Like Water For Chocolate Mama Elena Character Analysis

In the Esquivel’s book, Like Water For Chocolate, Mama Elena is one of the antagonist character who tries to keep family tradition even though it is good or not. For expressing it, the magic realism attempts to it with her passion. To keep the family tradition, Mama Elena makes Pedro, Tita’s love, marry with her second daughter, Rosaura. Even though Pedro marries with Rosaura, Tita and Pedro are still loving each other. After Mama Elena’s death, they can love without being oppressed. However, the passion of Mama Elena unveils. After Rosauro gives birth to Esperanza, she worries about

Tita is forced to care for the newborn, including breast feeding. Mama Elena is once

The phrase “mother knows best” refers to maternal instinct and wisdom. It is often used to describe how mothers are the most knowledgeable when it comes to their children’s needs. This cliche is frequently used by mothers who try to guide their children on the path towards success, especially when the child protests. Tita’s mother, Mama Elena, embraces this expression fully, and always pushes Tita towards what she believes is the road to achievement. Mama Elena is perhaps one of the best portrayals of “tough love” in a character in literature. Like Water for Chocolate’s author, Esquivel, depicts Mama Elena as a strong, independent woman who does not bother with things she deems insignificant. This translates to the reader through the decisions and actions Mama Elena makes throughout the book. Her disregard for emotions is often the reason why her actions are misunderstood by readers who claim that she is a cruel, unrelenting mother who is apathetic to her daughter’s suffering. However, this is not the case, as Mama Elena never acts without reason and only goes out of her way to discipline Tita when she believes that Tita is in the wrong. The readers see her go to great lengths to protect Tita numerous times, although these instances are often hidden behind her less than pleasant words, such as when she tries to shield Tita and Nacha from the rebels who were known to frequently terrorize families and rape women. Despite being a strict and unforgiving mother, Mama Elena’s

Based on the novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, a good woman should posses independent, strong, and knowledgeable feminist characteristics. Such character in the novel is Mama Elena. Mama Elena is an independent woman for the reason being that she took the position of head of the household due to her husband’s shocking death. Maintaining the family ranch in order is a job that requires persistence and enormous responsibility; therefore, Mama Elena being the strong willed and assertive woman she is, fills the position greatly in order to provide the food and education for her family. Mama Elena as an independent woman hides her emotions deep down since she is a ranch owner in a ruthless society of high male dominance, where women are not seen as important, furthermore less property owners.

Following, we learn that Mama Elena has no milk to feed Tita, which makes Nacha, the family cook - her official caretaker as she replaces Mama Elena. This is important to point out because the initial separation of the two main characters is quite evident; there is no mother-daughter bond that should have been established, Mama Elena doesn’t have time to worry about her, “without having to worry about feeding a newborn baby on top of everything else.” (7) We grow to understand why Tita forms other vital bonds with Nacha, and of course the food that surrounds her daily, helping her not only to grow but acts as an outlet for her emotions. “From that day on, Tita’s domain was the kitchen…this explains the sixth sense Tita developed about everything concerning food.” (7) From the beginning, Tita is given barely any freedom, she is given a purpose, she will not marry anyone until Mama Elena is alive, she is to look after her, which becomes a great conflict when the love of her life, Pedro, is to marry her sister, Rosaura, and not her. Mama Elena wants to hear nothing about Tita’s frustration. Mama Elena herself has lost her true love and because of it is insensitive to Tita’s love with Pedro. The reaction of each woman to her predicament helps explain the opposite characters. Mama Elena lets the loss of her young love turn into hatred for anything but tradition, and

As a toddler she spent her days witnessing the magic that Nacha manifested every time she set herself to make a platter. Tita was her apprentice and without knowing it, little by little, she completely embodied the power to cook, and what?s more, to reveal herself through her food. When she had no other way to express herself, food became her mode of communication. Mama Elena?s cruel appointing of Tita as head of all the preparations for the wedding of her sister Rosaura and the man that Tita loved, resulted very tragically. While baking the cake with Nacha, Tita?s tears sank into the batter of the cake, and acted as poisonous toxins that nauseated all those who ate it, ruining the wedding, and killing Nacha herself, who also tasted Tita?s melancholy teardrops:

You know perfectly well that being the youngest daughter means you have to take care of me until the day I die” (Page 10). For Pedro, love isn’t strong enough for him to overlook social demands and marry Tita after Rosaura dies, but for others such as Tita and Gertrudis, social demands and traditions are things they choose to ignore. In Chapter 5, Tita usurps Rosuara’s role as a mother to Roberto. Tita breastfeeds the baby since Rosaura can not, which creates a strong connection between Tita and the baby, leading to a greater connection between Pedro and Tita. Tita becomes the mother in the family until Mama Elena forces their separation by sending Pedro and his family away.

Rosaura, as the eldest daughter among the three, strives to maintain Mama Elena’s tradition and also barely cared about Tita as she married her lover. This can be compared to some people in the higher rank during the Mexican Revolution who wanted to maintain certain rules, for example the land reform which took away the land of farmers and indigenous people. They didn’t care about the people in the lower rank just like Rosaura didn’t care about Tita. Gertrudis, who is the middle daughter, is the only one in the family who was probably so desperate for freedom that she ran away from her family, ignoring the tradition of Mama.

Additionally, the sorrow that Tita felt was also unintentionally transferred to others. . Specifically the wedding cake in which she managed to communicate her longing and sadness to Rosaura and Pedro 's wedding guests. As she prepared the Chabela Cake, her tears fell into the batter and icing. "The moment they took their first bite of the cake, everyone was flooded with a great wave of longing...Mama Elena, who hadn 't shed a single tear over her husband 's death, was sobbing silently. But the weeping was just the first symptom of a strange intoxication-an acute attack of pain and frustration-that seized the guests and scattered them across the patio and the grounds and in the bathrooms, all of them wailing over lost love" (Esquivel 39). The tears affected everyone at the wedding banquet with longing for lost loves, so much so that they become physically sick. They were literally love sick and Tita was responsible even though she had no idea what she had just done. In the same manner, even though Tita didn’t actually make the hot chocolate from story’s title "Like water for chocolate", it still symbolizes her biggest emotion. It is learned that once she hears Rosaura tell Alex about

Furthermore, Esquivel puts Tita though the gauntlet using the theme of emotional repression to keep her weak and obedient to her mother and from truly discovering herself. Early on, the author makes it apparent that Tita’s ideas mean nothing to her mother and Tita is nothing more than a tool to her, “You don’t have an opinion, and that’s all I want to hear about it. For generations, not a single person in my family has ever questioned this tradition, and no daughter of mine is going to be the one to start” (11). Having to swallow her feelings and ideas Tita was forcefully pushed back by her mother into compliance. Continuing in that manner Mama Elena forces Tita to prepare

The entire De La Garza family participates in sausage making. Everyone has a job in order to complete the amount that they set forth to complete each day. One afternoon, as they are preparing the sausages, Tita tells her mother that Pedro Muzquiz would like to pay her a visit due to his interest in marrying Tita, still remembering the first time that they met. It was During Tita and Pedro’s adolescent years. Their families came together for a traditional Mexican Christmas dinner. While at dinner Tita, the youngest of her two sisters, was forced to serve candies to the attendees, like she is usually required to do in addition to cooking, cleaning and sewing. While performing this task, she came in contact with Pedro. He gazed at her like no

Mama Elena, sensing Tita's reluctance to participate in her sister's upcoming wedding, warns her, "I won't stand for disobedience... nor am I going to allow you to ruin your sister's wedding, with you acting like the victim. You're in charge of all the preparations starting now, and don't ever let me catch you with a single tear or even a long face, do you hear?" (27). At the wedding party the following day, although Tita keeps a perfectly calm demeanor, her true feelings about her sister's marriage to Pedro are revealed in the guests' first bite of the Chabela wedding cake. "The moment [the guests] took their first bite of the cake, everyone was flooded with a great wave of longing... [T]he weeping was just the first symptom of a strange intoxication that seized the guests" (39), all but Tita, on whom the cake had no effect. The author uses the cake's effect on the guests to reveal first, Tita's grief over her loss of love through the guests uncontrollable weeping and second, her disgust over her sister and Pedro's

When he went to ask Mama Elena for Titas hand in marriage, he was told that they couldn't marry, because Tita was suppose to take care of her when she gets old, but Mama Elena offered

The images in the movie relate very closely to the amusing feeling the book gives us, giving us a high angle on the guests and long shots, showing us collectively how everyone was crying. At that night Nacha dies, and shatters Titas world. Later on Pedro gives Tita roses, and she decides to make quail in rose. The passion dripped from her to the dish, and made Gertrudis the older sister think of sinful thoughts. The aroma arousing from her reaches to a soldier Juan, who was Gertrudis dream, the moment is described magically: “A pink clod floated toward him, wrapped itself around him…naked as she was, luminous, glowing with energy… without slowing his gallop, so as not to waste a moment, he leaned over, put his arm around her waist, and lifted her onto the horse in front of him, face to face” (pg 55-56). The movie draws a great parallel here, the picture is blurry a little as if it is a dream, and for the first time in the movie, which is very dimly lit and poorly lighted, the picture is bright, with a flowing movement of the two as they disappear. One of the most significant moments in the book is when Tita delivers Rosauras baby Roberto, the thing she loved the most. In the movie however, the whole phase of taking care of Roberto in the kitchen and feeding him is very brief, which is very confusing for later scenes. As mama Elena senses that Pedro and Tita might have an affair going on, she sends them to one of her relatives in the United States.

Tita was born in a family with strict rules and traditions. It is tradition that keeps Tita and Pedro apart. Even though Tita and Pedro are madly in love with each other. However, because tradition demand that Tita the youngest daughter does not marry in order to take care for her parents. “For generations, not a single person in my family has ever questioned this tradition, and no daughter of mine is going to be the one to start”. (10). Tita mother makes this statement to shows that she has power over Tita life, she’s not going to let anybody come between her decisions and explained to her that tradition could not be broken. Later in the story, Pedro fails to gain Tita’s hand in marriage when he speaks to her mother. Instead Elena offer Rosaura the middle sister to marry Pedro in which pedro agrees. “When you’re told there’s no way you can marry the women you love and only hope of being near her is to marry her sister”. (15) This news leaves Tita broken-hearted because she imagines this could have been her, marrying her true love, having a future with him, and probably having children with him. Instead she is doomed to served her