Discussion Topic
The symbolism of fire and water in "Like Water for Chocolate."
Summary:
In "Like Water for Chocolate," fire symbolizes passion, emotion, and transformation, while water represents calmness, nourishment, and the flow of life. Together, they contrast and complement each other, highlighting the characters' internal struggles and emotional journeys throughout the story.
How are heat and fire used as symbols of intense emotion and desire in "Like Water for Chocolate"?
Written in 1992 by Mexican writer Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate is the story of Tita, a young girl from Northern Mexico, who, due to a family tradition, must care for her mother until her death rather than be with Pedro, the boy she loves.
In the novel, the imagery of heat and fire represent the intense emotions of some of the characters, symbolizing anger, passion, and desire. For example, when Tita is boiling water in a pan, this represents the anger she is feeling towards her sister Rosaura.
Tita was literally "like water for chocolate"—she was on the verge of boiling over.
The imagery of heat and fire also represents passion and desire and, in turn, they help to illustrate the themes of love and lust. In particular, throughout the novel, heat and fire symbolize the passion that Tita feels for Pedro. However, the first instance we...
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read of fire symbolizing desire is when Gertrudis, Tita’s sister, eats rose quail:
It was as if a strange alchemical process had dissolved her 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.
At the end of the novel, Tita and Pedro make love. The heat that their bodies generate becomes so fierce that their bodies catch fire. Their desire is so intense that it cannot be restrained.
[Tita] was experiencing a climax so intense that her closed eyes glowed and a brilliant tunnel appeared before her.
Empathy with characters is also created with the imagery of heat and fire. Tita and Gertrudis have fire and passion, while Rosaura is seen as cold and passionless.
In the novel, heat and fire imagery is used to represent the potency of sexual desire and the power of a woman's wrath.
When Pedro first consummated his love for Tita on Gertrudis' old bed, it was said that a "strange glow" came from the room they were in. From her own room, Rosaura could see that "plumes of phosphorescent colors were ascending to the sky like delicate Bengal lights." Since neither she nor Chencha could decide what the strange fire represented, both concluded that it was Mama Elena's ghost visiting her wrath upon the family. Rosaura and Chencha's conclusion was fueled by extreme speculation and superstition; however, it was the perfect cover for Pedro and Tita's sexual rendezvous. The formidable light, heat, and fire imagery symbolizes both sexual passion and female wrath.
On another occasion, Mama Elena's ghost confronts Tita menacingly. However, this time, Tita refuses to be intimidated. She stands her ground and fights back, reducing her mother's ghost to a tiny speck of light. However, this light is a very dangerous one: it makes its way furiously to where Pedro is standing, right under Tita's window. With a tempestuous burst of energy, the tiny light crashes into a lamp nearest to Pedro and causes it to explode. Tita's lover is soon covered in fiery flames. It is only through Tita's loving ministrations that Pedro recovers from his terrible burns. Again, in this episode fraught with magical realism, heat and fire symbolize feminine vengeance and judgment.
Perhaps the most fascinating light and heat imagery can be found in the last pages of the book. Pedro and Tita's final act of sexual passion concludes with the two souls clasped in a fiery embrace of ecstasy in the afterlife. This spiritual consummation leads to the burning of the entire ranch; as the ranch burns like a volcano, stone and ash are thrown in every direction. At great heights, the burning stones explode into multi-colored lights; this supernatural event lasts for a whole week. Here, heat and fire symbolize both intense passion and sexual ecstasy.
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Fire symbolizes desire and destructive passion in the novel, as there are actually three different times when characters explode into flames. The first example is when Gertrudis eats Tita's rose petals and becomes so aroused that she sets the walls of the family's outdoor shower on fire. A second occasion is when Mama Elena's spirit becomes so angry about Tita and Pedro's relationship that it causes an oil lamp to explode and burn Pedro. The final example of this explosive passion is when Tita eats candles after Pedro's death, killing herself and destroying the family's ranch.
http://www.enotes.com/like-water/q-and-a/what-does-fire-symbolize-give-2-examples-back-up-15403
What does fire symbolize in Like Water for Chocolate?
Fire symbolizes love, sexual passion, and denied passion. Tita's love for Pedro is a theme woven throughout this novel. However, she has been denied this love through her mother's cruelty and control over Tita's life. But, after eating the Quail in Rose Petal Sauce (chap. 3), Tita enters Pedro's body, "hot, voluptuous, perfumed, totally sensuous." Tita's sister, Gertrudis, acts as the conduit for the heat to spread between Tita and Pedro. This leads to the first instance of fire in the book when the passion between Tita and Pedro erupts in Gertrudis; in fact, "her body was giving off so much heat that the wooden walls began to split and burst into flame." Fire symbolizes intense passion brought about through love denied.
Next, John explains the matches to Tita. That is, all of us have a box of matches inside of us. These matches need oxygen which comes from the breath of someone you love, and the candles light the matches, setting off explosions. However, "each person has to discover what will set off those explosions in order to live, since the combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul. That fire, in short, is its food" (chap. 6). In this case, fire is food for the soul, love. John does warn Tita, however, that one must only light one match at a time because the fire, the passion, could leave the body lifeless as one enters a tunnel to eternity.
That lifelessness is just what occurs at the end of the novel when Tita and Pedro are consumed by passion, and Tita makes the conscious decision to light all her candles at the expense of her earthly life, for "with Pedro died the possibility of ever again lighting her inner fire, with him went all the candles."
The ranch is consumed in flames as Tita has lit her inner fire eternally as she joins Pedro in the tunnel, and they go together to the "lost Eden."
Fire symbolizes desire and destructive passion in the novel, as there are actually three different times when characters explode into flames. The first example is when Gertrudis eats Tita's rose petals and becomes so aroused that she sets the walls of the family's outdoor shower on fire. A second occasion is when Mama Elena's spirit becomes so angry about Tita and Pedro's relationship that it causes an oil lamp to explode and burn Pedro. The final example of this explosive passion is when Tita eats candles after Pedro's death, killing herself and destroying the family's ranch.
What is the importance of juxtaposing water and fire in "Like Water for Chocolate"?
Fire represents heat in this novel and heat symbolizes love and passion. The title, "Like Water for Chocolate" refers to the fact that water must be boiled (heated to a very high temperature) before it can be used to melt the chocolate for hot chocolate, a popular drink in Mexico. When water is not exposed to heat, it becomes a symbol of sadness. For example, when Tita cries into the cake batter and the wedding guests eat the cake, they all undergo a magical spell in which they cry over their own lost loves, just like Tita is crying over Pedro. When Tita peels onions, she sheds tears but unless she can transform her tears into her food, they remain symbols of sadness. Gertrudis tries to extinguish the heat she feels after eating the quail prepared with the rose petals that Pedro gave Tita with water outside in the watercloset, but the heat emanating from her body turns the water into a steam that emits a fragrance that attracts the revolutionary soldier. The other instances of fire and heat help foreshadow the way Tita and Pedro die, consumed by the fire of their passion.