Like Water For Chocolate by Laura EsquÍvel is a fictional novel published in 1989. The book was initially wrote in Spanish until translated into an English in a later date. The book was a hit and as so a film was created in 1992 under the same name ( Like Water For Chocolate).
In the first chapter ‘Preparation’, the initial two paragraphs influence the title of the film strongly. A lot of food is referenced which reflects to the title of the novel ‘Like Water For Chocolate’.
The opening paragraph is narrated through the use of first person. First person is when the section of writing is narrated by the protagonist/ character of the story. We know this because the protagonist narrates herself chopping onions and crying because of her eye’s sensitivity towards them ‘The trouble with crying over an onion is that once the chopping gets you started…’. The second paragraph however, is narrated in third person. Third person is when something is narrated not by the person in the situation themselves but by another character/ narrator. We know this is the case because the protagonist is describing Tita’s sensitivity to onions and her premature birth ‘Tita was so sensitive to onions… wailing got so violent that it brought on an early labour’.
The protagonist isn’t fully introduced at the beginning of the story as we are not given any other information other than which she is chopping onions and seems to be a very sensitive and emotional person ‘ ‘tears begin to well up, the next thing you know you just can’t stop.’. We do not learn the name of the narrator but we do learn that she has a great aunt by the name of ‘Tita’. We learn about Tita’s birth ( the protagonists’ great-aunt. ) and that she is also very sensitive to onions ‘Tita was so sensitive to onions’. We are also taught that Tita was born premature ‘so violent that it brought on an early labour’. We are also given a sort of cliff hanger in the opening. We are told that Tita is somewhat denied marriage? ‘Maybe that was because she knew then that it would be her lot in life to be denied marriage’. Due to the lack of information provided about this quotation we cannot simply understand what has/ had happened so we are intrigued to read on by this.
The initial situation created seems to be an innocent chopping of onions by the protagonist. But we are later told that Tita has a strong sensitivity towards onions, she is born prematurely and that she is later ‘denied marriage’.
In the first paragraph the atmosphere seems innocent but with a hint of negativity as the protagonist is described to cry because of onions and continue because of her negative thoughts. In the second paragraph the atmosphere is filled with curiosity and somewhat surprise that an early birth is described in the first chapter. The writer makes things straight to the point and gets straight into the action. Not much is explained as the author plunges you straight into the story without a real introduction of the protagonist and her great-nan ‘Tita’.
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