Escape through Death in Madame Bovary and Like Water for Chocolate

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Recommended: theme of death in literature

Death is inevitable and inexperienced, but it is always present as an escape from the unwanted tone of one’s life that has their goals unaccomplished, desires unachieved and situations unsatisfied. Using death as a resolution for the protagonist’s problems, the authors, Gustave Flaubert and Laura Esquivel, represent the suffering and sickness of female characters, in their works, Madame Bovary and Like Water For Chocolate, respectively, leading to their tragic ending, death. Bringing up the theme of feminism, the writers simultaneously highlight the trend of romanticism in the particular era, which forced the characters to rebel against the restrictions formed by the society and social reforms.

Since the beginning of the novel, it is seen that Emma Bovary often used the strategy of “escape” to excuse herself from the daily routine of life she possessed and which she perceives as confinement. And, as we read through ‘like water for chocolate’, it is noticed that Tita wanted to escape her controlled life which practically could only happen if mama Elena would realize the importance of marriage and its values, which was not possible seeing the nature of mama Elena. Tita never explicitly wished that Mama Elena die, but her death was the only way out to her world of happiness, romance and freedom. Hence, the readers see the importance of death in tita’s life leading her to freedom. .

Flaubert shows repeated images of Emma trying to free herself from the ordinaries of life by reading novels, day dreaming when she was younger, and moving from one town to another and fantasizing as she got older. On the other side, Esqivel shows the controlled and restricted life of tita since her childhood by Mama Elena, until ...

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... led to the freedom of the characters. Flaubert brings to the readers his modern ideas about the problems faced by the women in that era. The characters are shown to be so frustrated, saturated and tired of their routine, that they find death way more lighter and easier than what they have. But, the writers very skillfully leave the readers to decide the flaw and doings of the characters. They do not practically end the novel by the death of the male and female protagonist, but, in fact, open an idea that tries to create in the mind of the readers that what Emma and Tita did was right or wrong. They are not judgmental about any character throughout the novel and have kept equal balance on both, the negative and positive, aspects of the characters. He has welcomed different thoughts and perspectives in the end of the novel to create an effect or bring about a change.

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