Essays on Laura Esquivel

Published in 1889, Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate is set in revolutionary Mexico of the early twentieth century. At that time, society and the family institution exercised an authoritative and oppressive control on women’s activities and expression; in fact, such control had existed since colonial times, Up until recent times, women had been playing a subservient role from which even in the twenty-first century they are still struggling to break themselves free. Not only were women denied participation in society and politics as individuals with their own voice and identity, but they were mostly confined to ...

Introduction

This novel revolves around kitchen, and its contextual interpretation is in the Mexican society. The recipe was a major element to the Mexican kitchen, and it signified the life endeavors in this society. The thesis of this essay is a discussion on various attributes of the Mexican kitchen through the ailing Mama Elena, her three daughters and the surrounding love inferno between Tita and Pedro in the contextual ranch setup. 1. What was the general interpretation of this novel, and what impacts did it have? ( what conversations did it start or what understanding did the book generally bring to ...

Introduction

The fact that literary works are aimed at mirroring the reality of the human society whether local or global means that there will be a point of convergence among them. The mirroring of the reality of the human society is informed by the need to facilitate and sustain debates that will lead to the finding of solutions to better human society and life. The converse is also true that literary artistes have their works colored by personal, ideological and sociocultural settings and because of this, literary works will diverge on structure, ideas and themes. The case is exemplified by the ...

The turn of the century saw the popularization in Latin American literature a prominent style of narration now known as magical realism. Authors Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende and Laura Esquivel have become household names in this genre. The style however owes its beginnings in Germany’s visual arts back in the 1920s. It was only introduced in the Americas 20 years after and by 1950s, Latin American fiction writing has characterized the use of fantasy in realistic mode (“History”). German art historian and critic Franz Roh (1890-1965) first referred as “magischer realismus” the images of life behind ...