World Lit

             "The House of Bernarda Alba" takes place in Spain during the early 1900's, and "Like Water for Chocolate" is set in a similar time period, except that it comes to pass in Mexico. These two literary works have many similar qualities. Only one of these qualities will be address here, that being the various walls made by the families amongst themselves, both physically and mentally. These walls are the reason why the women in both of these literary works think and behave as they do. Bernarda Alba, the mother of five daughters and, Mama Elena, the mother of three daughters both play dominating roles in these works and act as the family's central influence or dictator. Apart from the mothers, there are a few more similar characters that can be observed, that being the wise Maria and Morning Light in "Like Water for Chocolate" and the jealous Angustias and Rosaura who both heeded their household's conventional family customs. Each and every woman in both of the households are isolated, if not in the same way, from the rest of the world. In both "The House of Bernarda Alba" and "Like Water for Chocolate" symbolic walls come into the existence with the help of locks, doors and keys that call attention to the subject of isolation. Also, both works' concept of isolation is about preserving and is created because of the families' beliefs and because of what happens outside the households. Morning Light and Maria Josefa both are known to be wise; they symbolize intelligence and wisdom in each of the respective works. Throughout the texts, locks, doors and keys intensify the emotional isolation of Morning Light and Maria Josefa. In Act 1 of "The House of Bernarda Alba", Poncia says," You should use the bolt too. She's got fingers like picklocks." Maria Josefa's imprisonment foretells the future of all the daughters in Bernarda's house. Maria's em...

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World Lit. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 10:36, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/203518.html