Rodrigo A. Taipe IB English 11 Mr.

Jameson December 13, 2011

Like Water For Chocolate Assignment 1. In pairs, find at least 4 phrases that the narrator cites to describe her greataunt Tita and the importance of the kitchen to her understanding of the world. (8 Points) Give brief explanation! y Tita was so sensitive to onions, anytime they were being chopped, they say she would cry and crywhen she was still in my great-grandmothers belly her sobs were so loud (Esquivel 5).

 This conveys that Tita was familiarize with the kitchen and cooking even before she is born which impacts her understanding of the world. y Titas domain was the kitchen, where she grew vigorous and healthy on a diet of teas and thin corn gruels (Esquivel 7).

 This depicts that Tita was always in the kitchen and she is growing up surrounded constantly with food. y Sometimes she would cry for no reason at all, like when Nacha chopped onions, but since they both knew the cause of those tearsTita didnt distinguish between tears of laughter and tears of sorrow (Esquivel 7).

 This passage depicts the relationship created by Tita between her emotions and the characteristics of certain ingredients of the kitchen. She cant associate the different causes of the tears; this impacts her impacts in her understanding of the world. y Her eating habitswere attuned to the kitchen routine: in the morning, when she could smell that the beans were ready; at midday, when she sensed the water was ready for plucking the chickens; and in the afternoon, when the dinner bread was baking, Tita knew it was time for her to be fed.

 This passage illustrates Titas importance of the kitchen because at such a young age Tita already understand the rhyme of the meals and when it is time to eat. 2. 4 Phrases with analysis that illustrate the concepts of HOT and COLD as they represent a characters emotional well-being. i.e. (Sexual Awakening) (8 points)

Hearing Chenchas story confirmed, Tita felt her body fill with a wintry chill: in one sharp, quick blast she was so cold and dry her cheeks burned and turned red, red as the apples beside her. (Esquivel 14).

 This passage depicts the two concepts of Hot and Cold when Tita felt at first a chill and then her cheeks started to burn. This rapid change of temperature suggests that Titas feelings change when she heard the truth about Pedro. The news leaves her surprise (Cold) and then she started to feel happiness (Hot). The impact of the news leaves Tita happy. This is express in the color of her cheeks. The heat that invaded her body was so real she was afraid she would start to bubble her face, her stomach, her breast, her heart like batter (Esquivel 16).

 This passage illustrates the sexual awakening of Tita for being watched by Pedro. Her desire and lust is express in the unusual heat that her body is experimenting. This passage relates to the concept of Hot, because she describes her body as almost bubbling. y When she first felt his hot gaze burning her skin (Esquivel 16).

 This passage conveys the connection between Hot and sexual awakening because Tita is feeling the sexual desire that Pedro feels for her. The intensity of how much Pedro desires Tita is reflected in the way she describes his glare, as a hot gaze that can burn her skin. She realized that the hollow sensation was not hunger but an icy feeling of grief. She had to get rid of that terrible sensation of cold...Not that nightcould she free herself from that cold (Esquivel 19).

 This passage conveys the connection between Cold and grief. After knowing that Pedro would marry her sister, Tita felt sadness and hopelessness. All these negatives emotions manifest themselves as a sensation of coldness. Tita cant understand why she cant get rid of the sensation of the cold, because she is unable to deal with her dilemma about Pedro and his sister. 3. Questions for your group: (8 Points) A) How important are the colors of RED + WHITE? What do they come to symbolize so far in the story?

Throughout the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel uses the colors red and white to symbolize love and apathy in the relationships between the characters. Laura Esquivel uses the color red to symbolize love and passion in relationships. This is illustrated when Pedro gave Tita a bouquet of roses due to the death of Nacha. The narrator says, Tita clasped the roses to her chest so tightly that when she got to the kitchen, the roses, which had been mostly pink, had turned quite red from the blood that was flowing from Titas hands and breast (Esquivel 48). This change in the roses is the manifestation of the intensity love and passion that Pedro and Tita have for each other. Titas love is so intense that it turned the flowers red (color that symbolizes love in this case). Meanwhile the white color represents Titas fear of emptiness without the love of Pedro. On page 34, Tita describes the color white and how she was afraid of it. Tita loves to mix things together because she is cook (used to seeing color and mixing them to get new colors). Yet, later she could not even sense that the pink color was made in the frosting: Nacha realized something was wrong with Tita when she asked if Nacha was going to add the red food color to the icing (Esquivel 35). Even though the icing was already pink, Tita could not notice that because she could only see white due to the void she felt (she was blinded by the whiteness). Not even cooking could help her. Later she affiliates whiteness to marriage and the church.

B) What do the kitchen and food preparation symbolize for Tita? Give page #s y The kitchen is the only place where Tita can be herself. She born in a kitchen, and for her is like been in her own world where she can able to do whatever she wants. This is illustrated when the narrator says, Likewise for Tita the joy of living was wrapped up in the delights of food. It wasnt easy for a person whose knowledge of life was based on the kitchen to comprehend the outside worldthe kitchenwas hers it was Titas realm (Esquivel 7). Also, Tita cooks to express what she feels. Food is a mean of communication and transferal in the novel. Tita uses food to convey her emotions to others. One example is when the narrator describes what happen to Nacha after lick the meringue where Titas tear had drop, it occurred to Nacha to lick some of the icing off her finger to see if Titas tears had affected the flavoryet without knowing WHY, Nacha was suddenly overcome with an intense longing (Esquivel 36). The sadness that Tita feels is express through the meringue. Her sadness because of the marriage between her sister and the man that she loves is so intense that the sadness manifests itself through the meringue. Also, through one dish, she communicates her passion to Pedro; through another, she communicates her longing and sadness to Rosaura and Pedros wedding guests. Food is also a means of transferring family history. The structure of the work relies largely on food as a means to narrate the memories and lives of the De La Garza family. Finally, the kitchen is a site of birth, heritage, and nourishment. There, children are born, raised, and fed, and the family recipes and stories are passed down to future.

C) What IMAGERY of food and cooking are used to describe Titas feelings? Give page #s y One example of imagery that describes Titas feeling is the sensation that she has every time she breaks an egg during the preparation of her sisters banquet for her marriage. The narrator says, A fit of trembling shook Titas body and she broke out in goose bumps when each new egg was broken. The eggs reminded her of the testicles of the chickens they had castrated the month before (Esquivel 26). The passage illustrates the strong feelings that Tita have each time she breaks and egg. Her grief and sadness are manifest in how her body reacts to each egg broken. The eggs and the chickens remind her of Pedro, who is going to be castrated (marry) forever because he will get marry with Titas older sister, so Tita will never be with him. She feels that with each egg broken, the time of the marriage is getting closer, and she is getting nervous about that. Another example of imagery that describes Titas feeling is when Pedro and Tita looked at each other for the first time. The narrator says That look...She turned her head and her eyes met Pedros. It was then she understood how dough feels when it is plunged into boiling oil (Esquivel 16). This passage compares the lust of Pedro as boiling oil, which makes Tita awake her sexual desire. Tita can feel the lust and the sexual-awakening that the glaze of Pedro produces in her. Also it can be interpret as the awakening of the love of Tita toward Pedro with intensity and heat (passion) similar to boiling oil.

D) Find two figurative elements that the author uses to describe Titas feelings of despair, joy or frustration. Metaphor: Tita stood as if in a trance, staring at the whiteness of the sheet; only a few seconds, but long enough to cause a sort of blindness (Esquivel 33).

 This figurative element describes the apathy that Tita feels toward the idea of Pedro marrying her sister. Knowing that the wedding of her sister and the man she loves is going to take place, Tita feels hopeless. She sees white wherever she looked because that is also how her heart feels. Empty and hollow. Now that Pedro is going to marry Rosaura, the man she loves will be gone with other women. The whiteness she sees is symbolizing that emptiness in her heart. y Simile: For Tita those words were like a fresh breeze fanning embers that had been about to die (Esquivel 38).

 This quote occurs right after when Pedro tells Tita that he his only marrying his sister to be closer with her. In this passage, the love of Tita is compare as embers. Tita shows her strong feelings by her fire being relit by a breeze of

oxygen. This air serves as a metaphor for Pedros words as it lights her inner fire (it gives Tita hope because now she knows that Pedro truly loves her).