"To the table or to bed, you must come when you are bid." This is the false assumption that Tita lives by throughout the novel Like Water for Chocolate, By Laura Esquivel. Tita lives her life by accepting the rule of others. When faced with conflict, Tita often knowingly refuses to do what is best for her. There are two areas of conflict in the novel that show Tita's weakness and inability to make decisions. These are both the conflicts with her family, and the conflicts with herself.
             It would be ridiculous to argue that Mama Elena and Rosaura are positive members of a family, but their inadequacies are all the more reason for Tita to reject their rules and values. It is written in stone early in the novel that Tita is not to marry until the day that Mama Elena dies. Mama Elena takes the time to tell Tita that, "you have to take care of me until the day I die." (10) This is quite the threat, but the only thing that truly enforces the rule is Mama Elena's rage. There is no earthly reason from the start of the novel to the finish for Tita not to run away with Pedro and attempt to start a new life elsewhere. Tita's adherence to Mama Elena's rules on marriage only speaks for her emotional frailty. After a hospital stay, Tita does finally decide to run away, but she is pulled back home because of guilt and worry about her mother and sister who had put her in the hospital with their own malicious actions. Tita's undying pity for those who are guilty of bringing direct harm upon her is appalling. The one and only time that Tita actually defies Mama Elena is in a mystical vision after Mama Elena is already dead (199-200). Tita can tell off all the dead people that she wants, but if she wants to get anywhere in reality, she needs to say what she means while they are still alive. Rosaura
             does get told off while she is still breathing, but Tita's weakness results in a
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