Like Water For Chocolate Transformation Essay

Laura Esquivel’s magical realist novel, Like Water for Chocolate, shows the story of Tita, a young woman who transforms her bitter household from one controlled by archaic family traditions to an accepting household full of love. The story highlights the necessity of accepting transformation to find fulfillment. Esquivel shows this with the parallel of Tita’s sisters: Rosaura, who follows her mother’s whims and firmly believes in family traditions, and Gertrudis, whose life symbolizes the good allowing change brings. Through their different natures regarding change, Esquivel positions Gertrudis and Rosaura as foil characters to highlight the importance of embracing transformation. Esquivel parallels the two sisters through their indirect

While Gertrudis lives a fulfilling life, Rosaura’s fate is quarrelsome relationships and an early demise. After a family quarrel over Esperanza’s desire to discard tradition, Pedro hears Rosaura “breaking wind even with the door closed” (Esquivel 232). This serves as a reference to the motif of Rosaura’s recurring digestive issues. The imagery of being so loud they are heard even with ‘the door closed’ emphasizes the force with which she struggles against change. Following this the loud rumble Pedro almost mistakes as sign “ the revolution had started up again” (Esquivel 232) subtly serves as a reminder of the civil war occuring throughout the book which parallels the struggles against tradition in Mama Elena’s household with that of a war in Mexico between old and new ideals. While the family may think it is a mystery, it seems apparent that “Rosaura due to her terrible digestive problems had [has] died of '' (Esquivel 241) her resistance to positive transformation. Thankfully, with her dies the unhealthy ideals of traditions that had persisted in the family for generations.While Rosaura is fighting the transformation of the family, the same cannot be said for Gertrudis. Esquivel uses strong imagery to show how Gertrudis’ acceptance of changes leads her to love, happiness, adoration, and respect…four things that Rosaura coveted but could never grasp. After Rosaura’s death, Gertrudis attends Alex and Esperanza’s wedding. She “drove up in a model T Ford coupe, one of the first to ever be produced with multiple gears'' (Esquivel 234). The imagery of her using a state-of-the-art car portrays her embrace of change. Additionally, her attire described as “the most daring, absolutely the latest thing” (Esquivel 234) shows she is not afraid of opposing previous constants or allowing it change to transform her. Additionally Esquivel