Book Report on Like Water for Chocolate Paper Example

Like water for chocolate was published in 1986 by Laura Esquivel, a Mexican screenwriter, and novelist. In her book, Laura has addressed different themes that affect our society today ranging from the plight of women, family abuse, human suffering among others. The story revolves around a young 15-year-old girl Tita who suffers under primitive traditions. Tita longs to be with her lover, Pedro but cannot since tradition dictates that the youngest daughter doesn't get married but instead she should stay at home and look after her mother until her demise. Tita is left with nothing to do but express herself through cooking. Laura's book is an eye-opener that enables us to see the kind of lives that people are forced to live under certain cultural regimes. In her book, she primarily focuses on the oppression of women and also their place in the society. It is a common occurrence for women to be looked down upon in many cultures around the world and Esquivel helps us to see the extent to which this can go. Like water for chocolate (Jaffe & Janice, 2003: 199) is an educational work of literature that opens us to pressing social issues thereby helping us understand the society that we live in better.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The book's entire plot gets divided into twelve units where each begins with a recipe of Mexican origin. Each dish in the recipe relates to an event in Tita's life. The twelve sections represent months of the year starting from January to December. The story unfolds where we get introduced to Tita de la Gaza who is the main character in the novel. The protagonist lives with her mother mama Elena, together with her elder sisters Rosaura and Gertrudis on a ranch close to the US- Mexico border. Pedro is a neighbor with whom Tita falls in love with immediately and the feeling turns out to be mutual. Pedro thereby goes ahead and asks Mama Elena for her daughter's hand in marriage upon which she turns him down alluding to their family's long upheld tradition of the youngest daughter remaining unmarried to take care of her mother. However, Mama Elena alternatively suggests that he marries Rosaura which will ensure that he stays close to Tita which he obliges.

Tita was born in the kitchen, and her caretaker as a child was the family cook Nacha thus her love for cooking. While preparing the wedding cake for her lover's wedding, the protagonist is overwhelmed with emotions and ends up crying into the cake batter. At the wedding, there is an outbreak of a food poisoning case where everybody gets severely ill vomiting everywhere, and Tita gets framed for this. Suspecting that she was behind this, her mother punishes her after the wedding where Nacha too is found dead holding her fiance's photo. Pedro soon gets a son Roberto who de la Gaza nurtures like her own leading to her producing breastmilk. Unfortunately, he is taken away from her after Mama Elena suspects Pedro's and Tita's rendezvous. Regrettably, Roberto dies later so as does his mother during the birth of Esperanza. The protagonist who thinks her mother is to blame for Roberto's death blames her where she gets hit in the face with a wooden spoon. The demise of her nephew affects her such that she decides to exclude herself to the dovecote. Luckily Dr. John Brown takes her in upon being pitiful on her, and later they develop a close relationship with him and even looks forward to marrying him one day.

Later Pedro and Tita run away on fearing that she could be pregnant with his child after losing her virginity to him. However, the protagonist's mother's ghost catches up with her and gets her revenge by setting Pedro on fire leaving him behaving like a child. Many years later, Pedro gets to propose to Tita claiming that he cannot die having not made her his wife. He dies while making love to her in the kitchen storage unit shortly after the wedding. Overcome with grief, Tita eats some candles in a box which then get ignited by the heat from Pedro's memory, and the two are engulfed in flame together with the entire ranch.

Laura's book is a perfect description of the problems that women go through in the society. It is weird enough that fellow women cause some of these problems. For instance, Tita's mother should have understood her daughter's emotional needs and allowed her to get married to her lover Pedro. However, she turns a blind eye to this and opts to stick to outdated traditions and ties her daughter down by her side. Adding salt to injury, she even suggests that Pedro marry her sister that he can remain close. The suffering that this brings upon Tita is evident in the later development of the story like when she cries on the cake batter during the preparation of the wedding cake and her love escapades with her lover that lead to their eloping. Under societal jurisdiction, Tita ends up miserable and leads a not so pleasant life. Through this book, "like water for chocolate" (Jaffe & Janice, 2003: 199) the author has managed to expose the plight of women and also empowers visionary people to rise against primitive ties that are a drawback to the society.

Another theme that the book has managed to cover comprehensively is family conflict. Tita and her mother hardly get along. Since the beginning when she denied her lover her hand in marriage to the time she asked Pedro and Rosaura to leave as she was suspicious of Tita, a high level of mistrust is evident. Similarly, Tita is disdainful of her mother and even blames the death of her nephew on her. Physical violence gets also witnessed when Mama Elena hits her with a wooden spoon on her face after she blames her for Roberto's death. Although sibling rivalry gets not depicted in the book, it is probable that this was present too. The author has portrayed women as their enemies who end up weighing each other down. Being of the same gender and well suited to understand each other's trouble, these women hardly make an effort to stand by each other. Although most of the women in today's society are civilized and have given up certain relatable vices, some individuals still don't get along on a gender basis

The book, "Like water for chocolate" (Jaffe & Janice, 2003: 199) has managed to shed light on certain vital social aspects that are not only enlightening but also entertaining. However, the author has failed in specific areas. For instance, being a book intended to cover social living, the fiction is too much for reality. In the sad ending, Pedro dies shortly after the wedding while making love? Although this is possible, it is an opposite tragic end for a love affair spanning over such an extended period. Another over exaggerated part is where the candles Tita was eating get ignited by the heat of Pedro's memory. This is unrealistic and highly improbable. To make the book more compelling, the writer should have considered on maintaining a more realistic approach on these scenes.

Conclusion

All in all, the book is a good read and also entertaining. For the romantics, Tita and Pedro's relationship is the epitome of impossible love. Their short-lived marriage is enough to cause tears on the softhearted. Parents and children can also relate to this book from Tita and her mother's relationship. Most of our day to day encounters are addressed in the novel thereby making it comprehensive. The author successfully put across the intended image.

Works Cited

Jaffe, Janice A. "Like Water for Chocolate." Scenes of the Apple: Food and the Female Body in Nineteenth-and Twentieth-Century Women's Writing (2003): 199.

De Valdes, Maria Elena. "Verbal and visual representation of women: Como agua para chocolate/like water for chocolate." World Literature Today 69.1 (1995): 78-82.