Like Water for Chocolate Movie

Laura Esquirel's, Like Water for Chocolate, is a modern day Romeo and Juliet filled with mouthwatering recipes. It has become a valued part of American literature. The novel became so popular that it was developed into a film, becoming a success in both America and Mexico. Alfonso Arau directs the film. After reading the novel and seeing the movie, I discovered several distinct differences between the two as well as some riveting similarities. The novel begins with the main character, Tita, being born on the kitchen table. "Tita had no need for the usual slap on the bottom, because she was already crying as she emerged; maybe that was because she knew that it would be her lot in life to be denied marriage …Tita was literally washed into this world on a great tide of tears that spilled over the edge of the table and flooded across the kitchen floor" (Esquirel 6). Although this is included in the film with tremendous accuracy, the movie begins with a different scene. The movie opens with Tita's father going to a bar to celebrate the birth of his daughter. On the way a friend informs him of his wife's, Mama Elena, affair with a man having Negro blood in his veins. The terrible news brings on a heart attack killing him instantly. In the book, this information is not given until the middle chapters. As the novel continues, another character is introduced, Gertrudis. Gertrudis, the older sister of Tita, is the first to rebel against her mother's wishes. Wanting to escape the securities of home, Gertrudis is overwhelmed by her lustful passions. A soldier, not too far away, Juan, inhales the aroma of her desire and heads her way. "The aroma from Gertrudis' body guided him…The woman desperately needed a man to quench the red-hot fire that was raging inside her…Gertrudis stopped running when she saw him riding toward her. Naked as she was, with her loosened hair falling to her waist, luminous, glowing with energy, she might have been an angel and devil in