The novel ‘Como agua para chocolate’ relates between recipes and the months of the year the forbidden and intense love of Tita and Pedro in Coahuila, Mexico before and after the Mexican Revolution. The love story that Tita and Pedro occurs in conjunction with the factors of gender, race or ethnicity and socioeconomic class.
-Describe and explain 2 examples for each of these 3 factors.
Also comment on the organization of the novel in recipes and months.
1. What is the relationship between the love story of Tita and Pedro and the dishes that are consumed as part of the action of this love story?
2. What dishes do you consume during the occasions when you express the love you feel?
3.What is the importance of these dishes?
4. Why does food play a magical and erotic role in Tita’s love story?
5. What role does wisdom play in plants, flowers, and herbs?
6. Why does Tita play the metaphorical and real role of the mother in the nutrition and feeding of the family?
The novel is influenced by magical realism, which is known as a literary and pictorial movement of the mid-twentieth century that is stylistically concerned with the interest of showing what is unreal or strange as something common and everyday. The idea is that it expresses emotions and a real-magical attitude towards reality. Name a couple of moments when magical realism events are narrated.
Finally, write about the similarities (compare) and differences (contrasts) between the novel and the movie based on the novel.
1. What are the main themes between the novel and the movie?
2.Are the themes complementary? Why or why not?
3. How do they complement each other?
4. Are there events or dishes that are not related in the film?
5. Should they have been included in the movie? Because if? Why not?
6. How are magical realism events handled in the novel and the movie? What differences are there?
The essay must be consistent and show that the themes and ideas discussed by the author, Laura Esquivel, and the film have been thought through and analyzed.
Link to Movie;
