Water for Chocolate -- Last

¶ … Water for Chocolate -- Last Third

As the final third of the novel opens, Tita fears that she is pregnant from her and Pedro's sexual encounter. Pedro is happy about this, and wants to run away with Tita until he remembers his responsibilities to his family. Rosaura asks fro Tita's help with her digestive problems and her marriage, increasing Tita's feelings of guilt. Immediately after Rosaura leaves, Mama Elena's ghost appears in the kitchen and begins scolding Tita, but is interrupted by Chencha. The same day, Gertrudis returns to the ranch with an army; she is now a leader of the revolution.

It is Gertrudis that convinces Tita to tell Pedro aout the baby; that night, Mama Elena's ghost appears again, and Tita tells her to go away and that she has always hated her. This causes Tita's pregnancy and the ghost to disappear, but not before it makes an oil lamp explode all over Pedro, badly burning him. He calls out for Tita in his agony instead of Rosaura, embarrassing both women. Tita cares for Pedro while he recovers, and also dreads telling her fiance John that she cannot marry him as she is no longer a virgin. Rosaura gets angry at her for her relationship with Pedro, and Tita reveals her anger at Rosaura for marrying him in the first place. After this fight, the chickens get into a bloody and massive fight, which causes a tornado and almost carries Tita off. At dinner that night, she tells John about her feelings and actions with Pedro. John is still willing to marry her, but wants her to make the decision for herself.

The last chapter takes place many years later; Rosaura has recently died leaving her daughter Esperanza free to marry er love, rather than stay unmarried as in the family tradition. After Esperanza leaves on her honeymoon, Tita and Pedro are alone, and join together physically for the second and last time. Pedro dies in the middle of the encounter, and Tita eats the candles in the room in order that she can join him. The fire consumes her and the entire ranch, burning everything but her cookbook, which Esperanza find upon her return at the bottom of the ashes.

Dialectic Journal #1

Quote: "A layer of ash several yards high covered the entire ranch...all that [Esperanza] found was this cookbook...which tells in each of its recipes this story of a love interred."

Paraphrase: The narrator of the book, which we learn is Esperanza's daughter, returns from her honeymoon to find the ranch destroyed by a fire, with only Tita's cookbook remaining. The cookbook itself contains more than just recipes, but the story of the live between the narrator's great-aunt and grandfather (Esperanza's aunt Tita and father Pedro). Their love -- more specifically Tita's -- consumed both the two lovers and the ranch in the final fulfillment of their desire.

Analysis: This quote is basically the culmination of the novel. It occurs after all of the desire has burned up, along with the setting in which that desire was so long held at bay. While the desire remained unfulfilled, boiling just underneath the surface, life at the ranch continued in a slightly uncomfortable but acceptable way. When the desire between Pedro and Tita is finally fulfilled in a guilt-free manner, however -- meaning that their love is truly consummated, not hurriedly accomplished with the imminent fear of discovery -- it is too much for the lovers to handle. Tita manages to survive at first, but consciously allows her desire to be with Pedro to overtake her.

Synthesis: In some ways, this is similar to Heathcliff's thoughts at the end of Wuthering Heights: "My old enemies have not beaten me; now would be the precise time to revenge myself on their representatives -- I could do it, and none could hinder me. But where is the use? I don't care for striking, I can't take the trouble to raise my hand." His desire for revenge consumed his life, making him a bitter and violent person. His desire was a negative one, and its fulfillment throughout his life wears himself out to the point that he cannot even reach its final culmination. This shows the reverse of the theme as it appears in Like Water for Chocolate; here, the desire is a positive one, and though its fulfillment is still destructive, this destruction is not seen as a necessarily bad thing.

Dialectic Journal #2

Quote: "I am like water for chocolate."

Paraphrase: Tita becomes so angry at Rosaura that she compares herself to water used for making hot chocolate, which is heated to just short of the boiling point many times before it is ready fro use. This relates to the way that she keeps a lid on her emotions, not revealing her passions. Eventually, though, her feelings become too much for her, causing a massive and bloody squabble amongst the chickens and even a tornado. Her passion has become to large for her to contain; she is not water that can endure such treatment, but a human being who must release the energies too large for her body to contain.