Nonconformity Amongst Characters

Nonconformity Amongst Characters

In House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende and Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, one common trait shared by both novels was nonconformity amongst characters. Throughout the course of both novels, nonconformity was expressed through both rebellion and forbidden love.

One of the two motifs in both stories is rebellion. In Like Water for Chocolate, Tita De La Garza, the protagonist, strives for love, freedom, and individuality, and Mama Elena, the chief antagonist, stands as the prime opposition to the fulfillment of these goals. This mother-daughter relationship is burdened with difficulty from its origin, when Tita is brought into the world prematurely after her father's sudden death. Mama Elena is the opposite of a nurturer, never forging any bond with Tita. In addition to this oppression caused by Mama Elena, Pedro (Tita’s true love) after being denied marriage to Tita by Mama Elena, he agrees to marry Rosaura; crushing Tita’s hopes and aspirations in the process. All of these unfortunate series of events lead Tita to, naturally, enter an uncompromising stage of rebellion and obduracy. In an act of desperation, she runs away, from her tyrannical mother, and proceeds to go live with Dr. John Brown. Throughout her stay at John's house, Tita remains silent; a minor form of rebellion against Dr. Brown. In House of the Spirits, one of the examples of rebellion is Blanca deliberately disobeying her father to go meet with Pedro Tercero, her lover. In addition, Pedro Tercero, being banned from Tres Marias, continues to trespass in order to continue seeing Blanca. He eventually pays for these meetings with three of his fingers, but he still does not give up Blanca.

Furthermore, another aspect of nonconformity is forbidden love. In Like Water for Chocolate, as with most fictional pairings, Tita and Mama Elena share a central attribute that characterizes both their individual struggles and their conflict with each other. The exposure that Mama Elena herself suffered the toils of lost love is an important thematic accompaniment to Tita's deprivation. The reaction of each woman to her predicament helps define their differing characters. While Mama Elena lets the loss of love turn her into a menacing and authoritarian mother, Tita, while obeying her mother's command superficially, engages in a lifelong struggle for love. In addition, to add to the quandary, Tita is prohibited by family tradition from marrying so that she will be open to take care of her mother later in life. Mama Elena is the primary source of Tita's anguish. Her stern character instigates fear in all three of her daughters. She forbids Tita from ever seeing her true love, Pedro. In addition, she does the same for Pedro; she forbids him from seeing Tita and denies marriage to Tita. Pedro was distraught upon hearing this from Mama Elena but eventually agrees to marry Rosaura, which naturally breaks Tita’s heart. But nevertheless, Pedro asserts his love for Tita throughout the course of the story and pursues her secretly. Later in the story, the death of Mama Elena is encountered. Despite the never-ending cruelty that she endured at the hands of Mama Elena, Tita is moved to great mourning by her mother's passing away. Further, when dressing the deceased cadaver of Mama Elena for the wake, Tita discovers a set of keys that unlock a container of love letters. The letters make known that as an adolescent woman; Mama Elena was profoundly in love with a mulatto man. Her parents prohibited this