“Like Water for Chocolate” is a drama and a romance about the lives of women in Mexico The following quote is from chapter six titled “A Recipe for Making Match and it describes the way Mexican women thought about love, about passion and about life in general and everything was connecting with cooking. “My grandmother had a very interesting theory; she said that each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can’t strike them all by ourselves; just as in the experiment, we need oxygen and a candle to help. In this case, the oxygen, for example, would come from the breath of the person you love; the candle could be any kind of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches” (Esquivel 52). It is important to understand that all of the senses need to be open in order to be able to get the spark from the outside world which would make a person feel everything that was hidden within their soul.
The story is about recipes, feminism, family affairs, secret love and the revolution in Mexico and there are also elements of magical realism. Love is the main ingredient of all the recipes and it makes life worth living. The family in the story, De la Garza has many family issues and there is much drama involved in their everyday situation and in their relationships. Mama Elena is the head of the family and she believes that she has the right to be in charge of the lives of the members of her family, especially when it comes to Tita, who is the youngest child.
The story revolves around Tita, who is the protagonist of the novel and who is a talented cook. She wishes to get away from the rules set by her mother and lead her life the way she wants to. The novel is full of drama and mythology as well since there are elements of magical realism in the book. Food is the center of the stage and Tita is the culinary expert which is not the coincidence since love is food for the soul. Laura Esquivel writes about what every person needs and that is food and the wish for sharing. Food is not only delicious way of satisfying one’s hunger, it is also an inspiration and a way of communicating delicate things. The culture of the whole family is hidden in the recipes and they are passed from generation to generation. Food has many powers over people because it can make them feel good or bad and it can also be an aphrodisiac. It is good for sharing memories and creating new ones which means that Tita is the main chef in the novel in many ways. The kitchen is an inseparable part of Tita’s life because she was born there and she finds her self-expression through cooking. She is also a person who cares for other people because she nurtures them. Nobody is left indifferent when it comes to Tita’s cooking and food is her way of going through life in the best possible way as a person who survives everything.
This chapter deals with Tita’s recovery while being observed by Dr. Brown when she begins to feel better and less traumatized. She was greatly affected by the wedding of Rosaura ad Pedro which made her feel emotionally cold and distant as well as numb. However, she began to understand the life that was ahead of her without the interference of Mama Elena’s oppression. A mysterious woman visits Tita at the doctor’s house and she comforts her. The woman is Dr. Brown’s grandmother’s ghost and she was Native American. It is explained that Dr. became interested in medicine because of his grandmother. Tita is fascinated by everything she encounters in his home. She does not speak while at John’s place and she remains quiet. He talks to Tita about the recipe for match making and he shares the wisdom of his grandmother with her. Tita does not talk and he wants her to write the reason for that with a stick on one of the walls. Her reason is that she is not willing to talk because it is her defense mechanism after everything that has happened to her. Tita decides never to go back to the house of her mother and she finds her personal freedom after extensive search.
When Tita ends up in John’s house, it is a shock for her because she had never been away from her mother’s place and from the kitchen which means life to her. John’s home makes her question her existence in this world without the interference of her mother or her cooking task. She goes through the process of becoming an independent person who is capable of caring about herself, and does not need to take care of other people. Tita gains insight into her personal desired once she comes at peace with her inner demons. She is also in a safe environment which is provided by Dr. John Brown. He is the best possible person who can make Tita well again, he is white and male and has a liberal approach to life which is why he is able to help Tita find herself in the world. The two of them turn out to be a perfect match for one another and they get engaged.
The box of matches each person has inside is a great metaphor for the crisis people go through. These matches are present for a reason and they need to be lit which can only happen with the help of another person who has deep feeling and great emotions. The point is in selflessness and in sharing the intimacy with the person from the culture to which one belongs even though they might have been born in another culture.
Works Cited
Esquivel, Laura. Like Water For Chocolate. New York: Bantan Doubleday Dell, 1994. Print.
