Like Water for Chocolate

This Mexican film is set in the 1900s and begins with the birth of the main character Tita. Tita’s father has a heart attack and dies the same day the protagonist is born and therefore Tita is left as the youngest child in the family. She comes from a family that upholds the tradition that the youngest daughter cannot marry and has to take care of her mother until she dies. Tita grows up around the cook and is almost always in the kitchen watching her cook and learning how to cook. The kitchen becomes her comfort zone and she becomes one with food. When Tita is a teenager, she falls in love with her neighbor’s son Pedro and he has mutual feelings for her as well. This leads Pedro to ask for Tita’s hand in marriage but Tita’s mother does not allow for this marriage to take place due to the traditional rules. Her mother offers Tita’s oldest sister Rosaura for marriage with Pedro instead and Pedro takes up her offer as this allows him to live in the same house as Tita and be able to be close to her. Pedro and Rosaura have a sickly baby that Tita ends up taking care of and nurturing the baby to good health. During this time period Tita’s mother sends Pedro and Rosaura to Texas because she believes that Pedro and Tita are having an affair. The baby dies after they move because Tita is no longer there to care for him. This news devastates Tita and she tells her mother it is her fault the baby died which causes her mother to hit her in the face. As Tita is in the verge of going crazy, a family doctor, Dr. John Brown takes her to his house and nurses her and takes care of her since he has fallen for her. Eventually he proposes to Tita and Tita says yes. During this time, bandits invade Tita’s mother’s house and murder her. Tita finally goes back to her home for her mother’s funeral where she sees Pedro and Rosaura again. Rosaura is pregnant and gives birth to a baby, Esperanza, while Pedro becomes very jealous of Tita and Dr. Brown’s relationship causing him to sneak into Tita’s room at night where they end up having sex. This makes Tita feel very guilty and she tells Dr. Brown about having sex with Pedro. Dr. Brown responds by saying he still would want to be with her if she wants to be with him as well. The movie fast-forwards to many years later to Esperanza’s wedding to Dr. Brown’s son. We learn that Tita never married and instead took care of Esperanza after Rosaura dies while she is was still a baby. After Esperanza’s wedding Tita and Pedro decide to go back to her family home and finally get married since they are no longer bound by anything or anyone. They have sex and during this moment Pedro dies of a heart attack. This shakes Tita and she commits suicide in the bed by swallowing a lot of matches, which causes the room to catch on fire. When Espernaza comes back from her honeymoon she sees the house burned down and finds Tita’s cookbook among the ashes.

A scene that best exemplifies the main point of the film is the scene where Tita finally breaks down and tells her mother that she will no longer be taking her orders and blames her mother for the death of baby Roberto. This is a crucial point of the film as it switches the story in the hands of the protagonist as she finally starts making decisions of her own and expressing how she truly feels. She is no longer bound by her mother and the traditions that she has been forced to uphold. This scene is the reason the film moves on to show Tita’s life beyond the house and the viewers are able to watch her make many decisions on her own and be happy.

A question I want to propose to the class is if you think Tita would have ever spoken up for what she thinks and wants if the baby Roberto would have never died since the death of the baby seems to have been her breaking point.