viii
GUNTORO, CAROLINE. The Reactions of Tita against Her Mother’s Rules in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water For Chocolate. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University. 2016
Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate tells about a fifteen-year-old girl named Tita De La Garza, who spends most of her entire life to take care of her mother and abandon her love to a man named Pedro Muzquiz. It happens because of her mother’s rule of marriage that the youngest daughter must not marry but take care of her mother until the day she dies. She realizes that her mother’s rules make she is sick. Therefore, she reacts against her mother’s rules.
This thesis focuses on Tita’s reactions against her mother’s rules. In this thesis, there are three questions related to the topic. The first question is How are the characteristics of Tita described in the novel Like Water for Chocolate. The second question is how are the mother’s rules described, and the third question is about how Tita’s reactions against her mother’s rules. In analyzing those three questions, the writer conducts library research. The primary source was the novel by Laura Esquivel titled Like Water for Chocolate. The secondary sources include the e-books from www.jstor.org, and other sources such as articles and undergraduate thesis which are related to this study. This thesis uses psychoanalytic approach, because the writer wants to show the interaction of unconscious and conscious mind of Tita that the unconscious mind of Tita is her mother’s rule of marriage and the other rules which are not related to marriage, which are then impulses out of consciouness through her four reactions to break her mother’s rules.
ix
GUNTORO, CAROLINE. The Reactions of Tita Against Her Mother’s Rules in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2016.
Like Water for Chocolate menceritakan tentang seorang gadis yang berumur 15 tahun bernama Tita De la Garza yang menghabiskan sebagian besar seluruh hidupnya untuk merawat ibunya dan meninggalkan cintanya dengan seorang pria bernama Pedro. Hal ini terjadi karena penegakan aturan ibunya tentang pernikahan bahwa sebagai putri bungsu tidak harus menikah tapi merawat ibunya sampai ibunya meninggal. Dia menyadari bahwa aturan-aturan ibunya membuat dia sakit. Oleh karena itu, dia bereaksi melawan aturan ibunya tersebut.
Tesis ini fokus pada reaksi Tita terhadap aturan-aturan ibunya. Dalam tesis ini, ada tiga pertanyaan yang terkait dengan topik. Pertanyaan pertama adalah bagaimana karakter Tita digambarkan dalam novel. Pertanyaan kedua adalah bagaimana aturan-aturan ibunya digambarkan, dan pertanyaan ketiga adalah bagaimana reaksi Tita melawan aturan-aturan ibunya.
Dalam menganalisa ketiga pertanyaan tersebut, penulis melakukan studi pustaka. Sumber utama adalah novel Laura Esquivel berjudul Like Water for Chocolate. Sumber pendukung adalah buku elektronik yang diambil dari www.jstor.org, dan sumber lainnya seperti artikel dan skripsi yang berhubungan dengan penelitian ini. Tesis ini menggunakan pendekatan psikoanalisis, karena penulis ingin menunjukkan interaksi antara pikiran tidak sadar and sadar Tita bahwa pikiran tidak sadar Tita adalah peraturan ibunya tentang pernikahan dan peraturan lainnya yang tidak berhubungan dengan pernikahan, yang kemudian didorong keluar secara sadar melalui empat tindakan untuk melanggar aturan-aturan ibunya.
i
THE REACTIONS OF TITA AGAINST
HER MOTHER’S RULE
S
IN LAURA ESQUIVEL’S
LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
Caroline Guntoro Student number : 124214029
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Praise and great gratitude to Almighty God is extended by the writer to the Lord Jesus Christ My Savior for His blessings to help the writer to complete this thesis on time. This thesis is arranged to fulfill the requirements for obtaining the degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University. On this occasion, the writer would like to thank to all of those who have given help and guidance so that this thesis can be fnished. A special thank is due to her thesis advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum, for his guidance and direction as well as the encouragement that are very useful and helpful for the writing of this thesis. A special thank is also for her co-advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, M. Hum, for her guidance and direction that are very helpful for the writing of this thesis. The writer thank to Oktavianus Vendi Ferdian Yulianto, S.Pd, her English private teacher, for his comment and guidance to help the writer in finishing this thesis.
The writer thanks to her lovely mom Jeny Guntoro, the best mom ever in this world, and her lovely dad R. Guntoro who always pray, encourage, give love and compassion, support the writer all the time and always give smile and happiness in the writer’s life. The writer can survive and face everything until today just because of them. The writer also want to thank to all of the lecturers in English Letters Department for teaching the writer in this great campus, and the writer also wants to thank to her wonderful and greatest friends in class A 2012 who always support her.
Finally, the writer would like to say thank you so much indeed for all for those who she can not mentions the names. Hopefully this thesis can be useful for us.
vii
1. Theory of Characterization ... 12
2. Theory of Repression ... 14
viii ABSTRACT
GUNTORO, CAROLINE. The Reactions of Tita against Her Mother’s Rules in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water For Chocolate. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University. 2016
Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate tells about a fifteen-year-old girl named Tita De La Garza, who spends most of her entire life to take care of her mother and abandon her love to a man named Pedro Muzquiz. It happens because of her mother’s rule of marriage that the youngest daughter must not marry but take care of her mother until the day she dies. She realizes that her mother’s rules make she is sick. Therefore, she reacts against her mother’s rules.
This thesis focuses on Tita’s reactions against her mother’s rules. In this thesis, there are three questions related to the topic. The first question is How are the characteristics of Tita described in the novel Like Water for Chocolate. The second question is how are the mother’s rules described, and the third question is about how Tita’s reactions against her mother’s rules.
In analyzing those three questions, the writer conducts library research. The primary source was the novel by Laura Esquivel titled Like Water for Chocolate. The secondary sources include the e-books from www.jstor.org, and other sources such as articles and undergraduate thesis which are related to this study. This thesis uses psychoanalytic approach, because the writer wants to show the interaction of unconscious and conscious mind of Tita that the unconscious mind of Tita is her mother’s rule of marriage and the other rules which are not related to marriage, which are then impulses out of consciouness through her four reactions to break her mother’s rules.
ix ABSTRAK
GUNTORO, CAROLINE. The Reactions of Tita Against Her Mother’s Rules in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2016.
Like Water for Chocolate menceritakan tentang seorang gadis yang berumur 15 tahun bernama Tita De la Garza yang menghabiskan sebagian besar seluruh hidupnya untuk merawat ibunya dan meninggalkan cintanya dengan seorang pria bernama Pedro. Hal ini terjadi karena penegakan aturan ibunya tentang pernikahan bahwa sebagai putri bungsu tidak harus menikah tapi merawat ibunya sampai ibunya meninggal. Dia menyadari bahwa aturan-aturan ibunya membuat dia sakit. Oleh karena itu, dia bereaksi melawan aturan ibunya tersebut.
Tesis ini fokus pada reaksi Tita terhadap aturan-aturan ibunya. Dalam tesis ini, ada tiga pertanyaan yang terkait dengan topik. Pertanyaan pertama adalah bagaimana karakter Tita digambarkan dalam novel. Pertanyaan kedua adalah bagaimana aturan-aturan ibunya digambarkan, dan pertanyaan ketiga adalah bagaimana reaksi Tita melawan aturan-aturan ibunya.
Dalam menganalisa ketiga pertanyaan tersebut, penulis melakukan studi pustaka. Sumber utama adalah novel Laura Esquivel berjudul Like Water for Chocolate. Sumber pendukung adalah buku elektronik yang diambil dari www.jstor.org, dan sumber lainnya seperti artikel dan skripsi yang berhubungan dengan penelitian ini. Tesis ini menggunakan pendekatan psikoanalisis, karena penulis ingin menunjukkan interaksi antara pikiran tidak sadar and sadar Tita bahwa pikiran tidak sadar Tita adalah peraturan ibunya tentang pernikahan dan peraturan lainnya yang tidak berhubungan dengan pernikahan, yang kemudian didorong keluar secara sadar melalui empat tindakan untuk melanggar aturan-aturan ibunya.
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Throughout her childhood, Tita is forced to deal with the controlling and demanding of her mother. As she grow older, her independence was taken by her overpowering mother. She become a servant of her mother, only to fulfil her mother’s needs, such as preparing the bath, and becoming a cook in the family.
Tita De la Garza become the cook of her family, because she is closely connected with food preparation. Tita De la Garza gets her great cooking skills from Nacha, who might only be a cook and nanny to the De la Garza family, but she plays a much larger role as a mother for Tita. Through all the years, Tita De la Garza built a strong relationship with the food that she prepared. Her closeness to the food can be seen from the first scene in the novel, “Tita made her entrance into this world,
prematurely, right there on the kitchen table amid the smells of simmering noodle soup, thyme, bay leaves, and cilantro, steamed milk, garlic, and, of course, onion”.
This shows Tita De la Garza’s connection to food which grows throughout the book.
Tita De la Garza is also displayed as a very sad and lonely character throughout the novel as her love towards Pedro was forbidden by her mother because of her mother’s rule of marriage.
until the day her mother died. Therefore, she is not allowed to marry with her beloved man, Pedro Muzquiz. Besides, Mama Elena also gives the other rules for Tita. Therefore, she reacts against her mother’s rule by breaking her mother’s rules
in four actions, those are: first, she stands up to her mother to say that she feels sick of obeying her mother’s rule. Second, she shows her hatred for her mother by
eventually refusing to stay with her mother again and also she hopes her mother died. Third, she breaks her mother’s rule of marriage by making a plan to get married to Dr. John Brown. Fourth, she declares for her mother that she wants to be free from Mama Elena. Her mother’s rule of marriage imposes the future of Tita that she is supposed to follow and also it is a kind of an emotional imprisonment for Tita because she can not marry nor have kids until her mother passes away.
Based on Merriam-Webster Online, reaction is an action performed or a feeling experienced in response to a situation or event. It is also said that reaction is an action or attitude that shows disagreement with or disapproval of someone or something (merriam-webster.com, 2016). The reaction is taken by Tita De la Garza, who shows her reaction against her mother’s rules.
In her novel Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel wants to explain that the recipe that is made in each chapter is selected based on what happened in the chapter. For example, when Tita De la Garza prepared turkey mole with almonds and sesame seeds for Roberto’s baptism. It is shown in the novel Like Water for Chocolate, “Tita took care to feed the turkeys properly, she wanted the feast to go well, for the ranch was celebrating an important event: the baptism of her nephew, the first son of Pedro and Rosaura.”
Another example is, when Chencha, the maid, makes an ox-tail soup to cure what no medicines has been able to cure Tita’s sickness. It is shown in the novel of Like Water for Chocolate, “When he realized it was just Tita’s tears, John blessed Chencha and her ox-tail soup for having accomplished what none of his medicines had been able to do-making Tita weep.” The kind of dishes for marriage is also found in the novel. It is shown when Tita prepares a wedding cake with icing and a certain filling for Rosaura and Pedro’s wedding, and also for the wedding of Esperanza, her great-niece with Alex, Dr. John Brown’s son.
Laura Esquivel incorporates recipes into the novel in order to tell Tita De la Garza’s life story. Esquivel believes that the recipes are taught not only to be
sorrow towards the wedding between her beloved man, Pedro and Rosaura, her sister. The other example is when Tita makes a quail in rose petal sauce, which describes her love and passion towards Pedro.
In Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate, Tita De la Garza becomes the cook of her family. This occurs because she is closely connected with food preparation. Tita De la Garza gets her great cooking skills from Nacha, who might only be a cook and nanny to the De la Garza family, but she plays a much larger role as a mother for Tita. Through all the years, Tita De la Garza built a strong relationship with the food that she prepared. Her closeness to the food can be seen from the first scene in the novel, “Tita made her entrance into this world,
prematurely, right there on the kitchen table amid the smells of simmering noodle soup, thyme, bay leaves, and cilantro, steamed milk, garlic, and, of course, onion”.
This shows Tita De la Garza’s connection to food which grows throughout the book.
Tita De la Garza is also displayed as a very sad and lonely character throughout the novel as her love towards Pedro was forbidden by her mother because of her mother’s rule of marriage.
In this thesis, the writer focuses on the character of Tita De la Garza because Tita De la Garza becomes a victim of her mother’s rules, whose love towards her beloved man, Pedro Muzquiz, is forbidden by her mother. Therefore, the writer uses psychoanalytic approach in order to show the interaction between the conscious and unconscious elements in Tita’s mind. The unconscious elements of Tita is her
repressions, such as her mother’s rule of marriage and the other rules that are not related to the rule of marriage, which is always kept in her unconscious mind, which then impulses out of consciousness through her four reactions to break her mother’s rules.
Bressler (1998:148) states psychoanalytic literary criticism refers to literary criticism which, in method, concept, theory, or form, is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis began by Sigmund Freud. Freud in Barry (2002:96) adds that psychoanalysis itself is a form of therapy which aims to cure mental disorders ‘by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind’,
as the Concise Oxford Dictionary puts it.
The reasons why the writer chooses this topic, are because, first, the writer wants to show the denaturing of Tita from submissive for the authority of her mother becomes react to break her mother’s rule. Second, the writer wants to show Tita’s repressions, such as her mother’s rule of marriage and other rules that are not
related to the rule of marriage, which Tita always keep it in her unconscious mind. Third, the writer wants to explain on how Tita reacts to break her mother’s rules
B. Problem Formulation
To analyze the novel, the writer proposed three questions, those are:
1. How are the characteristics of Tita described in the novel Like Water for Chocolate?
2. How are the mother’s rules described in the novel? 3. How does Tita react against her mother’s rules?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objective of the study is, firstly, the writer wants to find out how Tita’s
characteristics are described in the novel entitled Like Water for Chocolate, by using the theory of nine techniques of characterization that is proposed by M.J. Murphy in Understanding Unseen. Secondly, the writer also wants to show her mother’s rules which can be categorized asTita’s repressions that Tita always
keep it in her unconscious, by using the theory of repression. Thirdly, the writer also wants to show Tita’s reactions against her mother’s rules through her four
D. Definition of Term
To avoid misunderstanding in this study, there are three important terms that is needed to be defined. The definition of the three important terms are taken from Merriam-Webster Online.
The one term is reaction. Based on Merriam-Webster Online, reaction is an action or attitude that shows disagreement with or disapproval of someone or something. The other meaning of reaction is doing something in opposition to another way it that you do not like. (www.merriam-webster.com, 2016).
8 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
The first related study is taken from Maria Elena de Valdes, in an article in World Literature Today. This article argues that the novel reveals how a woman’s culture can be created and maintained “within the social prison of marriage.” Tita
De la Garza, the novel’s central character, makes her entrance into the world in her
mother’s kitchen, and this female realm becomes both a creative retreat and prison for her. The kitchen also, however, becomes a site of oppression when Tita’s mother
forbids her to marry the man she loves and forces her into the role of family cook. The novel’s public and private realms merge under the symbol of rebellion. As Pancho Villa’s revolutionary forces clash with the oppressive Mexican regime, Tita
wages her own battle against her mother’s dictates (2011: 55).
The second related study is from Rosa Fernandez-Levin, Ritual & Sacred Space in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. This study analyzes the metaphors and symbolism found in Like Water for Chocolate and how Tita, the novel’s protagonist transforms the drudgery of the kitchen into a magical
experience.
empowerment but also points to specific social and cultural dilemmas. Tita’s recipe function as the symbolic re-enactment of a necessary ritual that facilitates not only the protagonist’s transformation, but also the metamorphosis of her kitchen into a “sacred space”, a propitious narrative sphere where spatial and chronological constraints are eliminated (1996:106)
Through all the years that Tita and Nacha spent in the kitchen, Tita was building a strong relationship with the food she prepared. This was more of an experience than anything else was for Tita. Susan Lucas Dobrian goes on to further explain this idea in her article “Romancing the Cook: Parodic Consumption of Popular Romance Myths in Como agua para chocolate. This study describes the meal preparation:
‘The kitchen becomes a veritable reservoir of creative and magical events, in which the cook who possesses this talent becomes artist, healer, and lover. Culinary activity involves not just the combination of prescribed ingredients, but something personal and creative emanating from the cook, a magical quality which transforms the food and grants its powerful properties that go beyond physical satisfaction to provide spiritual nourishment as well. (1996:60).
The fourth related study is from Carole Counihan in Food, Feelings, and Film: Women’s Power in Like Water for Chocolate. This study addresses that cooking can transform women from sites of oppression into sources of power.
for women, and food is an important repository of female traditions that are critical to cultural survival (2015:202-204).
The fifth related study is Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang; Undergraduate Thesis written by Vani Laila Fitriani entitled Women’s
Rebellion against the Patriarchal System in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. This
undergraduate thesis focused on the rebellion of Edna Pontellier who is portrayed as a woman who aware to her sexual desire against the patriarchal system. Her analysis points out that Edna has been depressed with her marriage because of her husband’s superiority that treats her as an inferior and worthless creature. Refusing
to be treated like that, Edna struggles hard to fight the patriarchal system for the hope of freedom and liberty as a woman by changing her own character from a submissive and weak creature to be someone with a strong and independent nature. Her rebellions that reflect the element of feminist proves that she is determinant and persistent with her goals that she gradually gains something.
On the other hand, my thesis is different than those fifth related studies. In this study, the writer wants to show the repressions (unconscious mind) of Tita De la Garza or the personal unconscious mind of Tita, which then impulses out of consciouness through her four reactions in order to break her mother’s rules. However, the writer also explain a little about the kitchen in which it becomes the site Tita’s repression, because as Tita De la Garza grows older, she has a new role, in which she has to be the cook of her family. She does it only to fulfill her mother’s
needs, and through working in the kitchen, based on the theory of nine techniques of characterization of M.J. Murphy, the character of Tita De la Garza can be characterized through her mannerism.
B. Review of Related Theories 1. Theory of Characterization
In order to interpret the characters that are presented in the novel, the reader can interpret character’s moral and traits through what they say and what they do.
This method is called characterization. To be more specific, Murphy (1972:161-173) gives more detailed nine techniques of characterization that used by the author to describe the characters of a story.
a. Personal Description
The author uses this method particularly to give the description of face, body, and other physical appearances.
The author can describe a character through the eyes and opinions of the comments by another character.
c. Speech
The author gives the readers some clues to a person’s character in the book through what the character says. Whenever a character is in conversation with another and whenever a character gives such opinions, a character is giving the readers some clues to its character’s personality.
d. Past life
The author can describe a character from the character’s past life to give clues to
events that have helped to shape a person’s character.
e. Conversation of others
The author can describe a character through the things other people say about the character.
f. Reactions
The author can describe a character through how the character reacts toward various situations and events.
g. Direct comment
h. Thoughts
The author can describe a character through direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about.
i. Mannerism
The author can describe a person’s way of behaving and habits which may also tell
the readers something about character.
2. Theory of Repression
Jess Feist and Gregory J. Feist (2008:35) states that repression is the most basic defense mechanism, because it is involved in each of the others. Whenever the ego is threatened by undesirable id impulses, it protects itself by repressing those impulses; that is, it forces threatening feelings into the unconscious. In many cases the repression is then perpetuated for a lifetime. For example, a young girl may permanently repress her hostility for a younger sister because her hateful feelings create too much anxiety.
In addition, according to Chris Clause in his article titled Freudian Repression:Definition & Overview, repression refers to the ego's efforts to subconsciously keep anxious thoughts and impulses out of consciousness and maintain them in the subconscious mind, where they can be buried and hidden.
past events, so that they are forced out of conscious awareness and into the realm of the unconscious.
3. Two Levels of Mental Life
To Freud, mental life is divided into two levels, the unconscious and the conscious. The unconscious contains all those drives, urges, or instincts that are beyond our awareness but that nevertheless motivate most of our words, feelings, and actions. For Freud, the unconscious is the storehouse of disguised truths and desires that want to be revealed in and through the conscious. (Bressler, 1998:149).
The unconscious processes often enter into consciousness but only after being disguised or distorted. Punishment and suppression often create feelings of anxiety, and the anxiety in turn stimulates repression, that is, the forcing of unwanted, anxiety-ridden experiences into the unconscious as a defense against the pain of that anxiety (Freud, 2008:24).
Meanwhile, the conscious which plays a relatively minor role in psychoanalytic theory, can be defined as those mental elements in awareness at any given point in time. It is the only level of mental life directly available to us. The conscious, Freud argued, perceives and records external reality and is the reasoning part of the mind (Bressler:1998:149).
ego, whereas unconscious elements have no relationship with the ego. Jung’s notion of the ego is more restrictive than Freud’s. Jung saw the ego as the center of consciousness, but not the core of personality. Ego is not the whole personality, but must be completed by the more comprehensive self, the center of personality that is largely unconscious. Thus, consciousness plays a relatively minor role in analytical psychology, and an overemphasis on expanding one’s conscious psyche
can lead to psychological imbalance.
The personal unconscious embraces all repressed, forgotten, or subliminally perceived experiences of one particular individual. It contains repressed infantile memories and impulses, forgotten events, and experiences originally perceived below the threshold of our consciousness. Our personal unconscious is formed by our individual experiences and is therefore unique to each of us (Jung, 1951: p. 104).
4. Id, Ego, Superego
Bressler states that the irrational, instinctual, unknown and unconscious part of the psyche Freud calls the id. Containing our secret desires, our darkest wishes, and our most intense fears, the id wishes only to fulfill the urges of the pleasure principle. In addition, it houses the libido, the source of all our psychosexual desires and all our psychic energy. (Bressler, 1998:150).
Whereas the id operates according to the pleasure principle, the ego operates in harmony with the reality principle. It is the ego’s job to regulate the instinctual
desires of the id and to allow these desires to be released in some nondestructive way. (Bressler, 1998: 150).
Meanwhile, Freud in Feist-Feist states that the ego is the only region of the mind in contact with reality. It grows out of the id during infancy and becomes a person’s sole source of communication with the external world. It is governed by
the reality principle, which it tries to substitute for the pleasure principle of the id. As the sole region of the mind in contact with the external world, the ego becomes the decision-making or executive branch of personality.For instance, a woman’s ego may consciously motivate her to choose excessively neat, well-tailored clothes because she feels comfortable when well dressed. At the same time, she may be only dimly (i.e., preconsciously) aware of previous experiences of being rewarded for choosing nice clothes. In addition, she may be unconsciously motivated to be excessively neat and orderly due to early childhood experiences of toilet training. (Freud:1923:29).
The third part of the psyche, the superego. The superego acts as an internal censor, causing us to make moral judgments in light of social pressures. In contrast to the id, the superego operates acccording to the morality principle and serves primarily to protect society and us from the id. Representing all of society’s moral restrictions, the superego serves as a filtering agent, suppressing the desires and instincts forbidden by society and thrusting them back into the uncounscious. Overall, the superego manifests itself through punishment. If allowed to operate at its own discretion, the superego will create an unconscious sense of guilt and fear. (Bressler, 1998:151).
In Freudian psychology, the superego represents the moral and ideal aspects of personality and is guided by the moralistic and idealistic principles as opposed to the pleasure principle of the id and the realistic principle of the ego. The superego differs from the ego in one important respect—it has no contact with the outside world and therefore is unrealistic in its demands for perfection. The superego has two subsystems, the conscience and the ego-ideal. The conscience results from experiences with punishments for improper behavior and tells us what we should not do, whereas the ego-ideal develops from experiences with rewards for proper behavior and tells us what we should do. (Freud, 1923:30).
C. Theoretical Framework
Tita can be characterized through her speech and also her reactions towards the agreement of Mama Elena of Pedro and Rosaura’s wedding. The second
characteristic is she is caring. It can be characterized through her conversation of others and her speech. The third characteristics is she is patient. It can be characterized through her speech and her reaction. The fourth characteristic is she is faithful to Pedro. It can be characterized through direct comment and her reactions that she still loves Pedro. The five characteristics, which is she is creative, can be characterized through direct comment.
Besides those five characteristics of Tita, the character of Tita can also be characterized through her past life that Tita De La Garza’s life story is told by her great-niece, who is the narrator of the story, and also through conversations of others that Tita always crying when she chopped onions. In addition, the third rules which are not related to the rule of marriage, especially the first rules, when she becomes the cook of her family throughout her childhood, shows that the character of Tita can be characterized through character as seen by another that when Tita becomes a cook of her family, it can show that the sixth sense of Tita was developed about everything concerning food, and also through her mannerism that her habit activity always work in the kitchen.
John Brown. Fourth, she declares to her mother that she wants to be free from Mama Elena.
The psychoanalytic approach is always related to the two levels of mental life. The theory of the two levels of mental life is used as the additional data in order to see the interaction of unconscious and conscious mind of Tita. The unconscious mind of Tita is her mother’s rules, which are her mother’s rule of marriage and the third rules which are not related to the rule of marriage. Therefore, the unconscious mind of Tita impulses out of consciousness through her four reactions in order to break her mother’s rules.
The theory of repression is used to answer the second research questions. According to Freud in Barry (2002:96), the idea of repression is linked with the ‘forgetting’ or ignoring of unresolved conflicts, unadmitted desires, or traumatic
past events, so that they are forced out of conscious awareness and into the realm of the unconscious. In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Mama Elena is ignoring Tita’s unadmitted desire to get married to her beloved man, Pedro Muzquiz by
giving a rule of marriage. In addition, Mama Elena also gives the other rules that are not related to the rule of marriage, which come into the unconscious mind of Tita.
anymore. Next day, when Tita heard that her nephew was died in San Antonio, it makes Tita impulses her repressions out of consciousness, through her four reactions to break her mother’s rules.
Meanwhile, the tripartite model the id, ego, and superego is the additional data. The aim of the writer is to explain the id, ego, and superego clearly. The id is applied as the unconscious mind of Tita, which describes the desire (pleasure) of Tita to get married to Pedro. Meanwhile, Tita’s love towards Pedro was forbidden by her mother through her mother’s rule of marriage, which described as the
superego, because it is suppressing the id (desire) of Tita to get married to Pedro. However, Tita’s love towards Pedro is never fade, so Tita makes effors to be with
Pedro forever, even though it is forbidden by her mother, through her four reactions to break her mother’s rules, which described as the ego. The ego is applied when
21 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
Like Water for Chocolate is a novel in monthly installments, with recipes, romances, and home remedies. It is told in twelve monthly installments, with a pertinent traditional recipe preceding each chapter. The novel of Like Water for Chocolate had been released in Mexico a year earlier. After the release of the film version in 1992, Like Water for Chocolate became internationally known and loved (Biography.com).
Laura Esquivel is the author of Like Water for Chocolate, an imaginative and compelling combination of novel and cookbook, as well as other books. Like Water for Chocolate was published by Anchor Books in November 1995. This novel was translated by Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen. The structure of Like Water For Chocolate is wholly dependent on these recipes, as the main episodes of each chapter generally involve the preparation or consumption of the dishes that these recipes yield. The details of additional secondary recipes are woven throughout the narrative.
mother's upholding of the family tradition that the youngest daughter must not marry but she must take care of her mother until the day she dies.
B. Approach of the Study
According to Bressler in Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice Second Edition (1998:148), psychoanalytic literary criticism refers to literary criticism which, in method, concept, theory, or form, is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis began by Sigmund Freud. Bressler in his book also states,
Psychoanalytic criticism, unlike some other schools of criticism, can exist side by side with any other critical method of interpretation, because this approach attempts to explain on how and why of human actions without developing an aesthetic theory, a systematic, philosophical body of beliefs concerning on how meaning occurs in literature. For example, Marxists, feminists, and New Historicists can use psychoanalytic methods in their interpretations without violating their own hermeneutics. Psychoanalytic criticism, then may best be called an approach to literary interpretation rather than a particular school of criticism. 1998:148).
The other definition is taken from Freud in Barry (2002:96) that psychoanalytic is a form of literary criticism which uses some of the techniques of psychoanalysis, which itself is a form of therapy which aims to cure mental disorders ‘by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements
in the mind, in the interpretation of literature.
is the characters that the theory is used to analyze one or more of the characters; the psychological theory becomes a tool that to explain the characters’ behavior and
motivations. The more closely the theory seems to apply to the characters, the more realistic the work appears.
According to Michael Delahoyde in Introduction to Literature (2016) states that psychoanalytic approach argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a manifestation of the author's own neuroses. One may psychoanalyze a particular character within a literary work, but it is usually assumed that all such characters are projections of the author's psyche.
In addition, Ann B. Dobie in her book Theory into Practice: An Introduction to Literary Criticism states that the characteristic of the psychoanalytic approach is the primacy of the unconscious. Hidden from the conscious mind, which Freud compared to that small portion of an iceberg that is visible above the surface of the water, the unconscious is like the powerful unseen mass below it. (Ann,2011:56).
In order to analyze this study, the writer uses psychoanalytic approach, because this approach can help the writer to see the interaction between conscious and unconscious elements in Tita’s mind. The unconscious part of Tita is her
mother’s rule of marriage and the another rules which are not related to the
In addition, by using this approach, the writer can know that the literary text itself, Laura Esquivel’s novel, focuses on the ‘psychobiography’ of the author herself that Laura Esquivel also had a great-aunt named Tita who was forbidden to wed and spent her life caring for her mother. Soon after her mother died, so did Tita in the novel of Like Water for Chocolate,.
C. Method of the Study
The writer conducts library research in working on this study. This study applies primary and secondary sources. The primary source is, of course, the literary text itself, a novel by Laura Esquivel titled Like Water for Chocolate. The secondary sources includes some e-books from www.jstor.org , paper, pdf file, and criticism which are related to the work.
There are several steps for doing the research. First, the writer begins to reading the novel carefully in order to understand the story. Second, the writer is finding out some references that are related to the work, such as the e-books from www.jstor.org, paper, pdf file, and criticism. Third, the writer starts to explaining the characteristics of Tita in the novel by using the theory of nine techniques of characterization that is proposed by M.J. Murphy in order to find how Tita’s characteristics are described in the novel. Fifth, the writer tries to explain the Mama Elena’s rules by explaining Mama Elena’s rule of marriage and the other rules that
between conscious and unconscious mind of Tita by using the definition of psychoanalytic criticism that is proposed by Freud in Peter Barry in Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Seventh, the writer explains the tripartite of model the id and superego, because the id is the desire of Tita to get married to Pedro, and the superego is the Mama Elena’s rule of marriage. Next, the writer shows the ego, because the ego is the reactions of Tita against her mother’s rules in order to be with Pedro forever. Last, the writer makes the
26 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the writer answers the three research questions that have been stated in the problem formulation. In the first research question, the writer tries to analyze the characteristics of Tita De la Garza, as the main character, by using the theory of nine techniques of characterization that is proposed by M.J. Murphy. In the second research question, the writer explains Mama Elena’s rules, which are Mama Elena’s rule of marriage and the third rules which are not related to the rule
of marriage by using the theory of repression from Freud in Peter Barry and Chris Clause in Freudian Repression Definition & Overview, and also explains the three reasons why Mama Elena gives the rule of marriage for Tita. In the third research question, the writer shows the reactions of Tita against her mother’s rules.
In order to answer all of those research questions, the writer uses the psychoanalytic approach in this study. According to Bressler (1998:148), psychoanalytic literary criticism refers to literary criticism which, in method, concept, theory, or form, is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis began by Sigmund Freud.
conscious mind of Tita that the unconscious is the storehouse of disguised desire that want to be revealed in and through the conscious.
According to Jess Feist and Gregory J. Feist in Theories of Personality (2008:24), the unconscious, for Freud, is the explanation for the meaning behind dreams, slips of the tongue, and certain kinds of forgetting, called repression. Therefore, the unconscious mind of Tita are the repressions of Tita in the novel Like Water for Chocolate, which then impulses out of consciousness through her four reactions against her mother’s rules.
A. The Characteristics of Tita
Tita De la Garza, as the youngest daughter, has five characteristics. The first characteristics is, she is submissive for the authority of her mother. It can be shown in the novel when Tita said to Mama Elena that Pedro wanted to ask for her hand, but Mama Elena refused it by explaining it to Tita that as the youngest daughter she had to take care of her mother until the day she died (p.10). This first characteristics, according to M.J. Murphy, in his book Understanding Unseen, can be characterized through speech that whenever Tita is in conversation with her mother, Tita is giving the readers some clue about her personality that she accepts her mother’s rule of marriage.
On the other hand, after Mama Elena gave a suggestion to Pedro’s father, don
married, it makes Tita believes that Pedro ridicules their eternal love. It is shown in the novel,
Mama Elena came into the kitchen and informed them that she had agreed to Pedro’s marriage to Rosaura. Hearing Chencha’s story confirmed, Tita felt her body fill with a wintry chill in one sharp, quick blast she was so cold and dry her cheeks burned and turned red, red as the apples beside her.
“Why did you do that, Pedro? It will look ridiculous, your agreeing to marry Rosaura. What happened to the eternal love you swore to Tita? Are not you going to keep that vow?” (p.15).
The second characteristics is she is caring. She is caring her sister, Rosaura, when she suffers from severe digestive problems. It is shown in the novel, “ Rosaura
had gained sixty-five pounds during her pregnancy, which made the labor to deliver her first child even more difficult. Even allowing for her sister’s excessive bulk,
Tita noticed that Rosaura’s body was extraordinarily swollen. First her feet swelled
up, then her face and hands. Tita wiped the sweat from her brow and tried to revive her but Rosaura did not even seem hear her (p.72) and also, “According to the doctor, Rosaura had suffered an attack of eclampsia that could have killed her”
(p.74). This second characteristics, can show that Tita’s second characteristics can
be characterized through conversation of others that through the condition of Rosaura, it shows that Tita’s personality is a caring.
In addition, Tita is caring her nephew, Roberto, by feeding him. It is shown in the novel
understand it. When the child realized he’d been separated from his meal. Immediately Tita let him take her breast, until his hunger was completely satisfied and he was sleeping peacefully, like a saint. At this moment, Tita looked Ceres herself, goddess of plenty” (p.76).
From the evidence above, it is shown that the character of Tita can be characterized through her reaction towards the miracle which happens that she does not believe that she can feeding her nephew.
Moreover, Tita is caring her mother when her mother is sick. It is shown in the novel, “She prepared her mother’s meal very carefully and especially the ox -tail soup with the good intention of serving it to her so that she would recover completely” (p.130). When Tita is caring her mother by making ox-tail soup to cure her mother’s sickness, it shows that the character of Tita can be characterized
through conversation of others. From the conversation of others, the writer can describe the characteristics of Tita through a thing that other people say about the character. Therefore, through ox-tail soup, it shows that Tita’s personality is caring.
The third characteristics is she is patient. Actually, she is patient when she takes care of her mother. It is shown in the novel,
Tita waited anxiously for her mother’ reaction when she had her first sip, but Mama Elena spit the soup on the bedspread and yelled to Tita to get the tray out of her sight immediately.“But why?” “Because it is nasty and bitter, and I donot want it. Take it away! Don’t you hear?” “Instead of obeying her, Tita turned away, trying not to let her mother see her frustation. (p.130).
characteristics that she is patient. It is proven above, “Instead of obeying her
mother, Tita turned away, trying not to let her mother see her frustation.” Therefore,
it can be concluded that this third characteristics can be characterized through the speech and reaction.
The fourth characteristic is she is described as a faithful woman for her beloved man, Pedro Muzquiz. It is proven in the novel when Dr. John Brown wanted to delay his marriage with Tita for a while by giving a reason that he wanted to bring back his deaf-great aunt from the Northern part of the United States, Tita lost her virginity. It is shown in the novel,
Sensing another’s presence, Tita spun around, the light clearly revealed the figure of Pedro, barring the door. “Pedro! What are you doing here?” Without answering, Pedro went to her, extinguished the lamp, pulled her to a brass bed that had once belonged to her sister Gertrudis, and throwing himself upon her, caused her to lose her virginity and learn of true love (p.158).
When Tita lost her virginity, it shows that the characteristics of Tita can be characterized through her reaction that there is no self-denial from Tita. Therefore, it can be concluded that Tita is still love Pedro.
When Tita worried that she was pregnant, she could not married to Dr. John Brown, because Tita was expecting her child with Pedro. It is proven when Gertrudis visited the ranch for a special holiday, the conversation between Gertrudis and Tita was heard by Pedro. It is shown in the novel,
“...I think you should tell Pedro you’re expecting his child.”
From the conversation between Gertrudis and Tita, that Tita is expecting her child with Pedro, it shows that the characteristics of Tita can be characterized through direct comment. The writer can comment on the character of Tita directly that she is still love Pedro. In addition, from the reaction that is shown by Pedro, it can show that Pedro angry at Tita why she does not tell him if she is pregnant.
The other evidence is her intense feeling for Pedro is never fade. Tita sacrifices her life for Pedro when she lights herself on fire after his death so that their souls can not be apart. It is shown from the novel at the end of the story
After Pedro had died at the moment of ecstasy when he entered the luminous tunnel, Tita pulled from her bureau drawer to have plenty of fuel in her body. She began to eat the candles out of the box one by one. As she chewed each candle, she made contact with the torrid images she evoked, the candle began to burn. She let herself go to the encounter, and they wrapped each other in a long embrace, they left together for the lost Eden. Never again would they be apart. (p.245).
This shows that the characteristics of Tita can be characterized through her reaction towards the death of her beloved man. Tita is faithful to Pedro, so when Pedro died, Tita did not want to be separated with Pedro. Therefore, Tita ends her life in order to be with Pedro forever.
The fifth characteristics is she is a creative person. She rechannels her feelings for Pedro, her beloved man, into the creation of delicious meals that express her passionate and giving nature. These ‘extra’ ingredients are passion and love.
However, these ‘extra’ ingredients cannot be seen by just looking at the dish. They
can only be ‘seen’ when the meal or dish has been eaten. For example, the meal that
gets in the shower and a soldier, Juan smells the aroma that is coming from her. It is shown in the novel,
The aroma from Gertrudis’s body guided him. He got there just in time to find her racing through the field. Then he knew why he’d been drawn there. This woman desperately needed a man to quench the red-hot fire that was raging inside her. A man equal to loving someone who needed love as much as she did, a man like him (p.55).
From the evidence above, it shows that these five characteristics of Tita, as the creative person, can be characterized through direct comment, because the writer can comment on the character of Gertrudis directly that she becomes lustful after eating the quail in rose petal sauce. It is proven above, this woman desperately needed a man to quench the red-hot-fire that was raging inside her.
This is a direct effect from the ‘extra’ ingredient, passion which she felt for
Pedro that was added by Tita unconsciously. In addition, she makes quail in rose petal sauce, as the voice for her and for Pedro as the goal. It is shown in the novel
With that meal it seemed they had discovered a new system of communication, in which Tita was the transmitter, Pedro the receiver, and poor Gertrudis the medium, the conducting body through which the singular sexual message was passed. (p.52).
Besides the quail in rose petal sauce, Tita also makes a wedding cake which describes her sorrow for Pedro. It is shown in Rosaura’s wedding in which the guests are severely ill after eating the cake. It happens because of Tita’s tears in the
cake dough. It is shown in the novel
symptom of a strange intoxication-an acute attack of pain and frustation-that seized the guests and scattered them across the patio and the grounds and in the bathrooms, all of them wailing over lost love. Everyone there, every last person, fell under this spell, and not very many of them made it to the bathrooms in time-those who didn’t joined the collective vomiting that was going on all over the patio. Only one person escaped: the cake had no effect on Tita (p. 39).
Besides the five characteristics of Tita can also be characterized not only through her speech, conversation of others, her reactions and direct comment, but also through her past life and conversations of others. The character of Tita can be characterized through her past life that Tita De la Garza’s life story is told by Esperanza’s daughter and Tita De la Garza’s great-niece, who is the narrator of the
story. It is shown in the novel at the end of the novel
Throughout my childhood I had the good fortune to savor the delicious fruits and vegetables that grew on that land. Eventually my mother had a little apartment building built there. My father Alex still lives in one of the apartments. Today he is going to come to my house to celebrate my birthday. That is why I am preparing Christmas Rolls, my favorite dish. My mama prepared them for me every year. My mama! ...How wonderful the flavor, the aroma of her kitchen, her stories as she prepared the meal, her Christmas Rolls! I don’t know why mine never turn out like hers, or why my tears flow so freely when I prepare them—perhaps I am as sensitive to onions as Tita, my great-aunt, who will go on living as long as there is someone who cooks her recipes (p. 246).
Meanwhile, the character of Tita can be characterized through conversations of others that the character of Tita can be described through the thing other people say about the character of Tita that Tita always sensitive when she was chopping onions. It is shown in the first scene
belly her sobs were so loud that even Nacha, the cook, who was half-deaf, could hear them easily (p.5).
B. Mama Elena’s rules.
The writer has said that the unconscious, according to Jess Feist and Gregory J. Feist (2008: 24), is the explanation for the meaning behind dreams, slips of the tongue, and certain kinds of forgetting, called repression. Now, the writer wants to analyze the repression of Tita by using the theory of Freud in Peter Barry in a book Beginning Theory: An Introduction To Literary And Cultural Theory (2002:96), and Freudian Repression Definition and Overview based on Chris Clause. .
According to Freud in Peter Barry in a book Beginning Theory: An Introduction To Literary And Cultural Theory (2002:96), the idea of repression linked with ‘forgetting’ or ignoring of unresolved conflicts, unadmitted desires, or
traumatic past events, so that they are forced out of conscious awareness and into the realm of the unconscious. In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Tita has unadmitted desire to get married to Pedro, which come into the unconscious mind.
secret desires. In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, the unconscious mind or the id of Tita consist of her disguised desire to get married to Pedro, and also the other of her mother’s rules which are not related to the marriage. However, Mama Elena
forbids Tita’s desire to get married to Pedro by giving a rule of marriage.
Mama Elena’s rule of marriage is Tita, as the youngest daughter, has to take
care of her until she died. Therefore, because of her mother’s rule of marriage, Tita
cannot married to Pedro Muzquiz, her beloved man. It is shown in the novel, “If he intends to ask for your hand, tell him not to bother. He’ll be wasting his time and
mine too” (p.10).
Mama Elena gave the rule of marriage for Tita, because, the first reasons is, when Mama Elena was young and she wants to get married to her first lover, Jose Trevino. However, Mama Elena’s love towards Jose Trevino was forbidden by
Mama Elena’s parents, because Jose Trevino was a Negro. It is shown in the novel,
She hadn’t been allowed to marry him because he had Negro blood in his veins. A colony of Negroes, fleeing from the Civil War in the United States, from the risk they ran of being lynched, had come to settle near the village. Young Jose Trevino was the product of an illicit love affair between the elder Jose Trevino and a beautiful Negress (p. 137).
The second reasons is, because when Tita was a newborn baby, her father Juan De la Garza was died because of heart attack. Therefore, Mama Elena becomes the head of the family, who takes the responsibilities to take care of her daughters, and the ranch. It is shown in the novel,
nurse anywhere, they were in panic to satisfy the infant’s hunger. Nacha, who knew everything about cooking offered to take charged of feeding Tita. Mama Elena accepted her offer gratefully, she had enough to do between her mourning and the enormous responsibility of running the ranch and it was the ranch that would provide her children the food and education they deserved without having to worry about feeding a newborn baby on top of everything else (p.6).
The third reasons is, Mama Elena wants to give a punishment to Tita through the rule of marriage that Tita becomes the source of the problem that experienced by Mama Elena. Therefore, Mama Elena wants Tita to feel what is felt by Mama Elena, that she is not allowed to get married to her lover by giving a rule of marriage that Tita, as the youngest daughter, has to take care of her mother until her mother died.
The writer has explained that besides of her mother’s rule of marriage, there are also other rules which are not related to the rule of marriage. The first rules, is throughout her childhood, Tita is forced to deal with controlling and demanding of her mother. Therefore, as she grows older, she becomes a cook of her family. When Tita becomes a cook, it can indicates that her habit activity is she always work in the kitchen. Therefore, it can also show that from the habit activity of Tita, the character of Tita can be characterized through her mannerism.
From Tita’s habit activity that she always spends most of her life cooking and
preparing food, Tita’s character can be characterized through character as seen by
From that day on, Tita’s domain was the kitchen, where she grew vigorous and healthy on a diet of teas and thin corn gruels. This explains the sixth sense Tita developed about everything concerning food. Her eating habits, for example, were attuned to the kitchen routine: in the morning, when she could smell that the beans were ready: at midday, when she sensed the water was ready for plucking the chickens: and in the afternoon, when the dinner bread was baking, Tita knew it was time for her to be fed (p.7).
The second rules, is when Mama Elena asks Tita to prepare the bath. However, Tita makes some faults when she is preparing the bath for Mama Elena that makes Mama Elena angry at Tita. It is shown in the novel,
But she had never found as many faults as today. And that was because Tita ready had been careless with all the fine points of the ceremony. The water was so hot that Mama Elena burned her feet when she got in, Tita had forgotten the aloe water for her hair, burned the bottom of Mama Elena’s chemise, opened the door too far, and finally, got Mama Elena’s attention the hard way and was scolded and sent from the bathroom (p.94).
The third rules is, when Mama Elena asks Pedro and his family to move to San Antonio, Texas by giving a reason that Rosaura should have a better medical attention in San Antonio. It is shown in the novel
“I worry that some day my daughter Rosaura will need a doctor and we won’t be able to get one, like when Roberto was born. As soon as she gets her strength back, I think it would be best if she went to live with my cousin in San Antonio, with her husband and little boy. She would receive better medical attention there.” (p.80).
When Tita heard that Mama Elena asks Pedro and his family to move to San Antonio, it repress her. Tita does not want to separate with her nephew. It is shown in the novel,
“Those words echoed like cannons inside Tita’s head. She couldn’t let it happen. They couldn’t take the child away from her now. She had to keep that from ever happening.” (p.80).
Tita’s pain that she has to be separated with her nephew, is shown when the
milk in Tita’s breasts was dry up, and she wonders who was feeding Roberto in San
Antonio, and also when Tita cannot sleep, because Tita always thought about Roberto. It is shown in the novel,
The milk in her breasts had dried up overnight from the pain of her separation from her nephew. As she looked for worms, she kept wondering who was feeding Roberto and how he was eating. Those thoughts tortured her night and day. She hadn’t been able to sleep, for a whole month (p.93).
Tita’s pain when she has to be separated with her nephew, Roberto, shows
that Tita subconsciously keep anxious thought, because she cannot take care of her nephew anymore, which is same with the definition of repression based on Freudian Repression Definition and Overview that repression refers to subconsciously keep anxious thoughts and impulses out of consciousness.
Tita felt a violent agitation take possession of her being: still fingering the sausage, she calmly met her mother’s gaze and then, instead of obeying her order, she started to tear apart all the sausages she could reach, screaming wildly. “Here’s what I do with your orders! I’m sick of them! I’m sick of obeying you!” “You did it, you killed Roberto!” screamed Tita (p.99).
Mama Elena’s rule of marriage for Tita can be categorized as the third part of
psyche, the superego. According to Bressler (1998:31), the superego serves as filtering agent, suppressing the desires forbidden by society and thrusting them back into the unconscious. Overall, superego manifests itself through punishment. Therefore, in the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Mama Elena gives the rule of marriage for Tita in order to suppress the id or the desire of Tita to get married to her lover, Pedro Muzquiz, which then thrusting them back into the unconscious mind of Tita.
According to Carl Jung (1951:104), the personal unconscious embraces all repressed, forgotten, or subliminally perceived experiences of one particular individual. Therefore, those third rules which are not related to the rule of marriage can be concluded as personal unconscious, because those third rules are formed by Tita’s personal experiences, which made by Mama Elena herself.
C. The Reactions of Tita against Her Mother’s Rules
first past the primary censor, then they enter to the conscious. These unconscious images have strong sexual or aggressive motifs, because childhood sexual and aggressive behaviors are frequently punished or suppressed. Punishment and suppression often create feelings of anxiety, and the anxiety in turn stimulates repression.
Based on Feist-Feist in Theories of Personality Seventh Edition (2008:24), the unconscious of Tita is her disguised desire to get married to Pedro that want to be revealed in and through the conscious. However, to enter the the conscious level of the mind, Tita’s disguised desire past the primary censor, which can be represented as the food. In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Tita’s desire to get
married to Pedro is hindered by her mother through her mother’s rule of marriage. Consequently, Tita disguise her desire in the form of food to express her emotions, because it serves as a medium which emotions can be transmitted. For example, Tita makes a wedding cake in Pedro and Rosaura’s wedding, which describes her sorrow towards Pedro and also Tita makes a quail in rose petal sauce, which is the quail itself symbolizes Tita’s broken heart towards Pedro. Those foods can be represented as the primary censor, because the aim of the primary censor is to prevent the unconscious desire of Tita become preconscious by throwing the unconscious desire of Tita back into the unconscious. Those foods, which both of them show Tita’s sorrow towards Pedro, can prevent the strong childhood sexual
married to Pedro. However, the childhood sexual of Tita is suppressed through her mother’s rule of marriage, which can make Tita feels anxiety, especially when she has to be separated with her nephew, Roberto. Therefore, Tita’s anxiety come into
the conscious level of mind, especially through her first reactions that she feels sick of obeying her mother.
The reactions of Tita against her mother’s rule can be categorized as the ego, because according to Abrams in “Psychological and Psychoanalytic Criticism." A Glossary of Literary Terms (1999:248), when Mama Elena forbids Tita’s sexual (libidinal) wishes to be with Pedro, it comes into the conflict with, and repressed into the unconscious realm of the artist’s mind, therefore Tita makes some efforts
to be with Pedro. For instance, even though the love between Tita and Pedro is forbidden by Mama Elena, but it never stopped them to communicate each other. They takes every opportunity they can in order to communicate each other. Besides, Tita also gave big efforts to be with Pedro through her four reactions in order to break her mother’s rules.
In addition, Hall in his book A Primer of Freudian Psychology ( 1954:31) gives an example that when the id imagines some food because the individual is hungry, the ego tries to motivate the individual to get some food to eat. Based on this theory, in the novel Like Water for Chocolate, the writer wants to show that when Tita wants to be with Pedro, she has some motivations to be with Pedro by breaking her mother’s rule. There are four actions, which described as the
The first reaction of Tita is caused by the death of her nephew, Roberto. It is proven in the novel that when she heard that Mama Elena asks Pedro and his family to move to San Antonio. The separation between Tita De la Garza and her nephew, Roberto, devastates her. A short time later, news arrives that Roberto has died, most likely due to his removal from Tita’s care. The death of her nephew causes Tita to
have a breakdown. It is shown in the novel,
“Tita felt a violent agitation take possession of her being: still fingering the sausage, she calmly met her mother’s gaze and then, instead of obeying her order, she started to tear apart all the sausages she could reach, screaming wildly. “Here’s what I do with your orders! I’m sick of them! I’m sick of obeying you!”(p.99).
This is the boiling point of Tita’s action which is same with the meaning of
the title phrase ‘like water for chocolate’, which may be used to refer to anger, such
as being ‘boiling mad’.
The ‘boiling point’ of Tita’s action in disobeying her mother’s rule is that finally she can not say anything and got naked in the dovecote and holding the pigeon. It is shown in the novel,
Dr Brown found Tita naked, her nose broken, her whole body with pigeon droppings. A few feathers were clinging to her skin and hair. As soon as she saw the doctor, she ran to the corner and curled up in a fetal position (p.100).
The second reaction of Tita is after her mother sends her away, Tita experiences a life of freedom and love from Dr. John Brown. She gains the strength to oppose her mother. During the time that she spends with Dr. John Brown, she gains her own outlook on life and the ability to make her own decision. Tita stands up for herself and claims her independence by declaring the only thing that she really wants is to be free from Mama Elena. She reacts against her mother’s rule by
eventually refusing to stay with her mother. It is shown in page 118, “The only thing she was absolutely sure about was that she did not want to return to the ranch. She never wanted to live near Mama Elena again.”
In addition, she also hopes her mother dead. It is shown in the novel,
While she was in her hiding place, she had prayed that nothing bad would happen to Mama Elena, but unconsciously, she had hoped that when she got out she would find her mother dead. (p.92).
The third reaction of Tita is when Mama Elena falls ill and Tita returns to the ranch to take care of her. Although Tita’s return seems like she is fulfilling the tradition that her mother dooms her to, Tita ensures that she remains in control of her life and holds no obligation to her mother. While at the ranch,
It was a relief to delegate to Chencha the painful duty of caring for her mother, so that she was free to start embroidering the bedsheets for her trousseau. She had decided to marry John as soon as her mother was better (p.133).
