Tita’s mother forces her to bake the wedding cake, but as she does Tita begins to cry and somehow her sadness leaches into the cake batter. It is their wedding day where we see the full structure of the novel unfold.
She leaves older sister Rosauro open to marriage and then schemes behind the scenes, as a result and feeling like he has no realistic chance with Tita, he marries Rosauro because then at least he will be able to stay close to his real love. Tita and Pedro are in love and Tita’s mother knows this, so what happens next seems unusually cruel. Younger siblings are destined to be the caregiver in the family, remaining single and close to home to help their parents in their old age. Sadly, Mexican tradition dictates that older siblings marry to carry on the family name, make connections and ensure their financial future. Set in early 20th Century Mexico, we meet Tita, the youngest daughter of the family who is hopelessly in love with Pedro. Movie poster for the 1992 adaptation of the novel So, when I came to reading Like Water for Chocolate I was charmed straight away by the love story and the magical powers that Tita has, especially her ability to bake her emotions into her food. There was an audacity to it that I loved. Back in the 1990s we had to commit to storyline for a whole episode, just for a glimpse of side boob! I read all Fay Weldon’s back catalogue and became fascinated with the skilful way she mixed realistic settings with sudden supernatural, astrological or magical elements. How innocent we were that, without the internet, we were reduced to TV dramas for our fix of nudity – now we can see six naked people being visually assessed in their pods at any time of day. The Life and Loves of a She-Devil was dramatised at this point and was widely talked about in the media and at school – where any chance to see clips that would titillate were applauded. I think I became interested in this style of writing, from my favourite teenage author Fay Weldon.
For those who’ve never come across it before, or didn’t know they had, magic realism is a 20th Century style or genre where a novel’s story is mostly realistic but with magical elements that can sometimes feel out of place in the narrative. Recently I’ve begun to realise that one of the literary devices I love most is magic realism.
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