Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

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Recommended: Analysis of magical realism

The excerpt from Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel exposes the uncanny scenario of Rosaura and Pedro’s wedding, and the sudden nostalgia everyone is revealing. The connection of food, and the role of the Mexican revolution is depicted in this excerpt, and the use of intense emotion and sorrow is used to create a dismal atmosphere filled with loss and loneliness. Esquivel uses Tita’s culinary skills and her deep affection towards Pedro as a technique to emphasize the effect it has on the secondary characters in the novel. The overall depiction of the novel is effected by Tita’s culinary skills; each month represents the emotion she is currently feeling. This particular excerpt illustrates the grief of Tita towards the marriage of Rosaura and Pedro by depicting the scene as a heartache resulting from the turmoil of the Mexican revolution. Esquivel integrates love, food, nostalgia, and tradition in this excerpt, throughout the novel. This accentuates the outcome of the Mexican revolution and its affect on the citizens.

The first evidential literary device used in this excerpt is magical realism. Esquivel incorporates imagination and reality in most of her scenes, to lessen the aggravated situation, and somehow turn it into a phenomenon of fantasy and pragmatism. The cake made “everyone flooded with a great wave of longing” (Esquivel, 39) [1] and in order to erase the memories and reminiscing of malignant moments, almost everyone vomited a “rotting river [of] several yards.” (40) The exaggeration of the amount of vomit that was produced and the result of Tita’s depression exhibits the technique of magical realism. The scenario displayed generates a land filled with nostalgia and remorse, just like what Tita felt when...

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... her country, and includes it in this excerpt, and her overall novel. Esquivel also wanted to depict the strict regulations and traditions of culture, and how it could affect the mindset of anyone, such as Tita. Esquivel gradually exposes the progress of sorrow, grief, and loss, and the outcome of love. Even though magical realism and many mythological stories are incorporated into the novel, it does have a realistic aspect behind it, where it ceases and captures the sadness of each character, and their loss. Everything is revealed, but gradually.

Works Cited

1. Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments, with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Print.

2. Dennard, Mackenzie E. "Like Water for Chocolate at Food in the Arts." Search Box. Web. 07 Feb. 2012. .

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