Like Water For Chocolate By Laura Esquivel: Literary Analysis

Isabel Allende and Laura Esquivel both utilize similar themes in the books The House of Spirits and Like Water for Chocolate, respectively. Loss of innocence and the corruption of man are a couple of the most significant themes found in both books. These themes are shown in the characters of the book after violence or sex and such things like that. Because there are recurring acts of violence and sex found within both The House of Spirits and Like Water for Chocolate, there are the themes of a loss of innocence and the corruption of man, since the characters in both stories lose their innocence and/or become corrupt after experiencing or witnessing violent and/or sexual actions. Throughout these books, these themes are constantly arising and are
Alba should be seen as the symbol of purity and guiltlessness at her early age. She is unfortunately confronted by Esteban Garcia, Esteban Trueba’s illegitimate grandson. Esteban Garcia is a seed of Trueba’s corruption, and is extremely corrupt himself. He finds that to get back at Trueba he must strip Alba of her innocence and corrupt her mind. His first act against her is when she is six and he molested her and his second act against her is when she is fourteen and he forces a kiss on her. He tries to strip her of innocence through sexual acts and although it works for a while, she begins to forget about them and regains her innocence. Later on Alba, who maintains her innocence by repressing her memories of Esteban Garcia loses it yet because of Esteban Garcia, but he does not directly commit the act. Alba has an affiliation to a political activist, her love Miguel, and she is associated with him and considered a political criminal. She is put in a military camp where she is constantly raped and beaten. She loses her innocence through acts of sex as well as violence. She never regains back her innocence, and in place of it sprouts a hatred for Esteban