Marital Discord in Madame Bovary and Like Water for Chocolate.

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Recommended: Reflection of society in literature

More often than not, literature with aspects that the readers can identify with, prompt them to reflect upon their lives. Although highly controversial, these aspects are the respective authors’ vistas of several issues of their society. Social concerns of the times; on the familial and societal front, happen to be some of the most influencing factors for the written word. Some of these concerns like family, marriage, sexuality, society and death, are notably illustrated by the authors, Gustave Flaubert in Madame Bovary and Laura Esquivel in Like Water for Chocolate.

Marital discord, which in general, may arise due to conflicts in the marriage, leading to disloyalty, infidelity, or a termination of the marriage, plays a prominent role in the development of the plots, perhaps being one major reason for the literary tension in the works under study. Marital discord may embody a silent rebellion against the societal norms prevalent in those times.

Furthermore, the characteristic attributes that may be influenced by the societal norms are also instrumental in causing strife in the marriages of Emma and Charles and Rosaura and Pedro. The lives of Emma and Tita are quite different. Their social upbringings and the family environments since their childhood were poles apart. The very prime difference being, unlike Emma, Tita had a domineering mother Mama Elena. This matriarchal figure in the book is perhaps the antagonist in Tita’s life, for as long as she lives. Although Mama Elena represents a very strong image of an independent woman, managing the “enormous responsibility of running the ranch”, guarding her family, she upheld the traditions of De la Garza family, no matter what. One of them being, the youngest daughter would take c...

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... As much as Emma wanted to be free and rich, she wanted to be happy, and under the guise of finding happiness, Emma’s marital discord becomes instrumental in attaining her sordid pleasures. Readers may observe a poor choice of decisions on Emma’s part. Likewise, Tita, by virtue of her relation with Mama Elena- being her last daughter, Tita is treated as if she were Mama Elena’s bondservant for life. However, the infidelity of Pedro for Tita quenches their thirst of passion, disregarding the customary family values. Thus, marital discord serves a very important literary purpose in these books, significantly driving their plots ahead. The books Madame Bovary and Like Water for Chocolate show us how these women, bended the rules in search of happiness, although both didn’t achieve it and hence, they stand out in literature as the sun’s vibrant presence in the skyline…

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