Like Water For Chocolate Critical Essay

Maddie Molek

Mr. Williams

AP Literature and Composition

16 May 2023

Title of Your Report

After reuniting with a close friend, Tita cries so heavily that she floods the house she was staying in. This is an event from the novel Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel. This novel follows the life of Tita De La Garza, a girl living with her family on their ranch in Mexico. Throughout the book, hyperbolized actions often follow Tita, such as her tears that can flood a house. Because of this, her emotions throughout the book are fairly obvious. However, the causes of these emotions are not as obvious. Tita’s life was filled with traumatic events and unfair expectations. As the youngest daughter of her family, she was expected to never marry

She presents indicators including becoming withdrawn, excessive sadness, and insomnia. The APA, an organization run by psychologists, defines depression as “a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act”(1). This definition closely relates to Tita’s actions. Throughout the book, it is shown how Tita’s thoughts are very negative, and because of these thoughts, she acts as though the world is against her. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, which is advised by the Board of Scientific Counselors and the National Advisory Mental Health Council, one indicator of depression is “Becoming withdrawn, negative, or detached”(1). Tita does this while staying with John. “There were many things that she needed to work out in her mind, and she could not find the words to express the feeling seething inside of her, since she left the ranch”(Esquivel 108). She could not decide how to accurately describe how she was feeling (something common in people with depression) so she kept it bottled up. Also common in people with depression is “Difficulty sleeping, waking early in the morning, or oversleeping”(National 1). Tita faces major insomnia throughout the book, most often after a loss or traumatic event. To cope with her lack of sleep, Tita would spend her

For all of these conditions, there are therapies available now, but they would not have existed when Tita was. She grew up in a traditional Mexican society in the early 1900s, so most treatments were not invented or accepted yet. In her society, common treatment for any mental condition was sending them to a mental hospital. Childhood trauma is now treated with therapy, but in Tita’s case, a treatment such as art therapy would be more fitting. Art therapy is used as an outlet for emotions and can help the patient express themself in a way other than talking. For Tita, cooking can be an art form. She expresses her emotions through the food she creates. Though it is not always a healthy one, her cooking is the best outlet she has available to her. To learn to live with her grief, Tita needs to accept what has happened in her life. Nacha and Roberto are dead, and nothing will change or make up for that; but, she cannot live the rest of her life in despair. There are drugs that can inhibit the effects of grief, such as antidepressants, but there are none that specifically target grief. Prescribing medicine for grief is rare and only for severe cases. The most common treatment for grief is talking it out. Solo and group therapy are common. Tita would likely not have access to therapy given the time and place of her life, but she could find the people in