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Madina Zamanova
AP Literature and Composition
Ms. Gautier
7 March 2022

AP Literature and Composition Book Project Semester 2

Introduction
In the 1989 novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, author Laura Esquivel creates an inspiring
love story of a 15-year-old Mexican girl, Tita De La Garza, who is the youngest daughter of
Mama Elena. According to family tradition, the youngest daughter is forbidden to marry or have
any romantic intimacy because she is required to take care of her parents until they pass away.
Tita meets a guy with whom she falls in love, and Pedro Muzquiz comes to Mama Elena to ask
for Tita’s hand in marriage. Her mother rejects his proposal, however, offers her oldest daughter,
Rosaura instead. Tita's life begins to change after this absurd event. She begins to have character
development and meets new characters.
The novel takes place during the Mexican Revolution which is in 1910 and lasts until
1920. The Mexicans were at war against Porfirio Diaz Mori, whom they wanted to overthrow,
wanting independence. Individuals were able to question established values and structures by
challenging social and political systems. Tita’s relationship with her mother is almost as intense
as the Mexican Revolution. Just as the soldiers wanted independence from the dictator, Tita
wanted Independence from her mother. Strong parallelism is portrayed when both wars were
won. When Tita was at peace, so was Mexico.
During the 20th century, especially during the war, the cultural mores was that women
had to stay home and obey their husbands. But in Tita’s case, she had to obey her tyrannic
mother who was very abusive and strict towards Tita. Even though she didn’t have freedom and
was required to stay in the kitchen, Esquivel portrays the power dynamic by how much control
Tita has with her delicious meals. Each chapter starts with recipes, and each dish she makes
imbues her personal emotions into the person consuming the food. She had power over people’s
emotions when they taste her dishes and Esquivel utilizes food as a constant in the lives of her
characters to reveal many different truths, often interspersing her narration with extensive
culinary instructions. “Independence” is a word with different meanings to each person, and in
Tita’s case, it was her ability to manipulate people's emotions through food.
Laura Esquivel was inspired by her grandmother and her mother’s meals, and according
to Esquivel, “the smells took her back to the cooking and wonderful chats they had”. The novel,
“Like Water for Chocolate” is also based on her real aunt Tita, who was never allowed to marry
and had to take care of her mother. The background story as well as the recipes had a special
connection to Laura Esquivel and instead of degrading a woman cooking in the kitchen, she
shows how powerful cooking can be. Esquivel took the quote, “The way to a man’s heart is
through his stomach” quite literally. “Women penetrate men’s bodies through their food, in
which they have to put their very essence” Tita (fictional character) develops romantic and
sexual connections with Pedro, and her dishes become the source of communication. Even
though unfortunately, Esquivel’s aunt never got her happy ever after, Laura Esquivel used these
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episodes of her life and created a fictional story where Tita gets her happy ending-- at least in
the afterlife.

Scholarly Critical Article

In the novel, Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel, the narrator uses different
techniques to highlight Tita’s difference from other characters. To start with, Tita has magical
abilities to transfer her personal emotions to other people through her dishes. The readers didn’t
get much explanation as to why Tita can do what she does. When her nephew, Roberto has cried
about hunger, Tita, who is a virgin, offers her breast to use as a pacifier, however somehow
magically she starts having breast milk. Also, her ability to see ghosts makes her unique in the
novel. Again, there was no background story to explain her supernatural abilities.
Ranjini Selvarani, the author of the scholarly article named, “Magical Feminism”
connects Tita’s fictional abilities to Feminism. “Magic in their created world in order to present
the magical events as ordinary occurrences, and to present the incredible as normal, everyday
life” (Selvarani 3). Even though her powers made no logical sense, it was mixed with enough
realism to make it sound normal. So why of all characters, Tita was the only one with magical
powers? “The thematic study of these novels concentrates on women and the female experience
and it and be rightly called as a feminist criticism.” (Selvarani 14). Laura Esquivel uses Tita to
represent the feminine gender and to reveal how powerful women can be. For example, When
Tita has her first encounter with sex, in which "Pedro ... pulled her to a brass bed ... and,
throwing himself upon her, caused her to lose her virginity and learn of true love" (Esquivel, p.
158), exemplifies how her culinary abilities helped her obtain the man she loved. In those times
when women didn’t have a lot of physical rights, they could still find power in the smallest
places, in this example the kitchen. It wasn't meant to denigrate women by implying that they
only have limited independence; rather, it was meant to empower them. Esquivel's work is
'feminized' by depicting a society of women united by an activity - food preparation - that cuts
over societal barriers of class, color, and generation.
While Tita’s power is found in cooking, Esquivel uses other characters, such as her older
sister Gertrudis to represent a leadership role. Gertrudis leaves her home and comes back being
the general of the soldiers that fight in the Mexican Revolution. Gertrudis is a symbol of female
strength and power, which threatens to disrupt the system by empowering others. Because there's
no such thing as a "bad" or "good" girl in Like Water for Chocolate. Women are capable of a
wide range of emotions and qualities that are often conflicting. Also having sex before marriage
was considered a shame, lust, and virginity was prioritized over anything. Gertrudis never tries to
hide her sexual exploits but rather talks about them freely and without embarrassment. She later
breaks the traditional norm that men fight, and women stay at home by rising to the rank of
general in the Revolution. Gertrudis not only coexists with men and battles with them, but she
also dominates and has power over them.
I agree with Selvarani because every mystical and abnormal act serves a purpose in Like
Water for Chocolate. It’s a metaphor for power and strength that goes back to Feminism. “in the
language of narration in a magic realist text, a battle between two oppositional systems takes
place” (Hussain 8). Every character goes through internal conflict and resolves in vigorous and
powerful women making the right choices. Women have fought a long and arduous battle to
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acquire their rights, and they continue to do so. Tradition in the De La Garza family meant that
Tita was prohibited to marry because it was her obligation to care for her mother until she died,
while culture continued to define the role and status of women.

Style

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel is a fictional novel about a girl named Tita, and
her struggle as the youngest daughter who is tied to her mother and forbidden to marry. Laura
Esquivel uses different techniques such as parallelism, symbolism, title, and point of view to
portray the complexity of every character and the inner and outer conflict they’re facing.
The novel shifts the point of view throughout the story. Esquivel begins the plot in the first
person as if it’s written down in a diary. However, later on when the attention shifts to Tita, it’s
told from the third point of view. “Like my great aunt Tita” (Esquivel 5). Esperanza discovers
her aunt Tita de la Garza's cookbook and recreates each meal, honoring the history of her
ancestors. In real life, Laura Esquivel had an actual great aunt named Tita, who also had to take
care of her mother until her death, so Esperanza symbolizes Laura Esquivel, the next generation
that learned from previous cultural mistakes. Tita's story is told in the first person, while the
cooking instruction is told in the third person. The shifting points of view provide a multi-layered
tale that connects all three women's personal and cultural histories.
The title “Like Water for Chocolate” may seem confusing at first, but it represents a
metaphorical meaning behind it. “‘Like water for chocolate’- she was on the verge of boiling
over” (Esquivel 151). The title marks the climax of the story when Tita finally goes through her
character development and is no longer the scared little girl. Water boils chocolate, which
represents anger, and Tita was angered by many things including but not limited to, her love life,
her being abused with her mother, etc. The heat of emotions is difficult to control just like boiled
water could easily mess up the chocolate. Another meaning behind the title can be that Water is
used to make hot chocolate in Mexico. When the water is hot enough (near-boiling), the
chocolate can be added. Arousal or passion is described by all that heat and practically seething
movement, such as between Tita and Pedro, and even between Juan and Gertrudis. 
Symbolism is a potent narrative tool for giving a story significance. "Like Water for
Chocolate" uses magical realism to generate symbolism. Mama Elena is very abusive towards
Tita, and she can’t properly express her emotions in her household. Her ability to imbue her
emotions into her dishes gives her the power to express emotion in at least some way. Fictional
and supernatural events seem quite normal. Tita, for example, prepares a pheasant with rose-
petal sauce while daydreaming about Pedro, and Gertrudis devours it before leaving the ranch
with the general. “Poor Gertrudis the medium, the conducting body through which the singular
sexual message was passed”. (Esquivel 52). She later works in a brothel. The strategy is used to
demonstrate how Tita's feelings have power over other people's desires and emotions.
Throughout the novel, magical realism is used to achieve a similar impression, particularly in
relation to the food Tita prepares.
Each chapter starts with a recipe and then moves on to the narration. Throughout the
narrative, there are references to home remedies. The narrative structure aids in focusing
attention on the food, which not only symbolizes the characters' feelings but also links other
components of the plot. “My great aunt, who will go on living as long as there is someone who
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cooks her recipes” (Esquivel 246). Food, for example, unites the three generations of women
who prepare it and underlines their shared experiences. The meal also connects the women to
their Mexican background, which connects their experiences to the dramatic historical events
taking place. 
Theme

In Laura Esquivel’s, Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel creates a young Mexican girl, who
must take care of her mother until the day she dies and can’t have love intimacy with men. Tita
goes through hardship in her household because of her tyrannical mother who controls Tita all
the time. When she falls in love with a man named Pedro, her mother refuses the marriage and
instead marries off her older sister, Rosaura. This event shakes Tita and becomes her origin
story. She must live in the same household as Pedro and handle being his sister-in-law, yet still,
have sexual communication through her dishes that reflect her emotions. The major focus in the
novel is Tita’s and Pedro’s love for each other, which prevails in the end. With love comes sex,
desire, and lust, all of which they both feel toward one another. Romantic love in the story
develops into a spiritual tie that is more important than the formal concept of marriage. The idea
that Pedro and Tita are each other's real loves is central to the plot. “Tita belonged to him, and he
wasn’t going to let anyone take her away” (Esquivel 139). When Tita was about to marry John,
Pedro knew that he can’t let her slip away. Love defies the boundaries of reality, resulting in the
novel's magical realism. Tita develops the supernatural ability to communicate her feelings
through her cuisine as a result of her forbidden love. Aside from that, most characters are
unhappy at the beginning, Mama Elena who lost her love, Tita who can’t marry, Pedro who is
with the wrong woman, and Rosaura who is with a man who doesn’t love her, the unhappiest
characters are those who have given up on true love, which justifies the pursuit of true love.
There is complex reasoning behind the harsh love each character faces. The time period that
Like Water for Chocolate is set in determines the cultural mores and gender roles of each
character. Women were required to sit home and obey their husbands. However, in Tita’s case,
she had to obey her mother, and cook for the rest of her life. The novel Like Water for Chocolate
normalizes women in general, whether she’s in the kitchen, or if she’s a general during the
Revolutionary War. The novel permits femininity to be defined differently between characters
and within each character's growth within the historical context of wider social change. Being a
virgin defines a person, and if a woman is not a virgin, she is considered a “whore”. The cultural
fear of gossip and honor from Mama Elena is what kept Tita away from her love. However,
readers see character development when Tita says, “Tita no longer gave a damn either about
what people would say when their love affair was made public” (Esquivel 237). Before this, Tita
had to repress her feelings. But her power move was that she could give off her emotions in a
simple dish. Gertrudis broke the cultural norms by talking about her sexual desires, her
carelessness towards the unrealistic standards that are restricting women of their rights. She also
goes into the war and wins her position as a general, and Esquivel changes the gender roles, by
making Gertrudis take charge of men. Laura Esquivel empowers women, emphasizes the
importance of a woman’s right to choose her own path, normalizing through magical realism.
Laura Esquivel connects love, feminism, repression, and independence into one novel. The
cultural standards should not tell a woman how to live her life. Because of the cultural mores,
Mama Elena didn’t get to be with her love, and she reflected her anger upon her daughter, Tita.
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It’s like a dominoes effect that can extend for generations, but all it takes is for one domino to be
removed, for the rest to stop falling. Even though Tita De La Garza’s life was traumatizing, the
readers still get to see her have a happy ending with the love of her life in the afterlife.
Regardless of the expectation Tita had to live by. True love prevails, but also mores is a big part
of one’s life where it becomes hard to make certain decisions.
2005 Question Essay

In the 1989 novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, author Laura Esquivel creates an inspiring
love story of a 15-year-old Mexican girl, Tita De La Garza, who is the youngest daughter of
Mama Elena. According to family tradition, the youngest daughter is forbidden to marry or have
any romantic intimacy because she is required to take care of her parents until they pass away.
Her abusive tyrannical mother refuses her marriage with the love of her life, and she punishes
Tita for expressing her emotions. However, Esquivel gives Tita the ability to subconsciously
manipulate people’s emotions through the dishes she makes. The supernatural abilities help her
express her thoughts, and the unconditional love Tita feels towards her family results in the
independence and freedom she gains.
The setting of the novel is during the Mexican Revolution when women had to sit home
and obey their husbands. The cultural mores for Tita were the family tradition that went on for
generations, that wrote her destiny for her. This cultural expectation sparked character
development readers start notice toward the end. Tita respects her mother, so she agrees upon
anything she says, however that doesn’t stop her from having interactions with Pedro, the love of
her life. The very first time Tita rages at her mother is when her nephew, Roberto, dies of
hunger. Tita lashes out at Mama Elena, which then results in Tita losing her sanity and a broken
nose. Tita experiences a series of abuse almost every day, but that all built up to her “boiling
over” (Esquivel 151). Thus, where the title comes from, Like Water for Chocolate. If the water
heats up too much it can ruin the chocolate. This metaphorical statement symbolizes Tita’s
patience with the brutal world around her. In the De La Garza household, Mama Elena holds all
the power, devaluing other people around her. Tita is subjected to violence by her mother, which
is a representation of masculine aggression. Esquivel reverses the roles of men and women to
destroy the barrier that divides gender roles. Mama Elena looks to have traits that are often
associated with men rather than women, yet a deeper examination of the text reveals that all the
female characters are more powerful than compared to men.
Mama Elena had physical power over her daughters, however, Esquivel uses Tita’s
fantastical abilities and Gertrudis’s courage to take leadership to serve a better purpose. While
Tita could transform her feelings into the dish and have power over the emotions of the tasters,
Gertrudis went against the cultural and societal norm that says, her place belongs in the kitchen.
Tita and Gertrudis are both representations of power and they both escape the hell that the ranch
was for them. Esquivel uses magical realism to make the supernatural powers seem more natural
to readers without defining what or why. In this case, magical realism was used to demonstrate
Feminism, and she empowers women, emphasizes the importance of a woman’s right to choose
her own path, normalizing through this technique. Tita refuses to accept her poor social role,
even though others in her family do. Because she was taught by Nacha, the cook, she does not
share her family's religious beliefs. So, the house becomes an ongoing war between Mama Elena
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and Tita’s want for freedom. Tita eventually earns her independence after winning her battle
against tradition.
Tita’s struggle signifies a greater meaning that women still face. In some cultures, there
are certain beliefs that contradict the morality of women. Even though it’s great to have a history
and certain practices, one must not forget that personal beliefs, thoughts, and morals come before
any cultures’ expectation. But also independence and freedom can be found in anything,
whether it’s the kitchen or the battlefield, society is in no position to dictate gender roles.
Poem

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, was written in 1989, however, the setting
was during the Mexican Revolutionary war. Women in 1910 didn’t have as much power as
women do now, and Esquivel normalizes the desire, love, cooking in that time period. Women
have gained working/ voting, etc rights, but as time passes, people are more and more open-
minded about the beliefs of others. As people evolve, gender roles rarely happen nowadays. In
the novel, a Mexican girl questions the traditions of her mother, and refuses to follow the same
path women in previous generations have done. The Poem “gender roles” by kaysink, touches
on the problem of division between genders, in who does what, who wears what, and both pieces
of writing discuss societal expectations.
Laura Esquivel's work, "Like Water for Chocolate," tells of a love that is stifled by
repressive social norms and societal expectations. Tita and Mama Elena have a key feature that
defines both their individual hardships and their confrontation with one another, as do most
literary works.  Mama Elena's confession that she, too, has felt the pangs of lost love is a crucial
thematic counterpart to Tita's suffering. Mama Elena was not allowed to marry the love of her
life because he was black, so her grieving over a man projects on poor Tita, who has to carry all
of the weight that society hangs on women. Similarly, the poem touches on the argument that
there shouldn’t be a set standard for a certain gender. “Society is one big brainwash” (Kaysink
13). He blames patriarchy for the way society started forming and Tita blames her ancestors
who came up with the idea of the youngest child taking care of a parent. “One little flaw in this
perfect plan for taking care of women in their old age” (Esquivel 11). Tita speaks with sarcasm
and anger that the expectations of her are quite ridiculous. This comment exemplifies how
traditions do not always serve the greater good.
In the novel, every generation starts making changes, like Esperanza, who was the first
girl in De la Garza family to get an education and was the first girl to break the tradition of
taking care of her mother and living for her soul purpose. However, as time goes on, people start
to realize more mistakes made by society. In the poem, the issue that Kaysink touches is
“misgendering” people, and not being able to fully express yourself. The point in both stories is
the same, Like Water for Chocolate, the need to be independent and get rid of sexist standards, as
to the “Gender Roles”, where the poet describes that the only thing that separates a man from a
woman, is what he/she has under the pants. It didn’t take society one day to come to the equality
of genders that humans have now. It took centuries, generation after generation when people
began to evolve and want more in this life.
Despite accepting certain feminine values and women's equality, modern Mexico is still a
country shaped by largely masculine notions of society and women's roles. Gender roles have
been a recurring issue in literature for a long time. This is most evident in how gender roles in
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society have changed over time, as well as how it is depicted in literary works. “Like Water for
Chocolate” and “Gender Roles” are great examples because they were both about the same issue
but written in different time periods. The good news is, is that it’s been getting better and better
throughout time. Yes, patriarchy still exists, but people have learned from past mistakes and
started changing for the better.

Works Cited

Esquivel, Laura. “Deep Meanings behind Like Water For Chocolate.” 

Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. 1989. 

“Gender Roles.” Power Poetry, https://powerpoetry.org/poems/gender-roles. 

Selvarani, Ranjini. Magical Feminism: The Female Voices of Magic Realism in Isabel Allende's
The House of the Spirits and Laura Esqu...
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GENDER ROLE
Tue, 05/28/2013 - 17:17 -- kaysink

I knew a girl once who got called boy more times than she could count
each time it brought tears to her eyes like she’d never amount
to their glorified expectations
horrified by her image in the mirror
hair much too short features too sharp, breasts too small
echoing names yelled at her down school halls
“Are you a boy or a girl?”
They scream as if you can condemn someone for their gender
as if they’d rather us all be a pretender
because boys aren't allowed to like pink
and girls aren't supposed to be blue
but really the only person your gender should matter to is you
because society is one big brainwash
they shove Barbies and makeup down our throats
drowning you in moats of insecurity
because you’re not pretty enough
or it’s GI Joes and sports shoved in your face
and if you can’t compete you’re a disgrace
because you’re not strong enough
but who the hell can say what really constitutes a gender?
the only difference between male and female
is the parts you got down under
you are who you are
and that’s nothing to be ashamed of
gender roles are meaningless
they’re society’s crutch to keep us in our place
throwing us in a constant arms race
when in reality it doesn't matter what you wear
or how you talk, or what you look like
that is your choice
if a guy wants to wear a dress
and the girl wants to wear the suit
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then that’s nothing for anyone to dispute
your gender shouldn't be a life sentence
of who you are, and what you should be
look deep inside yourself
and find exactly who you are meant to be