Published in 1889, Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate is set in revolutionary Mexico of the early twentieth century. At that time, society and the family institution exercised an authoritative and oppressive control on women’s activities and expression; in fact, such control had existed since colonial times, Up until recent times, women had been playing a subservient role from which even in the twenty-first century they are still struggling to break themselves free. Not only were women denied participation in society and politics as individuals with their own voice and identity, but they were mostly confined to domestic chores such as embroidery, house decorating, and of course, cooking. (Schneider 2) From early adolescence they were expected to serve their father and brothers and later their husbands. They were expected to be religious according to Catholic Church precepts and to observe righteous moral behavior .Schneider best describes Mexican women’s social position when she asserts that
As mothers and wives, they were expected to follow, cultural, social and political norms and stereotypes in order to fulfill the role that is imposed on them by society and which affirms them in their femininity. Those stereotyped models prescribe that being a good woman equals being a good mother, wife, daughter, and vice versa. Attempting to break with society’s norms and thus developing one’s own understanding of “womanhood” and femininity means trading in social acceptance and validation for becoming a political and social subject.(2)
It is against this background that the reader must view the female characters in the novel in order to understand their behavior. Escaja (17) comments on the different stereotypes of Mexican women at the time. For example, there is the mother figure with her inexhaustible capacity for sacrifice, the loyal and supportive wife, the chase maiden and the repentant prostitute.
Through the creation of her characters Esquivel questions and deconstructs many of the stereotypes that have traditionally represented Mexican women. On the surface, the female characters in the novel seem to conform to these stereotypes. However, a closer reading of the novel soon reveals the fact that Esquivel’s characters disqualify these stereotypes since they exist only in appearance (Escaja 17). Tita, the main female character in the novel, who according to her family tradition must never get married in order to take care of her mother until she dies, seems to accept her role passively and obediently. Tita, however, is not entirely submissive; though she is a dutiful daughter and attempts to fulfill her mother’s and society’s expectations she questions the reasonableness of such tradition:
If Tita couldn’t marry and have children, who would take care of her when she got old? Was there a solution in a case like that? Or are daughters who stay home and take care of their mothers not expected to survive too long after the parent’s death? And what about women who marry and can’t have children, who will take care of them? (Like Water for Chocolate, 4)
Tita’s struggle to fulfill her love for Pedro is a constant source of conflict between her and her mother. Tita gains power and strength as she defies her mother. She questions the official order represented by Mama Elena while she legitimizes reason and the right to love and reproduction (Escaja 19). Even when Tita abides by her mother’s orders and renounces Pedro the man she loves, Mama Elena cannot prevent her daughter from expressing her love for him through her wonderful cooking which acts like passionate demonstrations of love. In fact, Tita’s exceptional ability as a cook becomes the instrument for her rebellion against her mother’s oppression. Her mother forces her to take care of the preparation of the twenty-course meal for her sister Rosaura’s wedding to Pedro, including the wedding cake, Tita’s grief is so intense that her copious tears falling on the cake batter have the effect of sickening the guests, including Rosaura; they all begin having attacks of vomit, and “as [Rosaura] crossed the patio she slipped and every inch of her dress ended up coated with vomit.” Water for Chocolate, 16). It is as if Tita were taking revenge on her sister by ridiculing her in front of the guests for having usurped her place at the wedding that should have been hers.
Another instance when Tita opposes resistance to her mother through her cooking is when Mama Elena forces her to throw away a beautiful bouquet of roses Pedro gives her. Tita obeys her mother but not before preparing a delicious sauce from rose petals, which sends her sister Gertrudis into a frenzy of passion and lust. That very day she is carried away by a revolutionary soldier. Gertrudis’ sexual fulfillment is achieved not only with her new found lover, but later with many other men she encounters in a brothel where she begins working. Gertrudis’s escape could be viewed as an act of revenge on Mama Elena on Tita’s part, since Gertrudis is the daughter of Mama Elena’s true love, the mulatto Jose Treviño. Tita eventually confronts the ghost of her dead mother breaking forever the bonds of her oppression: “I know who I am. A person who has perfect right to live her life as she pleases. Once and for all leave me alone. I won’t put up with you” (Like Water for Chocolate 94) While Tita musters enough courage and strength to assert her right to live a life of her own, breaking away with familial and societal pressures, she also displays the characteristics of the ideal mother. She is the one who takes care of Roberto and Esperanza, Rosaura’s children. Since Rosaura experiences a difficult delivery, she is unable to nurse baby Roberto. Miraculously, Tita produces milk and is able to nurse the baby, establishing strong bonds of attachment with the child. In fact Tita suffers a violent nervous breakdown when she is forcibly separated from the child by Mama Elena and upon learning of his death because Rosaura did not know how to feed him.
More fortunate than her younger sister, Gertrudis is lucky to be carried away from the authority of her mother by Juan Alejandres who quenches her sexual appetite and causes her to assume an active role in the Mexican Revolution. She achieves liberation as a prostitute but in the process she is repudiated by her mother who tears her birth certificate and considers her dead because she has failed to conform to the roles of obedient daughter and virgin maiden prescribed by Mexican society. While Gertrudis partially conforms to the stereotype of a prostitute, she is far from being repentant because she has gained freedom and sexual liberation. Gertrudis, however, redeems herself as a general of the rebel troops; she achieves financial power and marries her first love, Juan Alejandres. Upon Tita’s revelation about her real mulatto father, Gertrudis accepts her biracial identity as a mulatta through having a biracial child within wedlock (Escaja 19).
Nothing could be farther from the ideal nurturing mother than Mama Elena who is depicted as authoritarian and self-reliant. After the death of her husband, Juan de la Garza, she becomes the man of the house, running the ranch and assuming all responsibilities this tasks requires. When Father Ignacio tries to caution her about the dangers of remaining alone in the ranch after Pedro and Rosaura leave for San Antonio, she proudly replies: "I've never needed a man for anything; all by myself, I've done all right with my ranch and my daughters. Men aren't that important in this life, Father"- (Water for Chocolate 37) Schneider (83) asserts that the De la Garza family and ranch are a microcosm of Mexican patriarchy where the daughter shape their feminine identity. Obedience is extremely important and questioning parental authority leads to severe punishment and disapproval). Mama Elena exercises her ruthless authority with her servants and daughters, but especially with Tita, who from birth is destined to serve her until her death. From birth it is almost as if Mama Elena denies her motherly care to her daughter Tita; she is unable to nurse her because her milk dries up from the shock she receives upon learning of her husband’s death. Henceforth, Tita is relegated to the kitchen in the care of Nacha, the faithful cook who becomes her surrogate mother and teaches her the cooking skills and other household chores that are essential for a well-bred upper class lady. Mama Elena observes Roman Catholic religious rites and righteous moral conduct, but only in appearance. She demonstrates her lack of Christian piety when she mercilessly shatters Tita’s dream of marrying the man she loves. Lino Perez (193) asserts that Mama Elena behaves the way she does because she feels that society expects a good mother to perpetuate the traditions established by a patriarchal and authoritative order and to instill in one’s daughter the feminine ideals society expects of a well brought-up lady. Lino Perez (197) further adds that upon the death of her secret lover, Mama Elena buries her feeling of a loving woman and becomes the harsh woman or rather the oppressor man who tyrannizes her household to the point of controlling their very feelings. When news of Roberto’s death reaches the ranch, she prohibits everyone from crying. “She wants to control other people’s feelings just like she had been forced to control her own feelings when José Treviño died.” (Lino Lopez, 197)
Upon Mama Elena’s death, Tita discovers the human side of her mother: she learns that her mother was also oppressed by the forces of society and family. When Mama Elena’s parents discover that she is romantically involved with a mulatto, they quickly marry her off to Juan de la Garza, Tita and Rosaura’s father. Like Tita Mama Elena fights for her love maintaining an illicit relationship with her lover Jose Treviño, who is the father of her middle daughter, Gertrudis. Mama Elena is not as successful in her struggle to fulfill her love, for after the death of Treviño, she must resign herself to live with her lawful husband. Mama Elena transgresses the very moral code she tries to impose on her daughter Tita, and once again, through the character of Mama Elena, Laura Esquivel deconstruct the stereotype of the devoted mother.
It is Gertrudis, however, the illicit daughter of Mama Elena, who most successful represents the liberating act of making a radical break with traditional values. Schneider is correct when she states that Gertrudis “embodies the break with the traditional stereotype of femininity that prescribes and limits women to the private sphere” (97). Her successful marriage and her rise in the army demonstrate that women can find fulfillment in traditional and public roles Through her many and varied experiences away from the family home, Gertrudis has discovered that one must take control of one’s destiny and actively respond to the challenges of life if one is to assert one’s individual identity. To this newly gained insight Esquivel adds the following remark: “I think it is important to pay attention to the inner voice, because it is the only way to discover your mission in life, and the only way to develop the strength to break with whatever familial or cultural norms are preventing you from fulfilling your destiny.”
Works Cited
Escaja, Tina. “Women, Alterity and Mexican Identity in Como Agua para Chocolate.” A Recipe f or Discourse Perspectives on Like Water for Chocolate. Ed. Erick Skipper. Amsterdam, New York: Editions Rodopi B. V., 2010. 3-27. EBook.
Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Pub, 1994.
_____________. “Love and Other Illegal Acts.” Web, 10 May, 2016
Lino Perez, Jeanine. “Mother-Daughter Relationship in Laura Esquivel‘s Como Agua para Chocolate. Romance Notes Vol. 48, (2) 2009: 191-202.
Schneider, Julia Maria. Recreating the Image of Women in Mexico: A genealogy of Resistance in Mexican Narrative Set during the Revolution. Thesis Louisiana State University and
Agricultural and Mechanical College, 2010 pdf.
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