Tita. Pedro and Tita still loved each other. Mama Elena suspected this, so when once Pedro and Rosaura were married she made sure that Pedro and Tita were never alone together because she was afraid of what they would do.
She was determined to keep them apart. Tita, the protagonist, had been born prematurely on the kitchen table before Mama Elena even had a chance to whimper. Her unusual birth led her to have a deep love for the kitchen and have a great talent for cooking, but Mama Elena always found things wrong with Tita's cooking. When Mama Elena had not allowed Tita to marry Pedro, Tita had been angered and hurt.
Tita began to hate Mama Elena because she kept the man she loved away from her. Tita's anger grew as Mama Elena ordered Tita around. One day Tita finally grew tired of Mama Elena and let her anger spill out. She screamed wildly at Mama Elena, Heres what I do with your orders! Im sick of them! Im sick of obeying you!
Mama Elena had made Tita hate her. Tita hated her for the pain she had caused her. The pain of losing the one she loved. Only Tita did not know that Mama Elena had gone through the same thing. She was taking her frustration out on Tita by not allowing her to marry. Rosaura, the middle child was the most obedient of all three daughters.
She obeyed and respected Mama Elena. She also agreed with everything Mama Elena said. When her mother had engaged her to Pedro she did not argued, but simply obeyed. She had never been defiant. She respected her mother so much that even she was to observe the family tradition.
She was also not going to allow her daughter, Esperanza, to marry. When Tita heard this she wished that Rosaura had never let those words leak out, those foul, filthy, frightful, repulsive, revolting, unreasonable words. Rosaura had never thought about not following the tradition. She and Mama Elena had a very good relationship and because she was obedient and respectful, she never had any problems with Mama Elena. Gertrudis, the oldest daughter was an obedient person and also a defiant person. She was an obedient person while she lived with Mama Elena.
She listened to what Mama Elena said. Then came the day where she ran away with a soldier from Pancho Villas army. She later had to go work at a brothel. When Mama Elena learned about this she burned all of Gertrudis possessions and didnt want to here her name mentioned anymore.
Years later Gertrudis returned to the ranch to discover that Mama Elena had died. She had returned to the ranch with the intention of showing Mama Elena how she had triumphed in life. She was a general in the revolutionary army. Gertrudis had wanted to show Mama Elena that she had done something with her life because Mama Elena had made her feel like she would never be able to do anything with her life. Mama Elena's frustration and anger affected each daughter in different ways and in different magnitudes. She had let it influence the way she raised her daughters and treated them.
Many years after Mama Elena died, so did Rosaura. Tita had been having an affair with Pedro for about twenty years at the time. Rosaura had known and was fine with it. Tita had helped Pedro and Rosaura raise Esperanza. When Rosaura had died, Pedro and Tita were able to finally be together. After years and years of waiting they no longer had to worry about Mama Elena or any tradition.
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