length: 808 words 2.3 double spaced pages rating: red free like water for chocolate is a fictional novel that takes place in mexico at the turn of the century, during the mexican revolution. The novel covers a time span of around thirty five years and is organized in monthly instalments with each month introduced by a traditional spanish recipe. Most of the novel takes place on a mexican ranch and is about a family with a very traditional mother. Like water for chocolate is a romantic love story about the frustration, heartache and joys of a true love that could be passionate, but is forbidden and destroyed by a mother with traditional values. Pedro confessed his love for tita and promised to be true to her, from then on they were bound together by love at first sight. This tradition states that the youngest daughter born to mama elena must take care of her until she dies, meaning tita could not be married but must devote all her time to her mother.

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Pedro ends up marrying one of tita's sisters, rosaura, in order to be close to tita. Tita was practically raised in the kitchen and she communicates her love for pedro through the dishes she prepares, and he in turn shows his affectionate gratitude. Tita's quest to be with pedro is shared only with nacha, the main cook and helper in the ranch.

Nacha dies from sorrow of loss of her love and throughout the story appears as a kindly ghost. She then discovers her love for a local doctor, john brown, who cares for her deeply. Tita realizes her love for john could never compare to her suppressed feelings for pedro. As the story progresses, many tragedies occur, but tita and pedro still have undying love for each other.

Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves we need oxygen and a candle to help. The oxygen would come from the breath of the person you love the candle would be any kind of food, music, caress, word or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches. A pleasant warmth grows within us, fading slowly as time goes by, until a new explosion comes along to revive it.

Each person has to discover what will set off those explosions in order to live, since the combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul. If one doesn't find out in time what will set off these explosions, the box of matches dampens, and not a single match will ever be lighted. This theory that john tells to tita is very symbolic in this tale of losing hope and rekindling the flame that seems to be burning away. Originally she was a screenwriter and appeared in chido one when she was nominated for the ariel award for best screenplay. Laura esquivel was born and raised in mexico and may have written this novel with the hope of portraying to her readers some spanish background and history.

As well, she may have used her novel to show her talent and creativity which she could not portray in her previous screenplay. Some parts of the novel are very far fetched but this unique style of writing is all part of this fantasy. It will leave you with a sense of knowledge of all the hardships that mexican women once went through and a better understanding of the pain love can possess. In like water for chocolate, love, food and magic are all joined discuss the role of magical realism in the novel. magical realism allows esquivel to join the ordinary and the supernatural. It imbues her work with fantasy but also enhances the use of metaphor and symbolism. Instead of suggesting that everyone has a fire within, magical realism permits the idea that every character literally has a matchbook within him or her that can be lit aflame.

Magical realism elevates the figurative language of the work into literal occurrence. discuss the relationship between smells and memory in the novel. smells from food and nature remind many characters of their joyful or painful pasts. The smell of roses reminds juan alejandrez of the day he first met gertrudis, and the smell of ox tail soup reminds tita of nacha. Through smells, as through food, the characters are able to access hidden memories. How does it affect characters 39 behaviors? food frequently has the power of changing characters’ emotions and affecting their behaviors. Tita often conveys her powerful emotions to others through her cooking as in the instance when she shares her feeling of longing through rosaura and pedro’s wedding cake. Inevitably, cooking always reminds tita of nacha, the surrogate mother from whom she inherited all the recipes.

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how are the characters affected by the war? does the war play a primary or secondary role in the novel? the war is frequently a harbinger of bad news in the work. It claims more than one life and causes random inconveniences throughout the novel. However, the war never assumes a truly primary role in the characters’ lives even though gertrudis becomes a general in the revolutionary army. No dates, little context, and few names are provided to sufficiently describe it. how do tita 39 s feelings towards mama elena evolve? until mama elena dies, tita considers her to be a castrating mother, one who is too rigid and who inhibits the happiness of others. After discovering mama elena’s forbidden lover josé treviño tita begins to understand the woman better.

However, when mama elena’s ghost returns and continues to haunt tita she finally expresses her hate for her mother and casts her spirit away. discuss elena 39 s role as a mother. mama elena is a powerful matriarch. Mama elena’s lack of compassion drives many away from her including some of her daughters.

Nevertheless, mama elena reveals the well meaning intentions behind her brashness when she defends chencha from the ravaging bandits. Why does esquivel decide to begin each chapter with a recipe? the structure of the work models both a diary and the cookbook tita leaves behind for esperanza. The structure fuses life and food in the same way that they are joined in tita’s life.

Beginning each chapter with a recipe reinforces that the food is just as central as, if not more central than, the actions that follow. Brown represents a practical and safe love while pedro excites an unchecked passion in tita. explain the significance of tradition in the work. tradition both blesses and curses the characters in esquivel’s work. Tradition tragically keeps tita from marrying the love of her life, yet tradition also gives tita one of her greatest pleasures in life, cooking. Tita shares the cooking tradition that she inherits from nacha through her cookbook. It passes through generations of de la garza women and at last finds its way to us, the readers, through esquivel’s work. what does tita 39 s bedspread represent? tita’s bedspread is a metaphor for her bridal gown.

She spends countless nights working on it beginning with the night that she first decides to marry pedro. By the end of the novel, just before tita goes to spend eternity with pedro, she wraps the bedspread around her like a garment to keep her warm. Tita is never married but the bedspread is the closest thing to a wedding dress that she ever has.