Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

1. Like Water for Chocolateby Laura Esquivel

2. como agua para chocolate In some Latin American countries, such as Mexico, hot chocolate is made not with milk, but with water instead. Water is boiled and chunks of milk chocolate are dropped in to melt. The saying "like water for chocolate," alludes to this fact and also to the common use of the expression as a metaphor for describing a state of passion or sexual arousal. In some parts of Latin America, the saying is also equivalent to being 'boiling mad' in anger.

3. Laura Esquivel LWFC was Esquivel�s first novel Met with unusual success when it was published in 1989 Translated from Spanish into English in 1992 and became a best seller English-subtitled film became one of the most popular foreign language films in American film history

4. �I grew up in a modern home, but my grandmother lived across the street in an old house that was built when churches were illegal in Mexico. She had a chapel in the home, right between the kitchen and the dining room. The smell of nuts and chilies and garlic got all mixed up with the smells from the chapel, my grandmother�s carnations, the liniments and healing herbs.�

5. �lo maravilloso real�: magical realism First developed by Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier �Lo maravilloso real,� 1949 Generally describes novels by Latin American writers that are infused with distinct fantastical, mythical, and epic themes

6. Often explained as a unique product of Latin America, particularly its history of European colonialism Resulted in a delicate relationship between the contradictory, yet co-existing, forces of indigenous religion and the powerful Catholic Church Often involves Time shifts Dreams Myths Fairy tales Surrealistic descriptions Element of surprise or shock The inexplicable

7. Adapted from M. H. Abrams� A Glossary of Literary Terms, 6th ed.: �these writers interweave, in a an ever-shifting pattern, a sharply etched realism in representing ordinary events and descriptive details together with fantastic and dreamlike elements . . . �these novels violate, in various ways, standard novelistic expectations by drastic � and sometimes highly effective � experiments with subject matter, form, style, temporal sequence, and fushions of the everday, the fantastic . . .

8. The fantastical element in Tita�s cooking is that it produces such strong emotions in her family The art of cooking reflets the patience and talent of the cook The spirits who appear to Tita symbolize the long-lasting effects of those who impact our lives and our own feelings of responsibility and guilt

9. Significant works of magical realism . . . some of Shaffer�s favorites Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits (and her other works as well) Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera, One Hundred Years of Solitude Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon Ben Okri, The Famished Road Yann Martel, The Life of Pi

10. Set against the Mexican Revolution of 1910 � 1917� Most important modernizing force in Mexican history Peasants and natives banded together under the leadership of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata to reject dictatorship and revive democracy Claim Mexico for the everyday man and woman

11. As you read, watch for . . . The physical illnesses that plague the characters The role of ghosts The role of tradition Fire as a symbol The different personalities of the three De La Garza sisters Their options The domestic life of women

12. Esperanza finds her aunt�s cookbook in the ruins of the De La Garza ranch. As she recreates the recipes in her home, she passes down the family stories to her daughter. Her daughter becomes the novel�s narrator as she incorporates her great-aunt�s recipes, remedies, and experiences into the story. She justifies her unique narrative: Tita �will go on living as long as there is someone who cooks her recipes.� The recipes make it work . . .

13. A woman�s place Richard Corliss: �Laura Esquivel brought Gabriel Garcia Marquez�s brand of magic realism into the kitchen and the bedroom, the Latin woman�s traditional castle and dungeon.� Traditionally, a Latin woman�s place is in the home, especially in the patriarchal society of the early 20th century Women expected to serve fathers, brothers; then they got married and served husbands, sons, and daughters

14. Women turned to the domestic arts for creative outlets, along with storytelling, gossip, and advice Created their own female culture within the social prison of married life Maria Elena de Valdes notes that little has changed for the Mexican woman: �She must be strong and far more clever than the men who supposedly protect her. She must be pious, observing all the religious requirements of a virtuous daughter, wife, and mother. She must exercise great care to keep her sentimental relations as private as possible, and, most important of all, she must be in control of life in her house, which means essentially the kitchen and bedroom or food and sex.�

15. Based on genre of women�s fiction published in monthly installments in �calendars for young ladies� Also included recipes, dressmaking patterns, home remedies, moral exhortations, and calendars of church observances 1860�s: installment novel grew out of the monthly recipe Elaborate love stories by women appeared in the 1880�s Episodic plots, overt sentimentality By the end of the century every literate Mexican woman was an avid reader of this genre

16. Behind the simple episodic plots there was an infrahistory of life as it was lived with all the multiple restrictions for women of this social class Heroines were survivors Led full lives despite marriage Transcended conditions of existence and expressed themselves through love and creativity �A la mesa y a la cama, una sola vez se llama�

17. Narration that follows is a combination of direct addresson how to prepare the recipe and interspersed stories about the loves and times of the narrator�s great-aunt Tita Narration moves from first person to the third-person omniscient Each chapter ends with the information that the story will be continued and an announcement of next month�s recipe Each chapter is prefaced by the title, the subtitle, the month, and the recipe for that month

18. �The recipes and their preparation, as well as the home remedies and their application, are an intrinsic part of the story. There is therefore an intrinsic symbiotic relationship between the novel and its model in the reading experience. Each is feeding on the other.� Maria Elena de Valdes