English 1A
Analysis
Assignment: Explore the major differences between growing up in the U.S. in 2008 vs. 1968, and analyze one of those differences carefully, citing textual support, and also (possibly) personal interviews with people who were in their teens or twenties in 1968 and living in the U.S. Narrow the topic from the broad question: *How are the two generations different, and why?* to arrive at a thesis naming and explaining one specific difference between the two generations.
[Instructor comments appear in bold, italic font within brackets below.]
Like Water for Chocolate and the Power of Matches, Oxygen, and a Candle
In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, author Laura Esquivel subtly suggests
Tita’s path and the roles that each of the main characters play, through
the analogy Dr. Brown gives about matches (115-117). This analogy also gives
more meaning to the title, Like Water for Chocolate. [Brief but
clear introduction]
Through Dr. Brown, Esquivel uses the process and ingredients needed in creating and lighting matches as a parallel to Tita’s life and the ingredients she needs to truly feel “on fire.” During the middle of the novel, Dr. Brown explains:
While phosphorus (a match) doesn’t combine with oxygen to burn at ordinary temperatures, it does burst into flame very rapidly at an elevated temperature…he melted the phosphorus by holding the tube over the flame of a candle…when the oxygen reached the top of the jar, where it encountered the melted phosphorus, an explosion occurred, brilliant, instantaneous, like a flash of lightning (115).
In this quote, Esquivel is pointing out that to create this brilliant “explosion,” three ingredients are needed: phosphorus (off the tip of a match), oxygen, and a source of heat to melt the phosphorus, like the flame from a candle. Right after this process is explained, Dr. Brown connects Tita to this analogy through the statement:
My grandmother had a very interesting theory; she said that each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can’t strike them all by ourselves; just as in the experiment, we need oxygen and a candle to help. In this case, the oxygen, for example, would come from the breath of the person you love; the candle could be any kind of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches”(115).
This passage is prophetic and explains the roles that each character is to play and the elements Tita must acquire in order to “nourish the soul” (115) and truly be happy. [Good set up to help your reader follow your essay structure.]
The “box of matches inside us” is of course referring to the passion and love Tita is capable of feeling. Inside of her are many powerful emotions waiting to come out, but, as Dr. Brown says, “We can’t strike them by ourselves” (115). And for Tita, there is no exception. Throughout the novel, Tita is desperately trying to light her matches, but no matter how much Tita eats, cooks, or crochets her bedspread, she can never fill that void alone.
Upon hearing of Pedro’s engagement to Rosaura, Tita was so heartbroken, she couldn’t fall asleep. Esquivel tells us, “She started to eat the Christmas Rolls Nacha had left out on her bureau…this remedy had proven effective many times…but this time it didn’t work. She felt no relief from the hollow sensation in her stomach…She realized that the hollow sensation was not hunger but an icy feeling of grief” (19). Here, Esquivel uses the word “icy” to illustrate the effect of the wedding on her flame. [Good close reading.]
As mentioned in the matches analogy, what Tita needs is oxygen, and a candle. If oxygen comes from “the breath of the person you love,” (115) then undoubtedly Pedro is the oxygen in Tita’s life. When Pedro is able to explain to Tita about his true motive for marrying Rosaura, Esquivel writes, “For Tita, these words were like a fresh breeze fanning embers that had been about to die” (38). Just as more oxygen helps a fire grow, Pedro’s words are able to build up her flame, and just in time, too. However, as in Dr. Brown’s analogy, the matches and oxygen are not enough. There must be a source of heat, or candle to first heat the phosphorus. Many examples of “candles” are used throughout the novel to help light Tita’s matches. [This is another excellent comment on the quote. You also have another smooth transition here; you’ve gone from matches to oxygen, so your reader is ready to hear about the candle now.]
A strong example of a candle used in the novel is the meal Tita cooks with the roses from Pedro. Esquivel even forewarns, “Tita’s blood and the roses from Pedro proved quite an explosive combination.” (51) While serving the meal, “It dissolved her (Tita’s) entire being in the rose petal sauce, in the tender flesh of the quails, in the wine, in every one of the meal’s aromas. That was the way she entered Pedro’s body, hot, voluptuous, perfumed, totally sensuous” (52). This example shows that with food there to create and mediate heat, Tita could actually have a very hot and passionate, enflamed experience.
While food is a well-used medium throughout the novel, another example of a candle is when Pedro simply hears a sound coming from the kitchen. “The sound of the pans bumping against each other, the smell of the almonds browning in the griddle, the sound of Tita’s melodious voice, singing as she cooked, had kindled his sexual feelings (66). With the right elements present, Tita’s matches, and Pedro’s oxygen, the simple “sound” of pots and pans in the kitchen was easily able to act as a candle, bringing Tita and Pedro together and helping the fire burn. When Tita saw Pedro watching her, she “knew through her own flesh how fire transforms the elements” (67). [Great explanation and another smooth transition]
However, throughout the novel, Tita is constantly prevented from lighting her matches and sustaining their heat. Mama Elena is exactly who Dr. Brown is referring to when he say, “That’s why it’s important to keep your distance from people who have frigid breath. Just their presence can put out the most intense fire.” (116) And putting out the most intense fire is exactly what Mama Elena does by forbidding Pedro and Tita to marry. Even from when Tita and Pedro first meet, “she felt his hot gaze burning her skin” and the “heat that invaded her body was so real” (17). Clearly together they create heat. However, just Mama Elena’s “presence” always puts out the flame. One of many examples of this is during Pedro and Rosaura’s wedding, when Pedro and Tita embrace, “it was as if all of her inner joy, which had nearly been extinguished, had suddenly been rekindled by Pedro’s warm breath upon her neck, the hot touch of his hands upon her breasts…she could have stayed in his arms forever, but a look from her mother made her pull away in a hurry.” (38) The correlation between matches and the words “extinguished” and “rekindled” is hard to miss. But Mama Elena is right there to put it out again. [right!]
Because Mama Elena saw that even Tita’s cooking was acting as a candle, she “asked Pedro to stop praising the meals…how alone Tita felt during this period” (69). Mama Elena does everything in her power to keep Tita’s flame down, even directly punishing Tita by making Pedro, her oxygen, move to Texas. Esquivel writes, “Ever since Pedro, Rosaura and Roberto had gone to live in San Antonio, Tita had lost all interest in life…the house could fall down and it wouldn’t have even mattered” (87). Away from her oxygen and surrounded by Mama Elena’s frigid presence, Tita slowly begins to suffocate. When Chencha comes to check on her from the dovecote, you can see that Tita has almost completely lost her spark through the quote, “Tita looked up, her eyes vacant, and stared at Chencha as if she had never seen her before” (100). If not for John Brown, who helps breathe life in Tita, her soul would have frozen forever. [Be careful not to cut too much from a quote; you risk confusing your reader.]
John, although not the main fire in Tita’s life, has a major role to play in liberating her. It was his candles, both physically and emotionally, which supported Tita in overcoming and overpowering the cold. He knew Mama Elena was suffocating Tita. He saw Tita’s “eyes light up holding her nephew” (78), and was “completely shaken” when she told him, “I can’t marry or have children because I have to take care of my mother until she dies” (78). He sees how much she wants to have her own child, but is restricted by Mama Elena.
When Dr. Brown was asked to take Tita to the insane asylum, he “listened to Mama Elena’s version of the story” (100), but instead took Tita to his own home, knowing that the main cause of her illness was Mama Elena. There, he tried to guide her and even give her hope, telling her “If we stay a good distance away from those people, it’s easier to protect ourselves from being extinguished…there are many ways to dry out a box of damp matches, but you can be sure, there is a cure.” [page number?] Tita, who had felt like “her own matches were damp and moldy,” and that “No one would ever be able to light one again” (116), began to believe in herself. The quote, “With John’s warmth toward her in word and manner, she felt better each day” (108), shows how John is able to emit a small but sufficient amount of oxygen towards Tita’s flame. [Good comment to wrap up this point.]
When Tita goes back to the farm to help Mama Elena, he helps save her once again: She felt an urge to run far, far away, to shield the tiny flame John had coaxed up inside her from her mother’s chilling presence. It was if Mama Elena’s spit had landed dead-center on a fire that was about to catch and had put it out. ...John held her in his arms…his warm embrace saved Tita from freezing. They only touched for a few seconds but it was enough to rekindle her spirit (131).
Even physically, he is there for her, helping her light the oven and giving her a box of matches, “When Tita was trying to light the oven, she couldn’t find any matches anywhere. John, always gallant, had quickly offered to help her…After lighting the fire, he had presented Tita with a box of matches, taking her hands in his” (231). John is Tita’s liberator, showing her “the way to freedom” (172) by lighting her path.
Tita doesn’t completely give in to Mama Elena. Hearing about Roberto’s death, Tita first stood up to her mother and, “instead of obeying her order, she started to tear apart all the sausages she could reach, screaming wildly” (99). In response, her mother slapped her across the face with a wooden spoon, and left her up in the dovecote overnight. This punishment nearly extinguished Tita completely. However, over time and with John’s support, Tita began to build up her resistance to Mama Elena’s cold. After Mama Elena got injured and Tita came to help, she had less fear, “her mother received her in silence. For the first time, Tita firmly held her gaze, and Mama Elena lowered hers. There was a strange light in Tita’s eyes” (129). Tita was beginning to fight back.
Nevertheless, even after Mama Elena dies, she still instigates cold and ice, haunting Tita and threatening to curse the only possible link between Pedro and Tita, a baby. Tita is in the kitchen when “an icy shiver ran down Tita’s spine. She turned around and was stunned to find herself face to face with Mama Elena” (173). It isn’t until Tita has a showdown with her mother, facing her directly and standing up in front of the cold, that she is to able to rid herself of that chill. When Mama Elena confronts Tita for the last time, Tita cries “Once and for all, leave me alone; I won’t put up with you! I hate you, I’ve always hated you! Tita had said the magic words that would make Mama Elena disappear forever...her mother began to shrink away until it became no more than a tiny light” (199). Because of her built up strength, for the first time, Tita is able to overpower Mama Elena and even transform her into a light.
However, while John is able to empower Tita and be there consistently for her, he doesn’t quite have the same effect on Tita as Pedro does. With John, her emotions are warm and safe, but never so intense. When John returns the day after Tita has had sex with Pedro, Tita is a new person. John “embraced her warmly, but when he kissed her, he knew something had changed inside of Tita” (203). Tita thinks she loves John, but her feelings are always confused when Pedro is around. This is shown in the quote, “At that moment, she was convinced that John, who was always at her side supporting her without reservation, was her true love. But then she saw a group of people approaching from the mausoleum and from a distance she made out Pedro’s silhouette …and she was no longer so sure of her feelings” (138).
Whenever Tita thinks of Pedro, her emotions are intensified and dangerous, whether good or bad. Even after Tita is engaged to John, the power and heat produced by Tita and Pedro doesn’t change. For example, as Tita is taking a shower to prepare herself for John’s arrival, she feels an unnatural heat, “suddenly the water started to feel warmer and it kept getting warmer and warmer until it began to burn her skin…and what did she see on the other side of the planks but Pedro, watching her intently” (153). Pedro’s eyes alone are able to produce great heat. Similarly, after Pedro “caused her (Tita) to lose her virginity” (158), there was smoke rising from the building. In the quote, “plumes of phosphorescent colors were ascending to the sky like delicate Bengal lights” (158), the word phosphorescent is undoubtedly related to the phosphorus used in the match analogy. [Yes! Great focus on the heat, smoke and sparks in this paragraph.]
Towards the end of the novel, with Mama Elena gone, Rosaura dead, and Esperanza and Alex leaving, Tita and Pedro are finally able to be freely together; oxygen, phosphorus, and heat. After everyone leaves the wedding, Pedro and Tita go to the darkroom to make love. Fittingly, “250 (physical) candles” (243) light up the dark room. [Another wonderful transition here below]
Understanding the meaning of the matches’ analogy also gives more clarity and meaning to the actions of Tita at the end of the novel. When Pedro dies, Tita knows it is because he has lit all his matches at the same time, just as Dr. Brown had warned her. She recalled his words; If a strong sudden emotion suddenly lights all the candles we carry inside ourselves, it creates a brightness that shines far beyond our normal vision and then a splendid tunnel appears that shows us the way…and calls us to recall our lost divine origin. The soul longs to return to the place it came from, leaving the body lifeless (243-244).
To light all one's candles at the same time is in actuality, to leave the physical body and embrace the spirit. Tita decided to reject the tunnel, but she immediately regrets her decision. She feels that “with Pedro died the possibility of ever again lighting her inner fire, with him went all the candles. She knew that the natural heat that she was now feeling would cool little by little, consuming itself as rapidly as if it lacked fuel to maintain itself” (244). Tita decides she would rather die physically and be with Pedro, than live alone and that she must “find some way, even if it was an artificial one, of striking a fire” (244) in order to find him again.
In order to recreate the tunnel, she begins to gather different “fuels” to get the candle to burn, trying to “reproduce the most moving memories of her and Pedro” (245). Even physically, she took candles from John and “began to eat the candles out of the box one by one” (245). Finally, “the candle began to burn…and the tunnel again appeared before her eyes” (245). There she finds Pedro and joins him forever, together going forward in search of their “lost divine origin” (244) or true purpose before the fall.
Finally, a last aspect of the novel which the matches analogy helps clarify
is in regards to the novel’s title, Like Water for Chocolate. One of Tita’s
cooking directions states; When the water comes to a boil for the first time,
remove it from the heat…return the pan to the stove. When it comes to
a boil again and starts to boil over, remove it from the heat. Put it back on
the heat and bring it to a boil a third time. Remove from the heat and beat
the chocolate (179).
Tita is exactly “like water for chocolate,” being repeatedly put on the stove, and removed when she begins to boil. Throughout the novel, she tries to light her matches or “reach a boiling point.” However, whenever she does, she is removed from the heat source to cool again. In the directions, it says to remove from heat three times in a row. Yet, for Tita, it is many more than that. Every time Mama Elena’s chilling presence surrounds her, she loses her heat. Only until after she dies is Tita truly and literally on fire, “the fiery bodies of Pedro and Tita began to throw off glowing sparks” (245). Eventually, they consume the whole farm in fire, leaving nothing but ash, the family cookbook and a new beginning for the future generations. [I never saw this before! You’re right!]
Works Cited:
Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. New York City: Doubleday, 1992.
* Minor mechanical errors/typos have been corrected by the creators of CHARLIE