The philosophy of cosmic love story in this novel written by Laura Esquivel is articulated by unique cultural themes inspired by a love of Mexican foods and the spirit of sacrifice. The love story of Tita and Pedro is elucidated in a passionate manner which reflects the tragic situation when their love claims to be forbidden in the eyes of their other family members. This can be illustrated when Tita wants to present her opinion to Mama Elena when Pedro asks for her hand, but she is replied in the following words of Mama Elena, “You don’t have an opinion, and that’s all I want to hear about it” (Esquivel, 1995: 8).
The love story interweaves many issues in the curtains of multiple restrictions for women. However, the philosophy of love involves the Mexican social class into the realms of the institution of marriage, which in this story is nothing more than a form of indentured slavery for life. Therefore we can analyze how a Mexican woman fulfills her immoral love for her family till her last breath.
The character ‘Tita’ is the central character that embeds her love in the form of mouth watering recipes while she knows how to transcend the requirements of existence and express oneself in love and creativity. When Pedro expresses his love for Tita and Tita also confesses her love, Esquivel mentions in the story how Tita feels it would be to desire her future husband, this way she considers and give priority to her moral values, Esquivel writes “It wasn’t decent to desire your sister’s future husband, she had to try to put him out of her mind” (Esquivel, 1995: 13). This indicates her inner positive strength of love and sacrifice is superior to anything else in the world. Tita’s philosophy is not limited to Pedro, in fact she loves what comes to her and even loves foremost what she considers significant to Pedro. For example she loves his nephew Roberto. Tita believes in the fact that sacrifice is the key to love and throughout her life span she sacrifices at various stages to meet Pedro.
Another interesting character is that of Tita’s elder sister Rosaura, who is wedded to Tita’s love Pedro. This is another example of Mexican love and sacrifice where Rosaura marries Pedro just for the sake of Tita, because Rosaura knows that only in this manner Tita would be able to meet Pedro. Esquivel throughout the novel has praised many signs of feminine love, but in a cultural context, like cooking, sewing, embroidery, and decoration which is embedded in Mexican woman’s blood in every walk of life (De Valdes, 1995). On the other hand, Esquivel has also portrayed the Mexican symbol of an independent woman which is no more than a social prison of marriage.
For Tita, love and sacrifice are interrelated. Tita’s love survives in sacrifices which she believes is the human exposure to contingency, Tita believes that it is the passion for her love that opens to her every door of possibility to meet Pedro. This way Tita suffers through actual misfortune which she thinks is the real source of her anxiety, she sees that her sense of fragility is in the consciousness of the uncertainty, which Pedro’s love has brought her with all the unpredictability. It is this element that escorts Tita for being conscious at every stage she loves Pedro, and unknown possibilities of meeting Pedro are in wake of her that makes her life vulnerable. But it is the dread of the possibility of fortune that in the end comes to her and she marries Pedro after she lost Mama Elena, Rosaura and Roberto. After many years, Tita and Pedro get the freedom to express their love, therefore on their first night when they experience their love, their souls unite forever. This depicts a passionate situation where lovemaking intensifies the excitement and passion of their romance, and since it is their first love that always kept them in love with each other, their erotic excitement of the moment and the new prospect of conquest, both lost their lives.
Tita and Pedro’s love Is the passion that though gets the opportunity to be free after many years but in an uncontrolled happening, that took their lives. This elucidates to us that love, is not a matter of chance or luck, but an emotion that we merely fall into and remain in that stance for the rest of our lives. Tita survived all these years to experience a passionate night that only lasted for few hours but give the lovers divine freedom to meet each other. This way we can perceive that the philosophy of love needs wait and sacrifice, to which the passion almost brings as much misery as it brings joy. It is the passion of love for the lovers that lead them to so many difficult situations throughout their lives and raised so many difficult consequences. Although they realized that they can never be happy without each other but for the sake of love for other family members, they kept on giving sacrifices, like the sacrifice Tita gave before she finally met Pedro. Likewise Pedro sacrificed his love to remain close to Tita and married Rosaura. Thus, what Esquivel wants the reader to understand is that love is all about sacrifice and happiness and passion is the ultimate destiny of love.
Works Cited
De Valdes Elena Maria, (1995) ‘Verbal and Visual Representation of Women: Como Agua Para Chocolate / like Water for Chocolate’, World Literature Today. Volume: 69. Issue: 1, p. 78.
Esquivel Laura, (1995) Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in monthly installments with Recipes, Romances and Home Remedies.