February - Chabela Wedding Cake

"In a frenzy Tita beat, beat, beat the cake batter, as if she wanted to complete her martyrdom once and for all" (27-28).

"Mama Elena read the look on her face and flew into a rage, giving Tita a tremendous slap that left her rolling in the dirt by the rooster, which had died from the bungled operation" (27).

"I won't stand for disobedience, nor am I going to allow you to ruin your sister's wedding, with your acting like a victim... Don't ever let me catch you with a single tear or even a long face, do you hear?" - Mama Elena (27)

"The batter wouldn't thicken because Tita kept crying" (30).

"Today Tita was not as good a helper as usual. Not that she made any complaints---under her mother's watchful eye she didn't dare---but when Mama Elena left the kitchen to go to bed, Tita let out a long sigh" (29).

"Tita raised her eyes and looked at her. She felt like screaming, Yes, she was having problems, when they had chosen something to be neutered, they'd made a mistake, they should have chosen her. At least then there would be some justification for not allowing her to marry and giving Rosaura her place beside the man she loved" (27).

"When she had beaten barely a hundred eggs, the phenomenal energy required for the task began to have a bad effect on Tita's mood" (26).

Summary

"Tita stopped beating the cake and took the egg in her hand. The sound was quite clear, she could hear a baby chick peeping inside the shell" (28).

"Listen to me, Tita. You are trying my patience. I won't let you start acting crazy. THis is the first and the last time for your craziness! Or you will be sorry, I promise you that." - Mama Elena (29)

• Nacha and Tita prepare for the food for the wedding
• Mama Elena prohibits Tita from expressing any emotions
• Tita experiences hallucinations
• Tita emits her resentful emotions in the batter and meringue through her tears
• All those who eat the cake are harmed physically and emotionally, except for Tita

Like Water for Chocolate

February

Chabella Wedding Cake

By Chloefaith Casilag

"Tita's inability to express her emotions:

How her limitations affect her and others"

"Only one person escaped: the cake had no effect on Tita... she didn't notice that with every step the scenes of misery around her, pathetic and horrifying, were growing worse" (39-40).

"Tita stood as if in a trance, staring at the whiteness of the sheet, only for a few seconds, but long enough to cause a sort of blindness. Wherever she looked she saw the color white...But she showed nothing, and no one noticed her condition. She didn't want another rebuke from Mama Elena" (33).

"When she finished beating the meringue, it occurred to Nacha to lick some of the icing off her finger to see if Tita's tears had affected the flavor. No, the flavor did not seem to have been affected, yet without knowing why, Nacha was suddenly overcome with an intense longing" (35-36).

"...feeling that at any moment the white color might seize her mind, dragging along those snow-white images from her childhood, May-time images of being taken all in white, to offer white flowers to the Virgin. She entered the church in a row of girls all dressed in white and approached the altar, which was covered with white candles and flowers, illuminated by a heavenly white light streaming through the stained-glass window of the white church. Never had she entered that church, not once, without dreaming of the day she would enter it on the arm of a man. She had to clock out not just this out, but all the memories that caused her so much pain" (34).

"Her [Rosaura] only concern was to keep her wedding dress from being fouled by the degradations of her relatives and friends; but as she crossed the patio she slipped and every inch of her dress ended up coated with vomit" (41).

"Tita was never able to convince her [Mama Elena] that she had only added one extra ingredient to the cake, the tears she had shed while preparing it. Nor could Nacha testify on her behalf: on the day of the wedding, when Tita went looking for her, she found Nacha lying dead, her eyes wide open, medicinal leaves upon her temples, a picture of her fiance clutched in her hands" (41).

"...but I know how you feel, so stop crying, you're getting the meringue watery, and it won't set up properly---go now, go... Tita didn't explain the reason for those new tears, but now they had been shed, and they had changed the consistency of the meringue" (35).

"Tita didn't care for these comments at all. She was not meant for the loser's role. She would put on a triumphant expression" (37).

"The moment they took their first bite of the cake, everyone was flooded with a great wave of longing. Even Pedro, usually so proper, was having trouble holding back his tears. Mama Elena, who hadn't shed a single tear over her husband's death, was sobbing silently" (39).