Oppression In Like Water For Chocolate And Their Eyes Were Watching God

A greater insight is gained of the world through the the people, places and events of texts from differing cultures. Laura Esquivel’s magical realism novel, Like Water For Chocolate (1989) and Zora Neale Hurston’s bildungsroman novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) depict the detrimental effects of oppression to a person’s self esteem and personal identity through an investigation of the changing perceptions of love, loss of a person’s freedom of speech and verbal and physical abuse.

Esquivel and Hurston describe a person’s changing perceptions of love when faced with oppression using language techniques. Like Water For Chocolate, set during the Mexican Revolution also parallels the intensity of the Mexican Revolution. Tita initially

Instead she must watch on as the love of her life marries her sister. Mama Elena’s insistent pressure and scrutiny cause Tita to lose hope and become withdrawn from life, ignoring housework and other duties to become despondent in a dovecote. The change between Tita’s initially hopeful outlook on love and later on her negative outlook is due to her mother’s oppression. Likewise, Their Eyes Were Watching God demonstrate Janie’s changing views of love. At first, Janie believes love will develop during a marriage. “Ah wants to want him sometimes.” In this example, dialogue demonstrates Janie’s longing for a deeper connection and unconditional love. However, throughout Janie’s second marriage, her husband Joe, feels threatened that another man will

Tita and Janie’s views of the world have become warped through the verbal and physical abuse they have suffered. Mama Elena continuously uses verbal abuse in order to subdue and oppress Tita, however when Tita retorts back verbally Mama Elena resorts to physical violence in order to get her point across. “Mama Elena went to her, picked up a wooden spoon and smashed her across the face with it.” This quote demonstrates Mama Elena’s willingness to use physical violence if necessary in order to overpower and subdue Tita if verbal abuse is not sufficient. The third person narration describes the indifference in Mama Elena as she strikes Tita. When Joe uses verbal and physical abuse to undermine Janie and to make himself feel better. Joe’s harsh and often abusive treatment of Janie is a juxtaposition to the kindness with which he treats the townspeople. When Janie responds to Joe’s verbal assault by insulting his manhood and humiliating him, he strikes her in retaliation. This showcases Joe’s dominating persona and need to control Janie, resorting to physical violence if verbal abuse does not subdue her, similar to Mama Elena’s treatment of Tita. A person’s self esteem and personal identity is detrimentally impacted by verbal and physical