Like Water For Chocolate Literary Analysis

Love is an emotion in which many people consider complicated. It is difficult to give a precise definition to an emotion, but several sources have attempted to do so including the Bible and different dictionaries. There are also several types of love such as love for one’s family, pets, and love for a partner. A summarization of the overall emotion itself could be classified as feelings of comfort and warmth, as well as wanting to do what is in one’s power to better the life of the one he loves. A common influence on literature is love. One work which experiences love in its plot is Laura Equivel’s “Like Water for Chocolate.” In the work, two characters named Pedro and Tita have a complicated relationship, but what they feel is love.

Pedro’s and Tita’s love is rather strong and when Pedro arrives at the ranch to ask for Tita’s hand in marriage, he is told by Mama Elaina that he cannot marry her but may marry her eldest sister, Rosaura. Pedro accepts the offer with his reasoning being that “when you’re told there’s no way you can marry the woman you love, your only hope of being near her is to marry her sister” (12). His statement shows that he is willing to do what he can in order to be near his beloved Tita. He also claims that he is “going to marry with a love for Tita that will never die” (13). He is marrying Tita’s sister because that is the only way he can be near her and he loves her. Rosaura and Pedro even remain living on the ranch so that Pedro and Tita can still be offered contact with one another. Although Pedro cannot marry Tita, he finds an alternative way to be close with his

The pain she experiences is so intense that the closest description of the way she feels is a “black hole in the center of her chest, infinite coldness flowing through it” (13). One will only experience such a feeling if she cares for and loves an individual has him taken from her; that is the feeling of heartbreak. She gets so upset that she cannot sleep and begins reminiscing about Pedro and their past. She specifically recalls Pedro’s words from the night he confessed his love for her and how “from that night on, she would love him forever” (16). Pedro told her “you don’t have to think about love, you either feel it or you don’t” (16) and he swears that his love for her will last forever. Pedro had given Tita a rose in the past and when she cooks a special meal using it, the force of their still-fiery love is passed onto the other sister, Getrudis whom is sent into a lustful state and ends up leaving the ranch to be with a revolutionary soldier. If a force of two individuals’ love is doing that to someone, it must be real and it must be strong. No matter the hurt she feels, Tita does not stop loving