Political Allegory and Character Archetypes in

Like Water for Chocolate

Alicia Matute





Literature of the Americas
Mr. Cook
19 September 2014


Allegory is used to show the moral lesson throughout the whole novel. An
interpretation a reader has about a character and how they are portrayed. A political
allegory is an event that is being used through characters to give a moral lesson. Laura
Esquivel, author of Like Water for Chocolate, adds a negative tone to the narrative by
using allegory. Like Water for Chocolate is a political allegory that uses characters to
represent oppression, rebellion, and selfish conformity.
Esquivel shows the political effects of oppression using the character Tita as a
symbol. Mama Elena tells Tita, You have to take care of me until the day I die you
dont have an opinionnot a single person has ever questioned this tradition, and no
daughter of mine is going to start (11). Mama Elena had a strong personality making
everyone obey her orders especially Tita. Mama Elena demands, I wont stand for
disobedience Nor am I going to ruin your sisters wedding with your acting like a
victim and dont ever let me catch you with a single tear or long face, do you hear
(27). Mama Elena is taking Titas liberty of expressing her feelings. Mama Elena is
oppressing Tita by not letting her express her emotions.
Esquivel demonstrates the political effect of rebellion using the character
Gertrudis as a symbol. Tita, finding out that Gertrudis left, was so sad it made her sick-
but what nearly killed her was when she got the story that the next Gertrudis was
working in a brothel on the border (58). Gertrudis was working in a brothel. Mama
Elena did not come to terms with the idea of her daughter having sexaul intercourse
with other men. Later on Esquivel mentions, Mama Elena burned Gertrudis birth
certificate and all of her pictures and said she didnt want to hear her name mentioned
ever again (59). The act of rebellion Gertrudis demonstrated made Mama Elena deny
her as her daughter.
Esquivel denotes the political effect of selfish conformity using the character
Pedro as a symbol. In the book it states, Tita, I want to say, I think your idea of
marrying John is a terrible mistake. Theres still time, dont make this mistake. Please,
dont agree to the marriage (148). Pedro is only thinking about how hurt he will become
if Tita accepts the marriage. Pedro is still in love with Tita and does not want to lose her,
which makes him selfish. Esquivel says, While she was receiving a kiss on the lips,
Pedro took her hand in his and invited her to explore his body (98). Pedro is selfish
conform because he only wanted to feel the sexual feeling Tita was giving him. He didn't
care about how he was making Tita fall in love unconditionally.
Like Water for Chocolate shows political allegory using characters to represents
oppression, rebellion, and selfish conformity. Esquivel shows political allegory from Tita
being oppressed, Gertrudis being Rebellion, Pedro being selfish conformity . Esquivels
use of political allegory adds a negative tone to the narrative because it creates the
emotions and tension. The tone demonstrates the love they had for one another and the
hatred for one another. The rhetorical device of allegory is used to demonstrate the
relationship between characters. Also to show the moral lesson through different
perspective of characters. This effect is clear in Like Water for Chocolate because it
shows how Mama Elena was always controlling Tita. Making Tita become the
oppression because she is being controlled by Mama Elena . Overall, the moral lesson
in Esquivels novel is redemption. Redemption is when someone does a bad action and
a worse action comes back to them. In Like Water for Chocolate, Mama Elena was
always ordering around her daughters. Later on in the book Mama Elena dies, which
makes it her redemption point. Another example is Pedros love for Tita. Pedro thought
that marrying Tiats sister would bring them closer but that actually drifted them apart.
Tita is now marrying Dr. John Brown and Pedro does not like the idea. Redemption
plays out when he was being selfish. He decided to plan what was good for him not for
both Tita and Pedro. Now, he is losing the love of his life and there is nothing he can do
about it.