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Feminist Lens In Like Water For Chocolate

431 Words2 Pages

Although this book was intended to portray a feminist lens, there is still a lot of patriacary shown throughout the story. In the novel men have emotional control over the women, leaving them in a submissive trance towards men. Feminism is defined as ¨the advocacy of womenś rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.¨ This novel does not provide much equality between the sexes. Throughout the novel, women are seen as maids while the men have full control of their emotions and what they do in life. Tita fell submissive to Pedro at a young age. Pedro continued to show no boundaries with Tita, even when she walked away. Pedro showed up again when Tita was about to get married, trying to stop her. Even though he was already married, he wanted …show more content…

When she was there she met Dr. Brown, and thought in order to fill the void or revive her ¨soul¨ she needed a man. ¨ was is possible for her soul to stire again…She had to find someone who could kindle her desire. Could that someone be John?¨ (118) Tita was raised during a time that men were the answer to happiness, so when she was broken and mentally ill she thought that she needed a man to save her. (Counter-argument and rebuttal) The book didn't completely block out a feminist lens, Mama Elena took care of the family when her husband died. She took care of the farm and kept everyone organized. She was treated as an equal. However, she was stuck in the old ways. Mama Elena refused to let Tita choose her own life, and didn't allow Tita to marry Pedro. ‘“If he intends to ask for your hand, tell him not to bother. He’ll be wasting his time and mine too. You know perfectly well that being the youngest daughter means you have to take care of me until the day I die.”’ (10) As a book trying to portray a feminist lens, this book didn't succeed. It was a good read but women's overpowering was vague. There were often examples of women being mistreated or treated like objects. There wasn't much overcoming the hardship of men being in control, rather just accepting fate and allowing them to

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Titas mother has a solution: She offers up her second oldest child to Pedro. This creates a divide between Tita and her mother and sister. Pedro shows his devotion to Tita by asking her to marry him, and settling for her sister. He knows that he will never be able to be with Tita and that this is the only way he can be close to her.

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Visualize your daughter, mother, friend, or even yourself, being dismissed as being a leader and making change all because you're a woman and you aren’t supposed to lead, you're supposed to follow. This is a reality women live in every single day, they’re not allowed to voice their opinion or even have one when it comes to leadership, sexual desires, or women's house roles. Society views and forces women to be housewives, whose goal in life is to be a mother and care for their children, they cannot have sexual desires only men are allowed to have any, and they are to never voice their opinion if it goes against a man. In the novel, Like Water for Chocolate the female characters challenge the gender norms and expectations that are forced on

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Words such as ‘unspoken assumption’, ‘insidiously’,‘exaggerating’, and “preoccupation” show suspicion towards the topic of women's rights and movements . In addition, the author also gives emphasis towards the downfall of men’s rights by including details such as “special privileges and protection to women” and “men’s supposed mistreatment of women”, thus showing how the author is directly opressed by the fight for equal rights. The author sees men's rights and their struggle with oppression as them being expected to have traditional cordial manners and fall into the traditional role of the patriarchy of the family, and decides to ‘debunk’ feminism by using these few points against a legacy of hatred, oppression, and misogyny that created

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This is shown through the character Mama Elena, whose mere presence and force of nature allows her to control the entirety of the De La Garza Ranch. Tita is also portrayed this way through her extensive knowledge and leadership qualities that give her power. Gertrudis is also a character who is portrayed as subverting the patriarchal narrative of women in power for her leadership qualities as well as her sheer determination and hard work that allowed to rise up the ranks of the revolutionary army and maintain a lot of power. This entire novel has shown women in a light that has not normally been seen. For example, my mother, who is one of the strongest people I know, grew up on books that portrayed women as weak and below men.

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