Talk:Like Water for Chocolate (novel)

Rosaura? Villain or Victim?

I was discussing something the other day, having watched the movie for the umpteenth time with my mother. While there's no doubt that Rosaura could be um...shall we say.....difficult... I began to see her somewhat sympathetically. What if she was in love with Pedro?

What if she had a childhood love of him as well as Tita, only she was never noticed because he had met Tita first? Imagine that you have a youngest sister who is seemingly better than you in every aspect, with your only way of beating her being that she can't marry? Then when you get to marry the guy you've been dreaming of, only to discover that he isn't even giving you the chance to love you, instead holding your sister up to an ideal that even she'd never fulfill. I don't think Rosaura really wanted to act as nasty as she did in the story. Also, you have a baby girl, the only thing you have left -since your "husband" obviously never wants to touch you again, since you can't have children. What better way to try to keep something for yourself for once than to use the old family tradition? If your re-read or re-watch the movie, you'll see that everything that Rosaura had Tita took from her, both by accident and on purpose. If Tita was a victim of her family, then Rosaura is as well. She had no choice but to doom herself and marry Pedro, while Tita could easily have run away with Pedro at any point in the story. Also, none of the characters ever try to actually help Rosaura at any time. Even when Tita gives her the herbs to help her breath, and the special diet, you can tell that she really doesn't want Rosaura to have Pedro. Even the mother of the book had experienced love, even though it was ill-fated.

Rosaura got the short end of the stick. She had an arranged marraige to a man who didn't love her, 2 sisters who didn't care that she was unhappily married (one of which actually encourages the other to lead said husband into infidelity), even mothership of her children was denied as Magical Tita somehow manages to take that as well. At the end of the book she has not experienced any joy in her life, while her sisters both enjoy happy lives (although with some sadness) as well as freedom from their mother. At one point I was actually hoping that Rosaura would free herself and run away to find her own happiness. I love the book, but after my mother & I debated the ill-fated eldest sister, it's going to be hard to see Tita as the one who suffered the most. Tita had the ability to have joy, and to light her matches/candles. Rosaura never got to light even one. ---Tokyogirl79 (talk)

Rousara villian or victim?

Rousara represents Mother Elena's ideas and traditions, as in novels which use Magical Realism, time is cyclical, Tita cannot have children or be married because she has to take care of Mama Elena, Rosauras daughter, being the last of her daughters, by family tradition, would not be able to marry or have children either, this would lead to the end of the family, and was a selfish tradition any way, Rousara's insitance that it be continued in my judgement, makes her the villian, as she made that choice. However, as we can see, her character lends itself to many interpretations, as does many pieces of literature, we should let this judgement be debated and not give a difinite answer on the padge itself, but put it as a controversy, like the "Antigone"-who is the tragic hero debate. Zor0 05:24, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Title Meaning

The Title section suggests the best interpretation of the title is Rosaura is a poor substitute for Tita. In the title, though, para means "ready for" or "meant for", not "substituted for". The word por, which also translates to English for, conveys substituting one thing for another. English doesn't make the distinction between para and por, so the English title is more ambiguous. The title in Spanish could not mean substituting water for chocolate. --cgervasi June 2016

Agree with the above cgervasi. The title section still maintains this unsubstantiated concept of "like substituting water in place of chocolate", although as of July 29, 2017, that is the final explanation of three of four interpretations of the meaning of "como agua para chocolate", i.e., like water for chocolate. I am deleting that sentence as the book was written in Spanish, not English and this extension of meaning perverts the original title's meaning. Unless the director of the film is referenced somewhere saying she purposely translated the english title to be ambiguous for purposes of the film, there is no reference of support for this and as a bilingual speaker from where the story takes place in Mexico, reading this explanation created an undesireable bump in the reading of the section. If it can be supported by a quote or reference for the director, that would add to the narrative on the development of the film. If there is no reference, this is just inaccurate and ould be introducing ambiguity into the adaptation and translation that simply never existed before. Hopefully this will stay out unless there is actually a reference to it, which there is great reason to be skeptical that there would be. July 2017 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.82.122.87 (talk) 19:12, 29 July 2017 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Likewaterforchocolate.PNG

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Article split?

The lede is about the novel, the infobox is a film infobox; shouldn't this article be split into separate ones for the novel and the film as is The Color Purple (The Color Purple (film), The Color Purple (musical))? It would make it easier to feel more comfortable adding things like Category:Films about cooking to the article. AUTiger » talk 01:22, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the article should be split.--RossF18 (talk) 05:35, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

The Articles were split. --RossF18 (talk) 05:48, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Sources

• De Valdés, María Elena (1995). "Verbal and Visual Representation of Women: Como Agua Para Chocolate / like Water for Chocolate". World Literature Today. 69. Excerpt at questia.com.

• Neibylski, Dianna C (1998). "Heartburn, Humor and Hyperbole in Like Water for Chocolate". In Hengen, Shannon (ed.). Performing Gender and Comedy: Theories, Texts and subtext. Routledge. ISBN 9056995391. Google excerpt.

SandyGeorgia (Talk) 13:52, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

for kids or not??

NOT —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.20.235.216 (talk) 21:05, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

i would say like enjhdcjdbvfhdjfhdhferhfbrjfhdffnfodbdohfwfnfvuehdbfherhfhbfghbrhbdfgbdfbghf —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.14.185.169 (talk) 02:45, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

the characters review

   In the story like water for chocolate i find the main character Tita was being played by Pedro.In my eyes, he is a scum bag and i kind of think he dose not deserve Tita AT ALL!!!! as for Rosaura do I think she is a victim? not really, see i think she got what she deserved and so did mama Elena after the way she treated Tita and the rest to the people on the ranch she deserved what she got in life. all in all the ending was in a word perfection. it fit the story and it gave peace to Tita. i recommend that EVERYONE read this book and take the moral way from it about love, life, tradition, growth, and change.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bella81614 (talk • contribs) 02:05, 11 May 2011 (UTC) 

Death by candles vs. matches

It seems that many users are trying to change the death of Tita to eating matches rather than candles. In the novel, she eats candles. It's in the film that she eats matches. This page is about the novel. Just keep a look out for this, everyone. Thanks! Roseclearfield (talk) 23:45, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

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