Additional specifications and considerations

¶ … Water for Chocolate: May-August

The second third of Laura Esquivel's novel Like Water for Chocolate is full of major incidents. The section opens just after Pedro and Rosaura have left the ranch; soon, word comes that their son Roberto has died, which drives Tita into an even deeper deapir than Pedro's absence left her with. Before they learn of Roberto's death, however, a group of soldiers tries to raid the ranch, but Mama Elena proves her skill with a gun and they are not able to take much. The major incident is Roberto's death, however, and when Mama Elena scolds Tita for mourning, Tita explodes at her mother, who breaks Tita's nose. Tita falls completely silent, and is sent to an asylum with the kind Dr. Brown.

Tita remains silent while in the asylum, but her strength is growing under the kind attentions of Dr. Brown. Also, she is visited every day by the ghost of his grandmother, a Native American who is also silent but who radiates calm energy. Eventually, what really brings Tita out of her silent disturbance is food -- Chencha, a servant from the ranch, brings her oxtail soup, which floods Tita with happy memories of being in the kitchen with Nacha. Tita tells Chencha that she will never return to the ranch, but her decision changes when a group of bandits attacks the ranch and end up paralyzing Mama Elena. Tita returns to the ranch to care for her mother, but Mama Elena won't even eat the food she cooks for her.

Mama Elena dies shortly thereafter, because she was drinking ipecac to protect her from Tita's poison (which did not exist). Pedro and Rosaura return and have a second child, a daughter that Tita names Esperanza and raises as she was raised by Nacha. Dr. Brown officially proposes marriage, which Tita accepts, but Pedro makes love to her that same night.

Dialectic Journal #1

Quote: "Unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying, or dominating, Mama Elena was a pro" (97).

Paraphrase and Context: "Mama Elena was the best at disrupting and controlling other people's lives in a negative fashion." The narrator makes this comment shortly after Mama Elena's death. It involves Mama's personality, which is clearly illustrated though not explained in the first half of the book.

Analysis: This quote demonstrates the thematic statement of restraining personality leading to suffering because Tita learns, after Mama Elena's death, that Mama Elena had had a secret lover. Her suppression of her passion for this man led to her suffering, and created her biter nature. In this instance, the suppression of personality does not just lead to suffering for the repressed Mama Elena, but also for those around her, especially her youngest daughter Tita.

Synthesis: This quote is similar to a comment Nick makes about the Tom and Daisy Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald's the Great Gatsby: "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made" (188). Though the Buchanans are not exactly like Mama Elena in their motives, and completely unlike her in their "carelessness" because Mama Elena's destructive impulses are controlled and purposeful, both quotes demonstrate the selfishness and amount of control that the characters involved like to exert on the others around them.

Dialectic Journal #2

Quote: "Each person has to discover what will set off these explosions in order to live, since the combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul" (115).

Paraphrase and Context: "Every person has their own unique fire that drives them, and they need to learn to control this and let it happen smoothly." Dr. Brown is explaining to Tita his grandmother's theory about life and personality, which is symbolized by a box of matches that needs help from others to fulfill its potential. Just as fire gives off heat no matter what, personality shows its light through any obstruction.

Analysis: This quote very clearly relates to the theme of personality being both necessary and destructive. Fire can consume, and so can personality when it is not properly controlled and given a healthy outlet. Tita needs to hear this at this point in the story so that she can become more confident with her own very strong personality, and so she can allow herself to love and become attached to another.