Families and Traditions in Like Water For Chocolate
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Many things get passed down in families, from eye, hair and skin color to the grandfather clock in the front hall and the antique dishes in the china cabinet. Among these inheritances are the intangibles such as family traditions, mythologies and code of conduct. Sometimes these intangibles make life richer, other times they do nothing but make life bitter and hard. The book, Like Water for Chocolate, is about one family of women and how they deal with their particular inheritances of joy and grief and pain. Esquivel uses family recipes and home remedies to discuss the other intangible inheritances that have been passed down from generation to generation. In fact, the title is taken from a food term used in the book to describe one character's fury with the outcome of things in her family (151). The setting is the De la Garza ranch in northern Mexico during a tumultuous time in Mexico's history at the turn of the 19th century. Since the De la Garza family lives on a ranch, there is pressure to maintain a certain level of social standing. This affects behavior, expectations, choices, and the roles that they play in each other's lives. Matriarch of the De la Garza family, Mama Elena rules the ranch with her iron will. The most telling description of her is in regards to her ability to carve watermelon. "Unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying or domination, Mama E
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able to please her mother as well as thrive under her rule, since she got what she wanted from it -- a husband (kept monogamous under the watchful eye of his mother-in-law), children, and a home where others cooked and cleaned. Because Rosaura thrived in this atmosphere it was only natural that she would want to continue it. This is what she tries to do when her daughter Esperanza is born as youngest daughter by assigning her Tita's previous role of carrying for her mother until she dies.
Rosaura also inherited her mother's ambition for social standing and keeping up appearances. Most of her anxiety is over what the neighbors would think or how they would see her if Pedro left her or was openly seen with Tita. "Rosaura was weak. It was important to her how society saw her" (188). So, even after Pedro and Tita decide to be together it is only after making a pact with Rosaura, "it was vital to Rosaura to maintain the appearance that her marriage was going splendidly" (237). In return, Tita may care for Esperanza. For despite the fact that Roberto and Esperanza were Rosaura's children, they only seemed to flourish when in Tita's care and being fed by her milk, teas and gruel. Roberto dies when removed from Tita's care bec
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Mama Elena, Mama Elena's, Water Chocolate, Pedro John, Rosaura Rosaura, Gertrudis Tita's, , Gertrudis Considering, Tita Tita, Pedro Tita, mama elena, la garza, de la, de la garza, mama elena's, la garza family, garza family, true love, home remedies, mother dies, care mother dies, dies digestive, quail rose petal, nacha cook, recipes home remedies,
Approximate Word count = 1906
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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