Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel, relates a "Cinderella-like story" of a young woman, growing up during the Mexican Revolution whose fate is dictated by her oppressive, overbearing mother. Tita, the heroine of the story, lives with her mother, Mama Elena, and two older sisters, Rosaura and Gertrudis. As the youngest daughter of the family, Tita, by long-standing tradition, can never marry; it is her responsibility to care for her mother into old age. To ensure Tita is well-groomed to eventually be her mothers care-giver, she is raised in the kitchen, working alongside Nacha, the family cook and housekeeper. Nacha becomes more a mother to Tita than Mama Elena. While working in the kitchen, Tita learns old recipes and the secrets of cooking. She eventually becomes a chef in her own right. Because she is able to establish a mystical connection between food and sexuality, Tita learns to communicate to Pedro through the very activity that imprisons her, cooking.

As Tita blossoms into a beautiful young woman, she meets Pedro, a handsome local boy (10). They have a low-key relationship as Tita knows her mother will not approve. She falls in love with Pedro. Eventually, he a

For a while Pedro and his bride even live in the same house with Tita and her mother. After Pedro dares to give Tita a bouquet of roses, she presses them ecstatically to her chest; the scratches from them are as close as she can get to Pedro's caresses. She then prepares quail with rose-petal sauce which becomes an aphrodisiac that everyone at the table is aroused by. "It is a dish for the gods!" Pedro praises (51). Smoke actually pours from the ears of the middle sister, Gertrudis. She races to the shower outhouse, tears off her burning clothes, and is eventually swept up by a passing revolutionary.

Pedro and his wife have a baby, Roberto. Tita's mother, Elena, becomes suspicious of the two secret lovers and orders Pedro and his wife to live in San Antonio. She dispatches the couple without any idea as to how dependant the newborn child is on Tita's magical presence. Eventually, their baby dies for the lack of Tita's cooking. Tita immediately recognizes that her nephews' relocation leads to his death. Tita enraged, yells, "You did it, you killed Roberto" (99). It is Mama Elena who tears the lifeline that connected Roberto to Tita. She is the only one who possesses enough warmth and love necessary fo

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Approximate Word count = 815
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)