Like Water For Chocolate

             "Like Water for Chocolate" was the first novel written by Laura Esquivel, which has been compared with that of the fairytale, Cinderella. Its success led to the immediate production of it into a film. Both the novel and film were released in the U.S. in 1993. "Like Water for Chocolate" is the story of Tita, youngest daughter of the matriarch Mama Elena. Tita is forbidden to marry her true love, Pedro Muzquiz because of a family tradition that says that the youngest daughter must care for her mother until her death. Pedro marries Tita's sister, Rosaura in order to be near Tita. Pedro's constant flirtations with Tita do not go unnoticed my Mama Elena and she is always trying to keep them separated. Tita, unable to express her true feeling for Pedro releases her emotions into her food. The story is told by Tita's grandniece that follows in her footsteps, using her cookbook and continuing a tradition quite different from her great-grandmother's. Like most novel and corresponding films are never quite the same, "Like Water for Chocolate" is no exception. There are numerous differences between the novel and movie. However, overall, they both stress the important themes of rebellion, love and desire.
             The first difference we see between the novel and movie is in their beginning. In the movie, the first scene shown is Juan De La Garza going into a bar to celebrate the birth of his youngest daughter, Tita. While in the bar, someone informs him that Gertrudis is not his daughter but a product of an affair of Mama Elena with a mulatto by the name of José Treviño. He immediately had a heart attack and died. However in the book, the first scene was the birth of Tita and her relationship with Nacha, the home cook. The explanation why her father had died of a heart attack came later in the book.
             The issue of racism was prevalent in the book, but was not really emphasized in the film; For exa...

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Like Water For Chocolate. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 05:18, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/90889.html