Like Water for Chocolate

by Laura Esquivel

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Themes: Strong Bonds Between Women

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Strong connections also exist among women, especially between Nacha and Tita, and Tita and Esperanza. Nacha and Tita share a profound understanding that goes beyond words, and their bond even surpasses death. Nacha nurtured Tita during her childhood, giving her a "sixth sense" about "everything concerning food." Tragically, Nacha dies on the day of Rosaura and Pedro's wedding, succumbing to the longing Tita infused into the cake. However, Nacha reappears whenever Tita needs her—most notably, to help prepare the wedding bed and light candles for Tita and Pedro's ultimate night of passion.

In turn, Tita develops a close relationship with her niece Esperanza, whom she loves, feeds, and protects, just as Nacha had done for her two decades earlier. The biological mothers, Mama Elena and Rosaura, fail to show love to their children until the third generation, when Esperanza breaks the cycle by raising her daughter with affection. "My mama! . . ." the narrator writes in the final paragraph, "how wonderful the flavor, the aroma of her kitchen, her stories as she prepared the meal, her Christmas rolls."

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Themes: Cyclical Nature of Time and Intertwining of Past and Present

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Themes: Various Forms of Love

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