Analysis Of Like Water For Chocolate By Laura Esquivel

Laura Esquivel in the book “Like Water For Chocolate” uses many strategies throughout the book like imagery ,and exaggeration. Both imagery and exaggeration helped develop the tone and the mood ,and set the purpose the passages that were given to us by Esquivel. Esquivel is trying to convey to the readers that you don’t need to be just plain like other writers to have a good story to tell, as she demonstrates in her way of writing and strategies. The use of words that Esquivel uses gives us a better understanding of the strategies being used by the author, and what she is trying to say by using those words. There are many other strategies that Esquivel uses, but exaggeration and imagery have a huge role in the book, and not only in the passage where she describes Nacha, but in others where the food is involved.

Imagine you and your family living under a gruesome dictator and having no freedom . Julia alvarez “ a genetics of justice “ is a novel about a young girl and her family living under a dictator with a totalitarian government in the dominican government. In this novel you learn about her journey and how she becomes to be the women she is today . “No flies fly into a closed mouth “is a quote used by her mother through the text. In the novel it also talks about the dictator and is unusual daily life .

I won 't ever do it again”( Esquivel 12), is what Tita said when she got scolded. Mami was considered more polite than saying mama according to Mama Elena and if they didn 't, they would get slapped. However towards the middle of the book, Tita couldn 't cope with her anymore. Near the end, Tita announced her hatred for her mom by exclaiming,” I know who I am! A person who has a perfect right to live her life as she pleases.

Lola takes advantage of her deteriorating mother whose illness represents the declining hold of the norms over Lola. Since her mom “will have trouble lifting her arms over her head for the rest of her life,” Lola is no longer afraid of the “hitting” and grabbing “by the throat” (415,419). As a child of a “Old World Dominican Mother” Lola must be surrounded by traditional values and beliefs that she does not want to claim, so “as soon as she became sick” Lola says, “I saw my chance and I’m not going to pretend or apologize; I saw my chance and I eventually took it” (416). When taking the opportunity to distinguish herself from the typical “Dominican daughter” or ‘Dominican slave,” she takes a cultural norm like long hair and decides to impulsively change it (416). Lola enjoyed the “feeling in [her] blood, the rattle” that she got when she told Karen to “cut my hair” (418).

This is seen by the actions she takes to get to her goal, statements she makes towards her family members, and how she responds to her family when they are troubled. Mama has lived in her apartment for a long time with her family and is about to get enough money to change that. An example of Mama’s motivation to achieve her goal is shown when Ruth, her daughter-in-law and Mama are talking about what Mama would do with the insurance money. Mama states, “Been thinking that we maybe could meet the notes on a little old two-story somewhere, with a yard where Travis could play in the summertime, if we use part of the insurance for a down payment and everybody kind of pitch in” (563). Mama is suggesting to Ruth of what could be a better future for her son and their family.

The Significance of Motherly Sacrifice Many people take the sacrifices that parents make for them for granted. Specifically, many mothers give up important aspects of their lives for their children. Khaled Hosseini, author of A Thousand Splendid Suns demonstrates the significance of motherly sacrifice in several different ways through Nana, Laila, and Mariam.

But what inspires such submission to control? The mother and Daughter’s characters are more action that voice. Their only lines of dialog are responses to the father’s dinnertime badgering. The mother appears broken down, a shell of a person struggling to speak. The daughter spite and fire lashing out at the father's insults.

Her selflessness and strength shows as soon as she is introduced, in which she is conveyed as the leader of the family. While nearly all the characters outwardly express what they dream of doing with the money, Mama states that she desires to put money away for Bethena’s school, or “just give it to the church or something.” (Hansberry, 1315) Later, she states that she would like to purchase a house; all in efforts to create a better atmosphere for her family. (Hansberry, 1303) She sustains herself as a very determined, leading, and assertive woman as she continues to guide her family through their hardship. Her character is very crucial in these circumstances because of the family’s tendency to draw and thrive off of her

Mama watches over her family every day. In the play, when Ruth finds out that she is pregnant, Mama helps her. Mama doesn’t make Ruth panic, Mama just cares for her. In Act I, Travis needs 50 cents for school. Ruth tells him no, but Walter gives it to him along with another 50 cents for school.

Jamaica Kincaid depicts an instructional survival guiding theme in “Girl,” about a mother giving essential advice to the daughter about very critical life issues. The advice consists of how to do many domestic acts such as Antiguan dishes, being a respectable young lady and many small suggestions to not have a ruined reputation amongst the society the young girl is living in. Throughout the short story uses symbolism to emphasize the theme entirely so the girl learns to behave and be pure in front of others who watch her every move. Moreover, the mother in this short story advises her daughter by telling her how to make certain foods. In many instances the mother does not hesitate to tell the daughter how and where to grow the vegetables needed for the dishes in which the daughter must learn to make.

Mama doesn’t work, what she does is butcher hogs and milk cows. “I used to love to milk till I was hoofed in the side” (Walker, 316, 13). Mama is also the narrator of this story. Mama sticks more into religion and is more traditional than her two daughters, mama thinks that Dee is a failure in life and she sees that the way Dee acts she is rejecting her families tradition.

Ruth is unhappy with her relationship. Ruth said, “No. Mama, something is happening between Walter and me. I don’t know what it is--- but he needs some something--- something I can't give him anymore. He needs this chance, Lena" (32).

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

In “The Field of Life and Death”, Xiao Hong uses the characters’ suffering and symbolism to demonstrate the breaking of traditional male and female roles. As Howard Goldblatt mentions in the translator’s introduction, “the villages’ fatalistic attitudes and repeated mention of the four distresses (birth, old age, sickness, and death) are unquestionable” (xiii), Xiao Hong represents these distresses with the main female characters without reservation in the process of childbirth, aging, disease, and death. Through childbirth, men shrink from responsibility 1. Childbirth and responsibly 2. Old Age and 3.

Savannah Nolting Mrs. Love Hilliard Multicultural Literature and Film 30 September 2016 The difficult times a family might face Have you ever thought about how some people might see you different because of your race, or traditions?. In the film titled What’s Cooking by Gurinder Chadha, it focuses on four families which include the Seeing, Avila, Nguyen, and that Williams family that teaches us about forgiveness, tolerance, and moving on. The Avila family includes Javier (father) , Elizabeth (mother) , Gina (daughter) , and also Anthoney (son). The Seeing family includes Ruth (mother) , Herb (father) , Rachel (daughter) , Carla (girlfriend) , and Aunt Bea (aunt).