Imagination Feeds Memories: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquive and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitgerald

1365 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theme of the great Gatsby and how the author shows it in the book

The memories of individuals provide the nourishment required for self- prosperity in life. By allowing the past to feed one’s soul, the future becomes open to the potential retained in the past. In both Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the reminiscence of the past sheds a collection of lights on the journey of preceding virtues through numerous and comparable literary intentions.

Both authors utilize symbolism to suggest the influence of valuable memories in conceiving the desired dreams awaiting their present eyes. In Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel acknowledges the significance of memories in the past through the usage of recipes passed down from generation to generation by the main character Tita’s ancestors. The recipes reawaken the past, make the present reality more real, and capture the desired future with respect to these memories. In this context, food symbolizes history. In the novel, Tita’s memories revolve around her childhood cooking in the kitchen with the family’s cook, Nacha. During her youth, Tita learns about the appealing connection between food and emotions, which she uses to cope with her strong emotions throughout her life, happy or sad. One connection made in the novel involves Tita struggling to cook a tamale; Tita remembers “…Nacha had always said that when people argue while preparing tamales, the tamales won’t get cooked…In a case like that, you have to sing to them, which makes them happy, then they’ll cook"(134). Esquivel’s symbolic nature of recipes allows for Tita to build the foundation for the imagination of future dishes shaped by her memories and her emotional connections to the food.

In comparison, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes s...

... middle of paper ...

...ities were unimaginably numerous, and satisfaction with one’s life thrived.

Both Like Water for Chocolate and The Great Gatsby utilize similar literary techniques in order to suggest the significance of imagination in reminiscing upon the past. These styles emphasize the emotional desires and struggles associated with memories to a context in which all may relate. Although the novels offer adverse plots and themes, these distinct connections between the styles may reason for the great success of the novels in internationally. The recognition of memories above the realistic context of the past presents a story in which the lives of the characters appear worth far more than they truly are. Internationally, people tend to imagine their pasts in much the same way in order to compensate for their mortal inabilities to express their true potential in the world.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting And F. Scott Fitzgerald

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby explore the themes of trauma and redemption through the creators unsystematic stories. Traumatic events and it’s effects on both protagonists are the main focus of the texts. Sant’s troubled genius, Will Hunting has difficulties connecting with individuals due to a history of emotional abuse. Fitzgerald’s famous romantic comes in the form of, Jay Gatsby, a financially successful man that has difficulties moving on from his former lover, Daisy. Both Jay and Will are on the path to self actualisation. Equally notable is the negative effects of the past on their personal lives and the different methods each character takes to overcome these experiences and grow. The creators

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Past

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dwelling on the past will make the future fall short. When longing for the past one often fails to realize that what one remembers is not in actuality how it happened. These flashbulb memories create a seemingly perfect point in time. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s modernist novel the Great Gatsby, the ill-fated Jay Gatsby wastes the present attempting to return back to that “perfect” time in past. Acknowledging the power of the imagination, Nick states that, “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” (Fitzgerald 101). Nick realizes that because the past is irretrievable, Gatsby’s struggle, though heroic, is foolish. Gatsby’s great expectations of Daisy leads to great disappointments. Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald tries to instill his

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1198 Words  | 3 Pages

    “You can’t repeat the past?... Why of course you can.” (110 This enduring quote from the famous novel The Great Gatsby by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald stirs the mind and imagination in wonder of the very character who had uttered these words. Infamous Gatsby is the mysterious man behind the lavish and enthralling parties; a man who made his money and his image in that of a king. But, who is this mysterious man? How did he receive the great fortune of developing all of which he had possessed? He had it all, but we are on the outside looking in; did this man with everything really have nothing at all? If Jay Gatsby is the real person we see him to be, then James Gatz is nonexistent. The day that the world had gained Gatsby, it had also lost James Gatz. There is a mysterious motive behind every move Jay Gatsby makes; these meticulously planned out moves will ultimately lead to an unfortunate and untimely demise.

    Read More

  • Flaws In The Great Gatsby

    514 Words  | 2 Pages

    However, Fitzgerald does not write Gatsby as a bad person who embodies all that is wrong with western capitalism. Instead, Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby as a good man who was victim of the qualities ingrained in him by an imperfect ideological system. It is this distinction which makes Fitzgerald’s argument all the more potent, and his audience’s ability to mourn Gatsby as a tragic figure all the more important. Whereas Fitzgerald’s opinion of Gatsby may otherwise have been misconstrued as a negative one, the scene of Gatsby’s funeral clearly conveys the character of Gatsby as a tragic and sorrowful one. The character of Gatsby and Fitzgerald’s commentary on the logical fallacies of the American Dream are closely intertwined, which is why Fitzgerald goes to such great lengths to separate the two.

    Read More

  • Bad Choices in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1582 Words  | 4 Pages

    Bad choices are made every day by everybody. Those bad choices could lead to consequences that are going to bother a person for a long time. Even more, that person may try various ways to correct that error. The intention is good, but things can go even worse if the effort is based on unrealistic fantasies. This effort is presented as a part of modernist ideas. Modernist writers dramatize this effort through the tragic outcomes of the characters. Three modernist pieces, A Street Car Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, The Great Gatsby, all of them sent out a message to the audience, the loss of past and how it cannot be recovered. Each piece features a character who lost hope, strived to recover the hope, and ended with a tragic outcome. A Street Car Named Desire featured Blanche; Blanche spent her whole life trying to get some attentions. Death of a Salesman featured Willy; Willy spent his whole life trying to apply the idea “Be Well Liked.” The Great Gatsby featured Jay Gatsby; Gatsby spent his whole life trying to win back Daisy. All of those characters ended with tragic outcome. Blanche was sent to asylum by her own sister. Willy committed suicide after felt humiliated by his sons. Gatsby was murdered with a gunshot planned by Tom Buchanan. Blanche, Willy, and Gatsby’s tragic fates are caused by their false beliefs about life, which are proven wrong by the contradictions between the reality and the illusion.

    Read More

  • Like Water For Chocolate - Movie versus Book

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Like Water for Chocolate” by Laura Esquivel, is a beautiful romantic tale of an impossible passionate love during the revolution in Mexico. The romance is followed by the sweet aroma of kitchen secrets and cooking, with a lot of imagination and creativity. The story is that of Tita De La Garza, the youngest of all daughters in Mama Elena’s house. According to the family tradition she is to watch after her mother till the day she does, and therefore cannot marry any men. Tita finds her comfort in cooking, and soon the kitchen becomes her world, affecting every emotion she experiences to the people who taste her food. Esquivel tells Titas story as she grows to be a mature, blooming women who eventually rebels against her mother, finds her true identity and reunites with her long lost love Pedro. The book became a huge success and was made to a movie directed by Alfonso Arau. Although they both share many similarities, I also found many distinct differences. The movie lost an integral part of the book, the sensual aspect of the cooking and love.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Passion Quotes

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s conflicts between passion and responsibility demonstrate that chasing empty dreams can only lead to suffering. Gatsby’s motivation to achieve his dream of prosperity is interrupted when his fantasy becomes motivated by love. His eternal struggle for something more mirrors cultural views that more is always better. By ultimately suffering an immense tragedy, Jay Gatsby transforms into a romantic and tragic hero paying the capital price for his actions. Gatsby envokes a deeper Conclusion sentence

    Read More

  • Horrors of WWI Reflected in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Writing

    2584 Words  | 6 Pages

    Certain authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, wanted to reflect the horrors that the world had experienced not a decade ago. In 1914, one of the most destructive and pointless wars in history plagued the world: World War I. This war destroyed a whole generation of young men, something one would refer to as the “Lost Generation”. Modernism was a time that allowed the barbarity of the war to simmer down and eventually, disappear altogether. One such author that thrived in this period was F. Scott Fitzgerald, a young poet and author who considered himself the best of his time. One could say that this self-absorption was what fueled his drive to be the most famous modernist the world had seen. As The New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean mentions in her literary summary of Fitzgerald’s works, “I didn’t know till fifteen that there was anyone in the world except me, and it cost me plenty” (Orlean xi). One of the key factors that influenced and shaped Fitzgerald’s writing was World War I, with one of his most famous novels, This Side Of Paradise, being published directly after the war in 1920. Yet his most famous writing was the book, The Great Gatsby, a novel about striving to achieve the American dream, except finding out when succeeding that this dream was not a desire at all. Fitzgerald himself lived a life full of partying and traveling the world. According to the Norton Anthology of American Literature, “In the 1920’s and 1930’s F. Scott Fitzgerald was equally equally famous as a writer and as a celebrity author whose lifestyle seemed to symbolize the two decades; in the 1920’s he stood for all-night partying, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure while in the 1930’s he stood for the gloomy aftermath of excess” (Baym 2124). A fur...

    Read More

  • A Classic Novel of a Corrupt American Dream, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    The classic novel of a corrupt American dream– F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby – makes a bold statement of the era of disintegrating goals and low expectations of Americans commencing in the 1920s. F. Scott Fitzgerald was known to be one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century and many of his literary works have been recognized for their brilliance. This flawless novel being an essential basis for Fitzgerald’s fame and certainly one of my favorites, exemplifies that more worthwhile goals have gone out the window, and wealth truly doesn't buy happiness or in this case love.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby

    1444 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is still the best representation of the Romantic Hero and his American Dream, despite efforts by interpreters like David Merrick in his film version to "usurp" it, for the author challenges the reader’s imagination through his brilliant narrative technique, unforgettable characterization, and use of symbolism, so that Gatsby’s experience becomes everyone’s.

    Read More

  • The Complex Themes Hidden in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1703 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although after reading “The great Gatsby” one may get a feeling of hopelessness, it one of those novels that leaves you inspired even long after reading it. It’s a masterpiece not only because of the thrillingly brilliant plot or memorable characters but also because of the life lessons that it teacher to the reader. It is not just a typical ...

    Read More

  • Dynamism In The Great Gatsby

    1507 Words  | 4 Pages

    While Scott Fitzgerald pictures the American dream against fatalism as “so we beat on, boats against current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald), William Falkner, an author in the same age, also profoundly discusses the struggle between static and dynamic perspective of destiny. The answer to the question whether actions change life is the same for both writers. While Fitzgerald focuses on the melancholy and inevitability of the poor to surmount the social class barrier despite Gatsby’s endeavor, Falkner implies the failure of the poor to secure independence and dynamism through the struggle of Jewel to balance his dynamism and the burden to bury his mother in Jefferson.

    Read More

  • Jay Gatsby's Dream

    1072 Words  | 3 Pages

    Like many Americans still believe today, Gatsby believed that material things alone constitutes the American Dream. The story itself, and the main figure, are tragic, and it is precisely the fantastic vulgarity of the scene which adds to the excellence of Gatsby’s soul its finest qualities, and to his tragic fate its sharpest edge. Gatsby is betrayed to the reader gradually, and with such tenderness, which in the end makes his tragedy a deeply moving one. Finally, before his death, Gatsby becomes disillusioned. His inner life of dreams loses its power and he finds himself alone in the emptiness of a purely material universe.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein and The Great Gatsby

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chasing dreams and aiming high in life are the inspiration for many, if not most people in the world. Unfortunately, chasing these dreams too aggressively may have devastating consequences. There is countless number of examples of situations where pursuing dreams too vigorously lead to the downfall of people’s lives. The two novels “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley and “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald depict great examples of characters that sacrifice and become insatiable to acquire their dreams but the consequences are dreadful. They are both set at very different time frames and societies. Frankenstein is set in the 1800s and is considered a science fiction while The Great Gatsby is set during the summer of 1922 and is thought upon as a socially criticizing novel. One being a gothic novel and the other being a modernist novel, they may seem very different. Frankenstein uses the themes of the danger of knowledge, lies and deceit, compassion and forgiveness/revenge. The Great Gatsby’s themes are based on the American dream of 1922, upper class shallowness, and romanticism. Although these novels don’t seem to relate at all, some of the main themes are similar in both novels. These themes include emotion, romanticism, tragedy, and ambivalence. Different time frames, genres, settings, and ideas, but the idea of people making ruthless decisions is clear on both novels.

    Read More

  • American Dream In The Great Gatsby Analysis

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    After the occurrence of World War I, the United States returned to its former self. A land full of financial and social opportunities for those willing to work hard, the American Dream. For many this was difficult. Striving and working towards this dream corrupted them. Many obtained their riches under the influence of pleasure. Fitzgerald’s characters in the Great Gatsby enjoy their lives in the 1920s presenting the void that results when pleasure and wealth become the ends in the people themselves. Especially, the hollow lives of Jay Gatsby, George Wilson, and Daisy Buchanan reflect that chasing empty dreams lead only to misery.

    Read More

More about Imagination Feeds Memories: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquive and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitgerald

Open Document