Like Water For Chocolate Compare And Contrast

Laura Esquivel’s novel Like Water for Chocolate features multiple diverse characters with differing personalities that greatly contrast with one another. This is extremely evident when comparing Tita, the main character, to the rest of her family. While, Tita has her differences with Mama Elena and Gertrudis, she clashes with Rosaura the most. Tita is nurturing and passionate, takes pride in her ability to cook well, and is a natural mother, despite never having children of her own. In contrast, Rosaura is selfish, views her children as people she can control, and makes no effort to learn family remedies and recipes. Tita and Rosaura are foils to one another because of their cooking abilities, childcare habits, and their knowledge of family

Similarly, due to her birth taking place there, Tita is introduced with the kitchen and cooking as well (Esquivel 5-6). The first three pages base Tita’s character on being tied to the kitchen. Tita is fed in the kitchen by Nacha when Mama Elena can no longer produce milk (Esquivel 6). In the next paragraph the kitchen is referred to as “Tita’s domain” (Esquivel 7). Rosaura, however, is not comfortable in the kitchen even at an early. When Tita attempted to play with her and Gertrudis in the kitchen by sprinkling water on the hot griddle, Rosaura is described as cowering in the corner (Esquivel 8). When she does try to take part she is too hesitant and Tita pushes her hands closer to the griddle, ultimately burning her (Esquivel 8). This scenario illustrates how Tita and Rosaura work in the kitchen. Where Tita is unafraid and delighted to remain in the kitchen, Rosaura is hesitant and fearful. Gertrudis is present in this scene as well and is also introduced as someone who is not comfortable to be in the kitchen, but she does not share the same fear as Rosaura. She mimics Tita’s actions and takes part in the game of scattering water drops on the stove (Esquivel 8). This shows that Gertrudis is more likely to get along with Tita than Rosaura is, and essentially eliminates her as a true foil to Tita as the two do not fully contrast. This event also foreshadows how Tita’s and Rosaura’s clashing

Rosaura is an unsuccessful mother to Esperanza, because she sees Esperanza not as a person, but as her possession. This is proven by Rosaura’s strong desire to maintain the De La Garza tradition of requiring the youngest daughter to remain unmarried in order to act as a care taker for her mother (Esquivel 150). When they argue and Rosaura wants to take control of Esperanza’s feeding, Tita is mentioned to be worried. This is because Rosaura has never fed her before and will not know what her daughter’s favorite food is or that her newly growing teeth are sensitive (Esquivel 216). While Tita is bitter towards her sister, her main concern is still evidently the wellbeing of the baby, in contrast Rosaura just wants Tita to stay away from her daughter, because of her possessiveness over Esperanza. Tita also fought for Esperanza to go to school (Esquivel 239). Tita’s stubborn stance on Esperanza’s education was born out of a desire to make sure this child had a better childhood than she had. Rosaura only wants to control Esperanza’s life, not out of motherly care, but because she views Esperanza as her property. This is evidenced when Rosaura claims that Esperanza taking care of her is her right as her mother (Esquivel 239). These events prove that Tita is a loving, maternal person and Rosaura does not truly care for the wellbeing of her