Custom «Like Water for Chocolate and The House of the Spirits Suffer » Essay Paper Sample

Introduction

Humans have different methods of adjusting to pain and sorrow. Others tend to have happiness in sex, alcohol or partying while others find joy in writing, reading, drawing or singing. Whatever the case, man simply is liable to escape to a place of comfort where no one can hurt or harm them. On the contrary, there are occasions when the sanctuary we have run to might cause us great misery. Comfort rises from relationship and thus the chief aspect authors take into account when writing a story is relationship. Relationship mostly between characters either adds to or may take away from the tension within the novel. There is similar relationship in the novels Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and The House of The Spirits suffer by Isabel Allende that create tension between characters and other relationships balancing out that generate tension within the books.

It is from this perspective that the main characters from the two novels suffocate from their authoritative parents. The two characters in this case are Tita and Blanca. Despite suffocating from their parent's authority, they both have a motherly figure that balances emanating friction. It is therefore worth noting that for every negative aspect that build up from a hazardous relationship between characters, there is often a motherly affection. The affection here between the mother and the daughter neutralises the hazard. The neutrality creates affection and understanding to the character's life. Tita in Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and Clara in House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende represent the height of how the means of refuge causes hurt. In The House of the Spirits, Allende draws the reader into a world that captures the mind she asks "How much does a man live? Does he live for a thousand days or one only, for a week, or for several centuries?" (Allende, 1) Allende links fantasy and myth with realistic depiction of life and in most cases with politics.

A stab in the heart or death cannot be as harmful to a person as the news of a terrible incident in a person's place of refuge. For Tita since childhood, she has never experienced the feeling of melancholy while she is cooking in the kitchen. She knows that it is only while she is cooking when she experiences the delights of life. The kitchen provided all her joys within and brought her happiness. This feeling rapidly changed when she discovered that Pedro was going to marry Rosaura as she was busy preparing Christmas roles. This creates an ironic feeling because since the beginning of the story, kitchen has been known to be Tita's place of comfort. Her place of comfort causes her a great pain. Esquivel shows us that the things we love tend to hurt us the most. Tita emotionally dies at the kitchen. On the other hand, Allende's Clara is a clairvoyant who has telekinetic abilities. She is gifted with her abilities and uses them to move objects. For example, she uses it to move a candle stick but her mother sternly instructs her (Willingham, 56). She finds pleasure in using her powers and thus on her wedding night she caused the table to levitate. Despite her actions, magic was treated as an embarrassing social gaffe. Clara's mother has helped destroy her dreams and hopes of using the powers.

Isabel and Laura Esquivel use similar themes in the books The House of Spirits and Like Water for Chocolate, respectively. The themes here are loss of innocence and corruption which are shown after conflict or sex. There are several recurring acts of sex and conflict found in the book that represents the loss of innocence and unearths corruption in man. Different characters in the two stories lose their innocence and either become corrupt after witnessing or going through conflict and sometime sexual acts. These themes are constantly arising as expressed by specific characters. For example in the House of Spirits, Clara, Blanca, Esteban among other characters suffers some amount of loss of their innocence and they become corrupt. Esteban has his innocence stripped off him after conflict against Rosa (Allende, 35). The town people became violent when they sent poisoned brandy to Rosa. This action was a violent act against Severo and caused Esteban to lose contact with his naive attitude.

Conflict has played a critical role in the plot development of The House of The Spirits. Conflict weaves together actions and reactions of characters found in the book. Acts of conflict has connected the past with present lives of Trueba and Des Valle by linking them to their own life struggles. The family hate in this case is synonymous with expressed love and conflict only becomes part fate. Conflict in the book is crucial in the novel development because it would not have been the same without the sorrowful and bloody outline. On the other hand, Tita and Mama Elena in the book Like Water for Chocolate share central characteristics that define individual struggle and conflict between them. Mama Elena suffers from the pangs of lost love, this complements Tita's withdrawal (Willingham, 109). Mama Elena's loss of love turns her into a sinister and dominating mother. On the contrary, her daughter, while obeying the commands, outwardly engages in a lifelong struggle to be loved.

Conclusion

Authors develop relationship between characters that add to or take away from the tension within the novel. There is similar relationship in the novels Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and The House of The Spirits suffer by Isabel Allende. The relationship creates tension between characters and other relationships balancing out that generate tension within the books. Conflict through relationships weaves together actions and reactions of characters found in the book.