PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
THE REACTIONS OF TITA AGAINST HER MOTHER’S RULES
IN LAURA ESQUIVEL’S
LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
Caroline Guntoro
Student number : 124214029
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
2016
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
I
A Sarjana Sastra Undergradute Thesis
THE REACTIONS OF TITA AGAINST HER IVIOTHER"S RULES
IN LAURA ESQUIVEL'S
LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE
By
CAROLINE GUNTORO
Student Number: 124214029
Defended before the Board of Examiners
on August 24, 2016
and Declared Acceptable
BOARD OF EXAMINERS
Name
Signature
Chairperson
: Dr. F.X. Siswadi, M.A.
Secretary
: A.B. Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D.
Member 1
: Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd, M.Hum.
Member 2
: Drs. Hinnawan Wijanarka. M.Hum.
Member 3
: Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum.
Yogyakarta, August 31,2016
Faculty of Letters
Sanata Dharma University
Dr. P. Ari Subagyo., M.Hum
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Praise and great gratitude to Almighty God is extended by the writer to the
Lord Jesus Christ My Savior for His blessings to help the writer to complete this thesis
on time. This thesis is arranged to fulfill the requirements for obtaining the degree of
Sarjana Sastra in English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
On this occasion, the writer would like to thank to all of those who have given
help and guidance so that this thesis can be fnished. A special thank is due to her thesis
advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M. Hum, for his guidance and direction as well
as the encouragement that are very useful and helpful for the writing of this thesis. A
special thank is also for her co-advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, M. Hum, for her
guidance and direction that are very helpful for the writing of this thesis. The writer
thank to Oktavianus Vendi Ferdian Yulianto, S.Pd, her English private teacher, for his
comment and guidance to help the writer in finishing this thesis.
The writer thanks to her lovely mom Jeny Guntoro, the best mom ever in this
world, and her lovely dad R. Guntoro who always pray, encourage, give love and
compassion, support the writer all the time and always give smile and happiness in the
writer’s life. The writer can survive and face everything until today just because of
them. The writer also want to thank to all of the lecturers in English Letters Department
for teaching the writer in this great campus, and the writer also wants to thank to her
wonderful and greatest friends in class A 2012 who always support her.
Finally, the writer would like to say thank you so much indeed for all for those
who she can not mentions the names. Hopefully this thesis can be useful for us.
Caroline Guntoro.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................
APPROVAL PAGE .......................................................................................
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ..................................................................................
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI
KARYA ILMIAH .............................................................................................
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .............................................................
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...........................................................................
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...............................................................................
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................
ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................
iv
v
vi
vii
viii
ix
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCION ....................................................................
A. Background of the Study .................................................................
B. Problem Formulation .......................................................................
C. Objectives of the Study ...................................................................
D. Definition of Terms .........................................................................
1
1
6
6
7
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE .............................................
A. Review of Related Studies ..............................................................
B. Review of Related Theories. ...........................................................
1. Theory of Characterization ..........................................................
2. Theory of Repression ..................................................................
3. Two Levels of Mental Life ..........................................................
4. Id, Ego, Superego ........................................................................
C. Theoretical Framework ...................................................................
8
8
11
12
14
15
16
18
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY. ............................................................
A. Object of the Study ..........................................................................
B. Approach of the Study .....................................................................
C. Method of the Study ........................................................................
21
21
22
24
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS. .........................................................................
A. The Characteristics of Tita ..............................................................
B. Mama Elena’s Rules ........................................................................
C. The Reactions of Tita against Her Mother’s Rules .........................
26
27
34
39
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .....................................................................
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................
APPENDIX : Summary of Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate ........
49
54
56
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ABSTRACT
GUNTORO, CAROLINE. The Reactions of Tita against Her Mother’s Rules in
Laura Esquivel’s Like Water For Chocolate. Yogyakarta: Department of English
Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University. 2016
Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate tells about a fifteen-year-old girl
named Tita De La Garza, who spends most of her entire life to take care of her mother
and abandon her love to a man named Pedro Muzquiz. It happens because of her
mother’s rule of marriage that the youngest daughter must not marry but take care of
her mother until the day she dies. She realizes that her mother’s rules make she is sick.
Therefore, she reacts against her mother’s rules.
This thesis focuses on Tita’s reactions against her mother’s rules. In this thesis,
there are three questions related to the topic. The first question is How are the
characteristics of Tita described in the novel Like Water for Chocolate. The second
question is how are the mother’s rules described, and the third question is about how
Tita’s reactions against her mother’s rules.
In analyzing those three questions, the writer conducts library research. The
primary source was the novel by Laura Esquivel titled Like Water for Chocolate. The
secondary sources include the e-books from www.jstor.org, and other sources such as
articles and undergraduate thesis which are related to this study. This thesis uses
psychoanalytic approach, because the writer wants to show the interaction of
unconscious and conscious mind of Tita that the unconscious mind of Tita is her
mother’s rule of marriage and the other rules which are not related to marriage, which
are then impulses out of consciouness through her four reactions to break her mother’s
rules.
The findings of this thesis are as follows: First, Tita De la Garza, as the
youngest daughter, has five characteristics that is described in the novel Like Water
for Chocolate. The characteristics of Tita one as follows: first, she is submissive for
the authority. Second, she is patient. Third, she is caring. Fourth, she is faithful for
Pedro. Fifth, she is creative person. At the beginning, Tita is submissive for the
authority of her mother, but her mother’s rules, which are her mother’s rule of marriage
and the other rules which are not related to the rule of marriage, makes Tita react
against it. Therefore, she reacts to break her mother’s rules through her four reactions.
Tita’s reactions against her mother’s rules are: first, she stands up to her mother by
breaking her mother’s rule of marriage that she is expected to follow by saying that
she feels sick of obeying her mother’s rules. Second, she shows her hatred for her
mother by eventually refusing to stay with her mother again, and also she hopes her
mother died. Third, she breaks her mother’s rule of marriage by making a plan to get
married to Dr. John. Fourth, she declares for her mother that she wants to be free from
Mama Elena.
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ABSTRAK
GUNTORO, CAROLINE. The Reactions of Tita Against Her Mother’s Rules in
Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra
Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2016.
Like Water for Chocolate menceritakan tentang seorang gadis yang berumur
15 tahun bernama Tita De la Garza yang menghabiskan sebagian besar seluruh
hidupnya untuk merawat ibunya dan meninggalkan cintanya dengan seorang pria
bernama Pedro. Hal ini terjadi karena penegakan aturan ibunya tentang pernikahan
bahwa sebagai putri bungsu tidak harus menikah tapi merawat ibunya sampai ibunya
meninggal. Dia menyadari bahwa aturan-aturan ibunya membuat dia sakit. Oleh
karena itu, dia bereaksi melawan aturan ibunya tersebut.
Tesis ini fokus pada reaksi Tita terhadap aturan-aturan ibunya. Dalam tesis ini,
ada tiga pertanyaan yang terkait dengan topik. Pertanyaan pertama adalah bagaimana
karakter Tita digambarkan dalam novel. Pertanyaan kedua adalah bagaimana aturanaturan ibunya digambarkan, dan pertanyaan ketiga adalah bagaimana reaksi Tita
melawan aturan-aturan ibunya.
Dalam menganalisa ketiga pertanyaan tersebut, penulis melakukan studi
pustaka. Sumber utama adalah novel Laura Esquivel berjudul Like Water for
Chocolate. Sumber pendukung adalah buku elektronik yang diambil dari
www.jstor.org, dan sumber lainnya seperti artikel dan skripsi yang berhubungan
dengan penelitian ini. Tesis ini menggunakan pendekatan psikoanalisis, karena penulis
ingin menunjukkan interaksi antara pikiran tidak sadar and sadar Tita bahwa pikiran
tidak sadar Tita adalah peraturan ibunya tentang pernikahan dan peraturan lainnya
yang tidak berhubungan dengan pernikahan, yang kemudian didorong keluar secara
sadar melalui empat tindakan untuk melanggar aturan-aturan ibunya.
Temuan penelitian ini adalah sebagai berikut: Pertama, Tita De la Garza,
sebagai putri bungsu, memiliki kelima karakteristik yang dijelaskan dalam novel Like
Water for Chocolate. Karakteristik Tita sebagai berikut: pertama, dia tunduk untuk
otoritas ibunya. Kedua, dia sabar. Ketiga, dia peduli. Keempat, dia setia. Kelima, dia
kreatif. Pada awalnya, Tita tunduk pada otoritas ibunya, tetapi aturan ibunya tentang
pernikahan dan peraturan lainnya membuat Tita bereaksi terhadap hal itu. Oleh karena
itu, dia bereaksi untuk melanggar peraturan-peraturan ibunya melalui empat
tindakannya. Reaksi Tita melawan aturan-aturan ibunya adalah: pertama, ia melanggar
aturan ibunya tentang pernikahan yang ia diharapkan untuk mengikuti dengan
mengatakan bahwa dia merasa sakit mematuhi aturan ibunya. Kedua, dia menunjukkan
kebenciannya kepada ibunya dengan menolak untuk tinggal dengan ibunya lagi dan
juga ia berharap ibunya meninggal. Ketiga, dia melanggar aturan ibunya tentang
pernikahan dengan membuat rencana pernikahan dengan Dr. John. Keempat, dia
menyatakan kepada ibunya bahwa dia ingin bebas dari ibunya.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A.
Background of the Study
Throughout her childhood, Tita is forced to deal with the controlling and
demanding of her mother. As she grow older, her independence was taken by her
overpowering mother. She become a servant of her mother, only to fulfil her
mother’s needs, such as preparing the bath, and becoming a cook in the family.
Tita De la Garza become the cook of her family, because she is closely
connected with food preparation. Tita De la Garza gets her great cooking skills from
Nacha, who might only be a cook and nanny to the De la Garza family, but she
plays a much larger role as a mother for Tita. Through all the years, Tita De la Garza
built a strong relationship with the food that she prepared. Her closeness to the food
can be seen from the first scene in the novel, “Tita made her entrance into this world,
prematurely, right there on the kitchen table amid the smells of simmering noodle
soup, thyme, bay leaves, and cilantro, steamed milk, garlic, and, of course, onion”.
This shows Tita De la Garza’s connection to food which grows throughout the book.
Tita De la Garza is also displayed as a very sad and lonely character throughout the
novel as her love towards Pedro was forbidden by her mother because of her
mother’s rule of marriage.
In Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate, Mama Elena gave a rule of
marriage for Tita that, as the youngest daughter, she has to take care of her mother
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until the day her mother died. Therefore, she is not allowed to marry with her
beloved man, Pedro Muzquiz. Besides, Mama Elena also gives the other rules for
Tita. Therefore, she reacts against her mother’s rule by breaking her mother’s rules
in four actions, those are: first, she stands up to her mother to say that she feels sick
of obeying her mother’s rule. Second, she shows her hatred for her mother by
eventually refusing to stay with her mother again and also she hopes her mother
died. Third, she breaks her mother’s rule of marriage by making a plan to get
married to Dr. John Brown. Fourth, she declares for her mother that she wants to
be free from Mama Elena. Her mother’s rule of marriage imposes the future of Tita
that she is supposed to follow and also it is a kind of an emotional imprisonment
for Tita because she can not marry nor have kids until her mother passes away.
Based on Merriam-Webster Online, reaction is an action performed or a
feeling experienced in response to a situation or event. It is also said that reaction
is an action or attitude that shows disagreement with or disapproval of someone or
something (merriam-webster.com, 2016). The reaction is taken by Tita De la Garza,
who shows her reaction against her mother’s rules.
Laura Esquivel is the author of Like Water for Chocolate, an imaginative and
compelling combination of novel and cookbook, as well as other books. Like Water
for Chocolate is a novel in monthly installments, with recipes, romances, and home
remedies. It is told in twelve monthly installments, with a pertinent traditional
recipe preceding each chapter. The novel of Like Water for Chocolate had been
released in Mexico a year earlier. After the release of the film version in 1992, Like
Water for Chocolate became internationally known and loved (Biography.com).
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In her novel Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel wants to explain that
the recipe that is made in each chapter is selected based on what happened in the
chapter. For example, when Tita De la Garza prepared turkey mole with almonds
and sesame seeds for Roberto’s baptism. It is shown in the novel Like Water for
Chocolate, “Tita took care to feed the turkeys properly, she wanted the feast to go
well, for the ranch was celebrating an important event: the baptism of her nephew,
the first son of Pedro and Rosaura.”
Another example is, when Chencha, the maid, makes an ox-tail soup to cure
what no medicines has been able to cure Tita’s sickness. It is shown in the novel of
Like Water for Chocolate, “When he realized it was just Tita’s tears, John blessed
Chencha and her ox-tail soup for having accomplished what none of his medicines
had been able to do-making Tita weep.” The kind of dishes for marriage is also
found in the novel. It is shown when Tita prepares a wedding cake with icing and a
certain filling for Rosaura and Pedro’s wedding, and also for the wedding of
Esperanza, her great-niece with Alex, Dr. John Brown’s son.
Laura Esquivel incorporates recipes into the novel in order to tell Tita De la
Garza’s life story. Esquivel believes that the recipes are taught not only to be
followed but also to know the different qualities of the ingredients that go into each
dish and there are more than just tangible ingredients: there is something more to
the recipes that is intangible. These intangible ingredients consist of love, patience,
sorrow, and hate all of which are kinds of emotion that Tita felt throughout the
novel. For example, when Tita prepares the wedding cake for Rosaura’s wedding.
The wedding cake has intangible ingredient, that is Tita’s tears which described her
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sorrow towards the wedding between her beloved man, Pedro and Rosaura, her
sister. The other example is when Tita makes a quail in rose petal sauce, which
describes her love and passion towards Pedro.
In Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate, Tita De la Garza becomes the
cook of her family. This occurs because she is closely connected with food
preparation. Tita De la Garza gets her great cooking skills from Nacha, who might
only be a cook and nanny to the De la Garza family, but she plays a much larger
role as a mother for Tita. Through all the years, Tita De la Garza built a strong
relationship with the food that she prepared. Her closeness to the food can be seen
from the first scene in the novel, “Tita made her entrance into this world,
prematurely, right there on the kitchen table amid the smells of simmering noodle
soup, thyme, bay leaves, and cilantro, steamed milk, garlic, and, of course, onion”.
This shows Tita De la Garza’s connection to food which grows throughout the book.
Tita De la Garza is also displayed as a very sad and lonely character throughout the
novel as her love towards Pedro was forbidden by her mother because of her
mother’s rule of marriage.
According to nine techniques of characterization that is proposed by M.J.
Murphy in his book Understanding Unseen, the five characteristics of Tita can be
characterized through speech, conversation of others, her reactions and direct
comment. Besides, those five characteristics of Tita, the character of Tita De la
Garza can also be characterized through conversation of others and her past life.
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In this thesis, the writer focuses on the character of Tita De la Garza because
Tita De la Garza becomes a victim of her mother’s rules, whose love towards her
beloved man, Pedro Muzquiz, is forbidden by her mother. Therefore, the writer uses
psychoanalytic approach in order to show the interaction between the conscious and
unconscious elements in Tita’s mind. The unconscious elements of Tita is her
repressions, such as her mother’s rule of marriage and the other rules that are not
related to the rule of marriage, which is always kept in her unconscious mind,
which then impulses out of consciousness through her four reactions to break her
mother’s rules.
Bressler (1998:148) states psychoanalytic literary criticism refers to literary
criticism which, in method, concept, theory, or form, is influenced by the tradition
of psychoanalysis began by Sigmund Freud. Freud in Barry (2002:96) adds that
psychoanalysis itself is a form of therapy which aims to cure mental disorders ‘by
investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind’,
as the Concise Oxford Dictionary puts it.
The reasons why the writer chooses this topic, are because, first, the writer
wants to show the denaturing of Tita from submissive for the authority of her
mother becomes react to break her mother’s rule. Second, the writer wants to show
Tita’s repressions, such as her mother’s rule of marriage and other rules that are not
related to the rule of marriage, which Tita always keep it in her unconscious mind.
Third, the writer wants to explain on how Tita reacts to break her mother’s rules
through her four reactions.
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B. Problem Formulation
To analyze the novel, the writer proposed three questions, those are:
1.
How are the characteristics of Tita described in the novel Like
Water for Chocolate?
2.
How are the mother’s rules described in the novel?
3.
How does Tita react against her mother’s rules?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objective of the study is, firstly, the writer wants to find out how Tita’s
characteristics are described in the novel entitled Like Water for Chocolate, by
using the theory of nine techniques of characterization that is proposed by M.J.
Murphy in Understanding Unseen. Secondly, the writer also wants to show her
mother’s rules which can be categorized as Tita’s repressions that Tita always
keep it in her unconscious, by using the theory of repression. Thirdly, the writer
also wants to show Tita’s reactions against her mother’s rules through her four
reactions.
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D. Definition of Term
To avoid misunderstanding in this study, there are three important terms that
is needed to be defined. The definition of the three important terms are taken from
Merriam-Webster Online.
The one term is reaction. Based on Merriam-Webster Online, reaction is an
action or attitude that shows disagreement with or disapproval of someone or
something. The other meaning of reaction is doing something in opposition to
another way it that you do not like. (www.merriam-webster.com, 2016).
The second term is rule. Rule is an accepted principle or instruction that states
the way things are or should be done, and tells you what you are allowed or are not
allowed to do (www.merriam-webster.com, 2016). The third term is marriage.
Marriage is the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or
wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law
(www.merriam-webster.com, 2016).
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A.
Review of Related Studies
The first related study is taken from Maria Elena de Valdes, in an article in
World Literature Today. This article argues that the novel reveals how a woman’s
culture can be created and maintained “within the social prison of marriage.” Tita
De la Garza, the novel’s central character, makes her entrance into the world in her
mother’s kitchen, and this female realm becomes both a creative retreat and prison
for her. The kitchen also, however, becomes a site of oppression when Tita’s mother
forbids her to marry the man she loves and forces her into the role of family cook.
The novel’s public and private realms merge under the symbol of rebellion. As
Pancho Villa’s revolutionary forces clash with the oppressive Mexican regime, Tita
wages her own battle against her mother’s dictates (2011: 55).
The second related study is from Rosa Fernandez-Levin, Ritual & Sacred
Space in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate.
This study analyzes the
metaphors and symbolism found in Like Water for Chocolate and how Tita, the
novel’s protagonist transforms the drudgery of the kitchen into a magical
experience.
Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate resonates with metaphors that
cannot be extricated from Mexican culture, its social conventions and myths.
The kitchen and the recipes protagonist concocts act as a symbolic and
linguistic narrative catalyst that not only enables the character’s process of
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empowerment but also points to specific social and cultural dilemmas. Tita’s
recipe function as the symbolic re-enactment of a necessary ritual that
facilitates not only the protagonist’s transformation, but also the
metamorphosis of her kitchen into a “sacred space”, a propitious narrative
sphere where spatial and chronological constraints are eliminated (1996:106)
Through all the years that Tita and Nacha spent in the kitchen, Tita was
building a strong relationship with the food she prepared. This was more of an
experience than anything else was for Tita. Susan Lucas Dobrian goes on to further
explain this idea in her article “Romancing the Cook: Parodic Consumption of
Popular Romance Myths in Como agua para chocolate. This study describes the
meal preparation:
‘The kitchen becomes a veritable reservoir of creative and magical events, in
which the cook who possesses this talent becomes artist, healer, and lover.
Culinary activity involves not just the combination of prescribed ingredients,
but something personal and creative emanating from the cook, a magical
quality which transforms the food and grants its powerful properties that go
beyond physical satisfaction to provide spiritual nourishment as well.
(1996:60).
The fourth related study is from Carole Counihan in Food, Feelings, and
Film: Women’s Power in Like Water for Chocolate. This study addresses that
cooking can transform women from sites of oppression into sources of power.
Food is a central focus and symbol in this film. Food is particularly important
in the film as a voice for women and their abundant emotions and there are
many scenes of cooking and eating. The meaning of cooking centers on
women’s oft-ignored experiences in the domestic sphere, especially in the
kitchen. Although the protagonist Tita is condemned by her mother to a life
of servitude, and her role as cook marks her subordinate status in the family,
she is able to overcome her subjugation by injecting powerful emotions into
her culinary creations which she uses to nurture good and destroy evil. In the
movie, when Tita’s niece, the film’s narrator, chopping an onion and crying
acts that mark her connection to Tita who also always cried when slicing
onions. This scene encapsulates the film’s major themes that food is a voice
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for women, and food is an important repository of female traditions that are
critical to cultural survival (2015:202-204).
The fifth related study is Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim
Malang; Undergraduate Thesis written by Vani Laila Fitriani entitled Women’s
Rebellion against the Patriarchal System in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. This
undergraduate thesis focused on the rebellion of Edna Pontellier who is portrayed
as a woman who aware to her sexual desire against the patriarchal system. Her
analysis points out that Edna has been depressed with her marriage because of her
husband’s superiority that treats her as an inferior and worthless creature. Refusing
to be treated like that, Edna struggles hard to fight the patriarchal system for the
hope of freedom and liberty as a woman by changing her own character from a
submissive and weak creature to be someone with a strong and independent nature.
Her rebellions that reflect the element of feminist proves that she is determinant and
persistent with her goals that she gradually gains something.
The difference between those related study are the first and second related
study focuses on the kitchen that soon becomes the site of repression for Tita as the
main protagonist in the novel. While the third related study is concerning on the
creativity of the cook to prepare food. In addition, the fourth related study is
concerning a food that becomes as the women’s voice for gain a source of power.
Furthermore, the five related study uses feminism approach. However, the writer
uses psychoanalytic approach that focuses on the interaction between unconscious
and conscious mind of Tita that the unconscious mind of Tita are impulses out of
consciousness through her four reactions of Tita against her mother’s rules.
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On the other hand, my thesis is different than those fifth related studies. In
this study, the writer wants to show the repressions (unconscious mind) of Tita De
la Garza or the personal unconscious mind of Tita, which then impulses out of
consciouness through her four reactions in order to break her mother’s rules.
However, the writer also explain a little about the kitchen in which it becomes the
site Tita’s repression, because as Tita De la Garza grows older, she has a new role,
in which she has to be the cook of her family. She does it only to fulfill her mother’s
needs, and through working in the kitchen, based on the theory of nine techniques
of characterization of M.J. Murphy, the character of Tita De la Garza can be
characterized through her mannerism.
B.
Review of Related Theories
1.
Theory of Characterization
In order to interpret the characters that are presented in the novel, the reader
can interpret character’s moral and traits through what they say and what they do.
This method is called characterization. To be more specific, Murphy (1972:161173) gives more detailed nine techniques of characterization that used by the author
to describe the characters of a story.
a.
Personal Description
The author uses this method particularly to give the description of face, body, and
other physical appearances.
b.
Character as seen by another
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The author can describe a character through the eyes and opinions of the comments
by another character.
c.
Speech
The author gives the readers some clues to a person’s character in the book through
what the character says. Whenever a character is in conversation with another and
whenever a character gives such opinions, a character is giving the readers some
clues to its character’s personality.
d.
Past life
The author can describe a character from the character’s past life to give clues to
events that have helped to shape a person’s character.
e.
Conversation of others
The author can describe a character through the things other people say about the
character.
f.
Reactions
The author can describe a character through how the character reacts toward various
situations and events.
g.
Direct comment
The author can describe or comment on a character directly.
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13
h.
Thoughts
The author can describe a character through direct knowledge of what a person is
thinking about.
i.
Mannerism
The author can describe a person’s way of behaving and habits which may also tell
the readers something about character.
2.
Theory of Repression
Jess Feist and Gregory J. Feist (2008:35) states that repression is the most
basic defense mechanism, because it is involved in each of the others. Whenever
the ego is threatened by undesirable id impulses, it protects itself by repressing those
impulses; that is, it forces threatening feelings into the unconscious. In many cases
the repression is then perpetuated for a lifetime. For example, a young girl may
permanently repress her hostility for a younger sister because her hateful feelings
create too much anxiety.
In addition, according to Chris Clause in his article titled Freudian
Repression:Definition & Overview, repression refers to the ego's efforts to
subconsciously keep anxious thoughts and impulses out of consciousness and
maintain them in the subconscious mind, where they can be buried and hidden.
Freud in Barry (2002: 96-97). defines that the idea of repression linked with
“forgetting” or ignoring of unresolved conflicts, unadmitted desires, or traumatic
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14
past events, so that they are forced out of conscious awareness and into the realm
of the unconscious.
3.
Two Levels of Mental Life
To Freud, mental life is divided into two levels, the unconscious and the
conscious. The unconscious contains all those drives, urges, or instincts that are
beyond our awareness but that nevertheless motivate most of our words, feelings,
and actions. For Freud, the unconscious is the storehouse of disguised truths and
desires that want to be revealed in and through the conscious. (Bressler, 1998:149).
The unconscious processes often enter into consciousness but only after being
disguised or distorted. Punishment and suppression often create feelings of anxiety,
and the anxiety in turn stimulates repression, that is, the forcing of unwanted,
anxiety-ridden experiences into the unconscious as a defense against the pain of
that anxiety (Freud, 2008:24).
Meanwhile, the conscious which plays a relatively minor role in
psychoanalytic theory, can be defined as those mental elements in awareness at any
given point in time. It is the only level of mental life directly available to us. The
conscious, Freud argued, perceives and records external reality and is the reasoning
part of the mind (Bressler:1998:149).
On the other hand, unlike Freud, however, Carl Jung (1951: p.103) strongly
asserted that the lesser importance of his theory are the conscious and the personal
unconscious. According to Jung, conscious images are those that are sensed by the
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15
ego, whereas unconscious elements have no relationship with the ego. Jung’s notion
of the ego is more restrictive than Freud’s. Jung saw the ego as the center of
consciousness, but not the core of personality. Ego is not the whole personality, but
must be completed by the more comprehensive self, the center of personality that
is largely unconscious. Thus, consciousness plays a relatively minor role in
analytical psychology, and an overemphasis on expanding one’s conscious psyche
can lead to psychological imbalance.
The personal unconscious embraces all repressed, forgotten, or subliminally
perceived experiences of one particular individual. It contains repressed infantile
memories and impulses, forgotten events, and experiences originally perceived
below the threshold of our consciousness. Our personal unconscious is formed by
our individual experiences and is therefore unique to each of us (Jung, 1951: p.
104).
4.
Id, Ego, Superego
Bressler states that the irrational, instinctual, unknown and unconscious part
of the psyche Freud calls the id. Containing our secret desires, our darkest wishes,
and our most intense fears, the id wishes only to fulfill the urges of the pleasure
principle. In addition, it houses the libido, the source of all our psychosexual desires
and all our psychic energy. (Bressler, 1998:150).
The second part of the psyche, Freud calls the ego, the rational, logical,
waking part of the mind, although much of its activities remain in the unconscious.
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16
Whereas the id operates according to the pleasure principle, the ego operates in
harmony with the reality principle. It is the ego’s job to regulate the instinctual
desires of the id and to allow these desires to be released in some nondestructive
way. (Bressler, 1998: 150).
Meanwhile, Freud in Feist-Feist states that the ego is the only region of the
mind in contact with reality. It grows out of the id during infancy and becomes a
person’s sole source of communication with the external world. It is governed by
the reality principle, which it tries to substitute for the pleasure principle of the id.
As the sole region of the mind in contact with the external world, the ego becomes
the decision-making or executive branch of personality. For instance, a woman’s
ego may consciously motivate her to choose excessively neat, well-tailored clothes
because she feels comfortable when well dressed. At the same time, she may be
only dimly (i.e., preconsciously) aware of previous experiences of being rewarded
for choosing nice clothes. In addition, she may be unconsciously motivated to be
excessively neat and orderly due to early childhood experiences of toilet training.
(Freud:1923:29).
Meanwhile, Hall in his book A Primer of Freudian Psychology states that
when the id imagines some food because the individual is hungry, the ego tries to
motivate the individual to get some food to eat. Hall gives an example that when
the individual is hungry, he will think of where he can find the food. (Hall,
1954:31).
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17
The third part of the psyche, the superego. The superego acts as an internal
censor, causing us to make moral judgments in light of social pressures. In contrast
to the id, the superego operates acccording to the morality principle and serves
primarily to protect society and us from the id. Representing all of society’s moral
restrictions, the superego serves as a filtering agent, suppressing the desires and
instincts forbidden by society and thrusting them back into the uncounscious.
Overall, the superego manifests itself through punishment. If allowed to operate
at its own discretion, the superego will create an unconscious sense of guilt and
fear. (Bressler, 1998:151).
In Freudian psychology, the superego represents the moral and ideal aspects
of personality and is guided by the moralistic and idealistic principles as opposed
to the pleasure principle of the id and the realistic principle of the ego. The
superego differs from the ego in one important respect—it has no contact with the
outside world and therefore is unrealistic in its demands for perfection. The
superego has two subsystems, the conscience and the ego-ideal. The conscience
results from experiences with punishments for improper behavior and tells us what
we should not do, whereas the ego-ideal develops from experiences with rewards
for proper behavior and tells us what we should do. (Freud, 1923:30).
C. Theoretical Framework
The theory of nine techniques of characterization from M.J. Murphy is used
to answer the first research questions. Based on the theory, the first characteristic
of Tita is she is submissive for the authority of her mother. The characteristics of
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18
Tita can be characterized through her speech and also her reactions towards the
agreement of Mama Elena of Pedro and Rosaura’s wedding. The second
characteristic is she is caring. It can be characterized through her conversation of
others and her speech. The third characteristics is she is patient. It can be
characterized through her speech and her reaction. The fourth characteristic is she
is faithful to Pedro. It can be characterized through direct comment and her
reactions that she still loves Pedro. The five characteristics, which is she is creative,
can be characterized through direct comment.
Besides those five characteristics of Tita, the character of Tita can also be
characterized through her past life that Tita De La Garza’s life story is told by her
great-niece, who is the narrator of the story, and also through conversations of
others that Tita always crying when she chopped onions. In addition, the third rules
which are not related to the rule of marriage, especially the first rules, when she
becomes the cook of her family throughout her childhood, shows that the character
of Tita can be characterized through character as seen by another that when Tita
becomes a cook of her family, it can show that the sixth sense of Tita was developed
about everything concerning food, and also through her mannerism that her habit
activity always work in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, the character of Tita can also be characterized through her
reactions against her mother’s rules, which are: first, she stands up to her mother
to say that she feels sick of obeying her mother. Second, she shows her hatred to
her mother by refusing to stay with her mother again and also hopes her mother
died. Third, she breaks her mother’s rule by making a plan to get married to Dr.
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19
John Brown. Fourth, she declares to her mother that she wants to be free from Mama
Elena.
The psychoanalytic approach is always related to the two levels of mental life.
The theory of the two levels of mental life is used as the additional data in order to
see the interaction of unconscious and conscious mind of Tita. The unconscious
mind of Tita is her mother’s rules, which are her mother’s rule of marriage and the
third rules which are not related to the rule of marriage. Therefore, the unconscious
mind of Tita impulses out of consciousness through her four reactions in order to
break her mother’s rules.
The theory of repression is used to answer the second research questions.
According to Freud in Barry (2002:96), the idea of repression is linked with the
‘forgetting’ or ignoring of unresolved conflicts, unadmitted desires, or traumatic
past events, so that they are forced out of conscious awareness and into the realm
of the unconscious. In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Mama Elena is ignoring
Tita’s unadmitted desire to get married to her beloved man, Pedro Muzquiz by
giving a rule of marriage. In addition, Mama Elena also gives the other rules that
are not related to the rule of marriage, which come into the unconscious mind of
Tita.
In addition, according to
Freudian Repression Definition & Overview,
repression refers to subconsciously keep anxious thoughts and impulses out of
consciousness. In the novel, when Tita heard that Pedro and his family were move
to San Antonio, it made her feels anxiety that she cannot take care of her nephew
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
20
anymore. Next day, when Tita heard that her nephew was died in San Antonio, it
makes Tita impulses her repressions out of consciousness, through her four
reactions to break her mother’s rules.
Meanwhile, the tripartite model the id, ego, and superego is the additional
data. The aim of the writer is to explain the id, ego, and superego clearly. The id is
applied as the unconscious mind of Tita, which describes the desire (pleasure) of
Tita to get married to Pedro. Meanwhile, Tita’s love towards Pedro was forbidden
by her mother through her mother’s rule of marriage, which described as the
superego, because it is suppressing the id (desire) of Tita to get married to Pedro.
However, Tita’s love towards Pedro is never fade, so Tita makes effors to be with
Pedro forever, even though it is forbidden by her mother, through her four reactions
to break her mother’s rules, which described as the ego. The ego is applied when
Tita impulses out her unconscious into consciousness, through her four reactions in
order to break her mother’s rules. Finally, from that efforts that Tita has done, she
can reach her id (desire) to be with Pedro successfully.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A.
Object of the Study
Like Water for Chocolate is a novel in monthly installments, with recipes,
romances, and home remedies. It is told in twelve monthly installments, with a
pertinent traditional recipe preceding each chapter. The novel of Like Water for
Chocolate had been released in Mexico a year earlier. After the release of the film
version in 1992, Like Water for Chocolate became internationally known and loved
(Biography.com).
Laura Esquivel is the author of Like Water for Chocolate, an imaginative and
compelling combination of novel and cookbook, as well as other books. Like Water
for Chocolate was published by Anchor Books in November 1995. This novel was
translated by Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen. The structure of Like
Water For Chocolate is wholly dependent on these recipes, as the main episodes of
each chapter generally involve the preparation or consumption of the dishes that
these recipes yield. The details of additional secondary recipes are woven
throughout the narrative.
Laura Esquivel's Like Water For Chocolate tells the story of a fifteen-yearold girl named Tita De La Garza, who spend most of her entire life to take care of
her mother and abandon her love to a man named Pedro, it happens because of her
21
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22
mother's upholding of the family tradition that the youngest daughter must not
marry but she must take care of her mother until the day she dies.
B.
Approach of the Study
According to Bressler in Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and
Practice Second Edition (1998:148), psychoanalytic literary criticism refers to
literary criticism which, in method, concept, theory, or form, is influenced by the
tradition of psychoanalysis began by Sigmund Freud. Bressler in his book also
states,
Psychoanalytic criticism, unlike some other schools of criticism, can exist
side by side with any other critical method of interpretation, because this
approach attempts to explain on how and why of human actions without
developing an aesthetic theory, a systematic, philosophical body of beliefs
concerning on how meaning occurs in literature. For example, Marxists,
feminists, and New Historicists can use psychoanalytic methods in their
interpretations without violating their own hermeneutics. Psychoanalytic
criticism, then may best be called an approach to literary interpretation rather
than a particular school of criticism. 1998:148).
The other definition is taken from Freud in Barry (2002:96) that
psychoanalytic is a form of literary criticism which uses some of the techniques of
psychoanalysis, which itself is a form of therapy which aims to cure mental
disorders ‘by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements
in the mind, in the interpretation of literature.
Moreover, according to Barbara F. McManus, psychoanalytic literary
criticism can focus on one or more of the following: first, is the author that the
theory is used to analyze the author and his/her life, and the literary work is seen to
supply evidence for this analysis. This is often called "psychobiography." Second,
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
23
is the characters that the theory is used to analyze one or more of the characters; the
psychological theory becomes a tool that to explain the characters’ behavior and
motivations. The more closely the theory seems to apply to the characters, the more
realistic the work appears.
According to Michael Delahoyde in Introduction to Literature (2016) states
that psychoanalytic approach argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the
secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a
manifestation of the author's own neuroses. One may psychoanalyze a particular
character within a literary work, but it is usually assumed that all such characters
are projections of the author's psyche.
In addition, Ann B. Dobie in her book Theory into Practice: An Introduction
to Literary Criticism states that the characteristic of the psychoanalytic approach is
the primacy of the unconscious. Hidden from the conscious mind, which Freud
compared to that small portion of an iceberg that is visible above the surface of the
water, the unconscious is like the powerful unseen mass below it. (Ann,2011:56).
In order to analyze this study, the writer uses psychoanalytic approach,
because this approach can help the writer to see the interaction between conscious
and unconscious elements in Tita’s mind. The unconscious part of Tita is her
mother’s rule of marriage and the another rules which are not related to the
marriage, which then impulses out of consciousness through her four reactions in
order to break her mother’s rules. .
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24
In addition, by using this approach, the writer can know that the literary text
itself, Laura Esquivel’s novel, focuses on the ‘psychobiography’ of the author
herself that Laura Esquivel also had a great-aunt named Tita who was forbidden to
wed and spent her life caring for her mother. Soon after her mother died, so did Tita
in the novel of Like Water for Chocolate,.
C.
Method of the Study
The writer conducts library research in working on this study. This study
applies primary and secondary sources. The primary source is, of course, the literary
text itself, a novel by Laura Esquivel titled Like Water for Chocolate. The secondary
sources includes some e-books from www.jstor.org , paper, pdf file, and criticism
which are related to the work.
There are several steps for doing the research. First, the writer begins to
reading the novel carefully in order to understand the story. Second, the writer is
finding out some references that are related to the work, such as the e-books from
www.jstor.org, paper, pdf file, and criticism. Third, the writer starts to explaining
the characteristics of Tita in the novel by using the theory of nine techniques of
characterization that is proposed by M.J. Murphy in order to find how Tita’s
characteristics are described in the novel. Fifth, the writer tries to explain the Mama
Elena’s rules by explaining Mama Elena’s rule of marriage and the other rules that
are not related to the rule of marriage one by one by using the theory of repression
from Freud in Barry and Freudian Repression Definition & Overview. Sixth, after
the writer explains the repressions of Tita, the writer explains the interaction
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25
between conscious and unconscious mind of Tita by using the definition of
psychoanalytic criticism that is proposed by Freud in Peter Barry in Beginning
Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Seventh, the writer
explains the tripartite of model the id and superego, because the id is the desire of
Tita to get married to Pedro, and the superego is the Mama Elena’s rule of marriage.
Next, the writer shows the ego, because the ego is the reactions of Tita against her
mother’s rules in order to be with Pedro forever. Last, the writer makes the
conclusion based on the overall analysis.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the writer answers the three research questions that have been
stated in the problem formulation. In the first research question, the writer tries to
analyze the characteristics of Tita De la Garza, as the main character, by using the
theory of nine techniques of characterization that is proposed by M.J. Murphy. In
the second research question, the writer explains Mama Elena’s rules, which are
Mama Elena’s rule of marriage and the third rules which are not related to the rule
of marriage by using the theory of repression from Freud in Peter Barry and Chris
Clause in Freudian Repression Definition & Overview, and also explains the three
reasons why Mama Elena gives the rule of marriage for Tita. In the third research
question, the writer shows the reactions of Tita against her mother’s rules.
In order to answer all of those research questions, the writer uses the
psychoanalytic approach in this study. According to Bressler (1998:148),
psychoanalytic literary criticism refers to literary criticism which, in method,
concept, theory, or form, is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis began by
Sigmund Freud.
Freud in Barry (2002:96) gives the definition of psychoanalysis itself, that it
is a form of theraphy which aims to cure mental disorders ‘by investigating the
interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind’. By using the
psychoanalytic approach, the writer can show the interaction of unconscious and
26
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27
conscious mind of Tita that the unconscious is the storehouse of disguised desire
that want to be revealed in and through the conscious.
According to Jess Feist and Gregory J. Feist in Theories of Personality
(2008:24), the unconscious, for Freud, is the explanation for the meaning behind
dreams, slips of the tongue, and certain kinds of forgetting, called repression.
Therefore, the unconscious mind of Tita are the repressions of Tita in the novel Like
Water for Chocolate, which then impulses out of consciousness through her four
reactions against her mother’s rules.
A.
The Characteristics of Tita
Tita De la Garza, as the youngest daughter, has five characteristics. The first
characteristics is, she is submissive for the authority of her mother. It can be shown
in the novel when Tita said to Mama Elena that Pedro wanted to ask for her hand,
but Mama Elena refused it by explaining it to Tita that as the youngest daughter she
had to take care of her mother until the day she died (p.10). This first characteristics,
according to M.J. Murphy, in his book Understanding Unseen, can be characterized
through speech that whenever Tita is in conversation with her mother, Tita is giving
the readers some clue about her personality that she accepts her mother’s rule of
marriage.
On the other hand, after Mama Elena gave a suggestion to Pedro’s father, don
Pascual, to unite Pedro and Rosaura in marriage, it can be characterized through the
reaction of Tita towards the agreement of Mama Elena towards the Pedro and
Rosaura’s wedding, because after Tita heard that Pedro and Rosaura wants to get
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28
married, it makes Tita believes that Pedro ridicules their eternal love. It is shown in
the novel,
Mama Elena came into the kitchen and informed them that she had agreed to
Pedro’s marriage to Rosaura. Hearing Chencha’s story confirmed, Tita felt
her body fill with a wintry chill in one sharp, quick blast she was so cold and
dry her cheeks burned and turned red, red as the apples beside her.
“Why did you do that, Pedro? It will look ridiculous, your agreeing to marry
Rosaura. What happened to the eternal love you swore to Tita? Are not you
going to keep that vow?” (p.15).
The second characteristics is she is caring. She is caring her sister, Rosaura,
when she suffers from severe digestive problems. It is shown in the novel, “ Rosaura
had gained sixty-five pounds during her pregnancy, which made the labor to deliver
her first child even more difficult. Even allowing for her sister’s excessive bulk,
Tita noticed that Rosaura’s body was extraordinarily swollen. First her feet swelled
up, then her face and hands. Tita wiped the sweat from her brow and tried to revive
her but Rosaura did not even seem hear her (p.72) and also, “According to the
doctor, Rosaura had suffered an attack of eclampsia that could have killed her”
(p.74). This second characteristics, can show that Tita’s second characteristics can
be characterized through conversation of others that through the condition of
Rosaura, it shows that Tita’s personality is a caring.
In addition, Tita is caring her nephew, Roberto, by feeding him. It is shown
in the novel
“The baby clamped desperately onto the nipple and he sucked and he sucked.
When she saw the boy’s face slowly grow peaceful and when she heard the
way he was swallowing, she began to suspect that something extraordinary
had happened. Was it possible that she was feeding the baby? She removed
the boy from her breast: a thin stream of milk sprayed out. Tita could not
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29
understand it. When the child realized he’d been separated from his meal.
Immediately Tita let him take her breast, until his hunger was completely
satisfied and he was sleeping peacefully, like a saint. At this moment, Tita
looked Ceres herself, goddess of plenty” (p.76).
From the evidence above, it is shown that the character of Tita can be
characterized through her reaction towards the miracle which happens that she does
not believe that she can feeding her nephew.
Moreover, Tita is caring her mother when her mother is sick. It is shown in
the novel, “She prepared her mother’s meal very carefully and especially the oxtail soup with the good intention of serving it to her so that she would recover
completely” (p.130). When Tita is caring her mother by making ox-tail soup to cure
her mother’s sickness, it shows that the character of Tita can be characterized
through conversation of others. From the conversation of others, the writer can
describe the characteristics of Tita through a thing that other people say about the
character. Therefore, through ox-tail soup, it shows that Tita’s personality is caring.
The third characteristics is she is patient. Actually, she is patient when she
takes care of her mother. It is shown in the novel,
Tita waited anxiously for her mother’ reaction when she had her first sip, but
Mama Elena spit the soup on the bedspread and yelled to Tita to get the tray
out of her sight immediately.“But why?” “Because it is nasty and bitter, and
I donot want it. Take it away! Don’t you hear?” “Instead of obeying her, Tita
turned away, trying not to let her mother see her frustation. (p.130).
This third characteristics shows that whenever Tita is in conversation with her
mother, especially when her mother angry at Tita because the taste of the ox-tail
soup was nasty and bitter, consequently, the character of Tita give a clue about her
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30
characteristics that she is patient. It is proven above, “Instead of obeying her
mother, Tita turned away, trying not to let her mother see her frustation.” Therefore,
it can be concluded that this third characteristics can be characterized through the
speech and reaction.
The fourth characteristic is she is described as a faithful woman for her
beloved man, Pedro Muzquiz. It is proven in the novel when Dr. John Brown
wanted to delay his marriage with Tita for a while by giving a reason that he wanted
to bring back his deaf-great aunt from the Northern part of the United States, Tita
lost her virginity. It is shown in the novel,
Sensing another’s presence, Tita spun around, the light clearly revealed the
figure of Pedro, barring the door. “Pedro! What are you doing here?” Without
answering, Pedro went to her, extinguished the lamp, pulled her to a brass bed
that had once belonged to her sister Gertrudis, and throwing himself upon her,
caused her to lose her virginity and learn of true love (p.158).
When Tita lost her virginity, it shows that the characteristics of Tita can be
characterized through her reaction that there is no self-denial from Tita. Therefore,
it can be concluded that Tita is still love Pedro.
When Tita worried that she was pregnant, she could not married to Dr. John
Brown, because Tita was expecting her child with Pedro. It is proven when
Gertrudis visited the ranch for a special holiday, the conversation between Gertrudis
and Tita was heard by Pedro. It is shown in the novel,
“...I think you should tell Pedro you’re expecting his child.”
A perfect hit, bull’s eye! Pedro, struck down, let the sack fall to the floor. He
was dying of love for Tita. Startled, she turned to discover that Pedro was
looking at her, almost in tears (p.191).
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31
From the conversation between Gertrudis and Tita, that Tita is expecting her
child with Pedro, it shows that the characteristics of Tita can be characterized
through direct comment. The writer can comment on the character of Tita directly
that she is still love Pedro. In addition, from the reaction that is shown by Pedro, it
can show that Pedro angry at Tita why she does not tell him if she is pregnant.
The other evidence is her intense feeling for Pedro is never fade. Tita
sacrifices her life for Pedro when she lights herself on fire after his death so that
their souls can not be apart. It is shown from the novel at the end of the story
After Pedro had died at the moment of ecstasy when he entered the luminous
tunnel, Tita pulled from her bureau drawer to have plenty of fuel in her body.
She began to eat the candles out of the box one by one. As she chewed each
candle, she made contact with the torrid images she evoked, the candle began
to burn. She let herself go to the encounter, and they wrapped each other in a
long embrace, they left together for the lost Eden. Never again would they be
apart. (p.245).
This shows that the characteristics of Tita can be characterized through her
reaction towards the death of her beloved man. Tita is faithful to Pedro, so when
Pedro died, Tita did not want to be separated with Pedro. Therefore, Tita ends her
life in order to be with Pedro forever.
The fifth characteristics is she is a creative person. She rechannels her feelings
for Pedro, her beloved man, into the creation of delicious meals that express her
passionate and giving nature. These ‘extra’ ingredients are passion and love.
However, these ‘extra’ ingredients cannot be seen by just looking at the dish. They
can only be ‘seen’ when the meal or dish has been eaten. For example, the meal that
Tita prepares with the rose petals sauce. However, this is not seen until Gertrudis
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32
gets in the shower and a soldier, Juan smells the aroma that is coming from her. It
is shown in the novel,
The aroma from Gertrudis’s body guided him. He got there just in time to
find her racing through the field. Then he knew why he’d been drawn there.
This woman desperately needed a man to quench the red-hot fire that was
raging inside her. A man equal to loving someone who needed love as much
as she did, a man like him (p.55).
From the evidence above, it shows that these five characteristics of Tita, as
the creative person, can be characterized through direct comment, because the
writer can comment on the character of Gertrudis directly that she becomes lustful
after eating the quail in rose petal sauce. It is proven above, this woman desperately
needed a man to quench the red-hot-fire that was raging inside her.
This is a direct effect from the ‘extra’ ingredient, passion which she felt for
Pedro that was added by Tita unconsciously. In addition, she makes quail in rose
petal sauce, as the voice for her and for Pedro as the goal. It is shown in the novel
With that meal it seemed they had discovered a new system of
communication, in which Tita was the transmitter, Pedro the receiver, and
poor Gertrudis the medium, the conducting body through which the singular
sexual message was passed. (p.52).
Besides the quail in rose petal sauce, Tita also makes a wedding cake which
describes her sorrow for Pedro. It is shown in Rosaura’s wedding in which the
guests are severely ill after eating the cake. It happens because of Tita’s tears in the
cake dough. It is shown in the novel
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 deaths, was sobbing silently. But the weeping was just the first
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symptom of a strange intoxication-an acute attack of pain and frustation-that
seized the guests and scattered them across the patio and the grounds and in
the bathrooms, all of them wailing over lost love. Everyone there, every last
person, fell under this spell, and not very many of them made it to the
bathrooms in time-those who didn’t joined the collective vomiting that was
going on all over the patio. Only one person escaped: the cake had no effect
on Tita (p. 39).
Besides the five characteristics of Tita can also be characterized not only
through her speech, conversation of others, her reactions and direct comment, but
also through her past life and conversations of others. The character of Tita can be
characterized through her past life that Tita De la Garza’s life story is told by
Esperanza’s daughter and Tita De la Garza’s great-niece, who is the narrator of the
story. It is shown in the novel at the end of the novel
Throughout my childhood I had the good fortune to savor the delicious fruits
and vegetables that grew on that land. Eventually my mother had a little
apartment building built there. My father Alex still lives in one of the
apartments. Today he is going to come to my house to celebrate my birthday.
That is why I am preparing Christmas Rolls, my favorite dish. My mama
prepared them for me every year. My mama! ...How wonderful the flavor, the
aroma of her kitchen, her stories as she prepared the meal, her Christmas
Rolls! I don’t know why mine never turn out like hers, or why my tears flow
so freely when I prepare them—perhaps I am as sensitive to onions as Tita,
my great-aunt, who will go on living as long as there is someone who cooks
her recipes (p. 246).
Meanwhile, the character of Tita can be characterized through conversations
of others that the character of Tita can be described through the thing other people
say about the character of Tita that Tita always sensitive when she was chopping
onions. It is shown in the first scene
Tita was so sensitive to onions, any time they were being chopped, they say
she would just cry and cry, when she was still in my great-grandmother’s
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34
belly her sobs were so loud that even Nacha, the cook, who was half-deaf,
could hear them easily (p.5).
B.
Mama Elena’s rules.
The writer has said that the unconscious, according to Jess Feist and
Gregory J. Feist (2008: 24), is the explanation for the meaning behind dreams, slips
of the tongue, and certain kinds of forgetting, called repression. Now, the writer
wants to analyze the repression of Tita by using the theory of Freud in Peter Barry
in a book Beginning Theory: An Introduction To Literary And Cultural Theory
(2002:96), and Freudian Repression Definition and Overview based on Chris
Clause. .
According to Freud in Peter Barry in a book Beginning Theory: An
Introduction To Literary And Cultural Theory (2002:96), the idea of repression
linked with ‘forgetting’ or ignoring of unresolved conflicts, unadmitted desires, or
traumatic past events, so that they are forced out of conscious awareness and into
the realm of the unconscious. In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Tita has
unadmitted desire to get married to Pedro, which come into the unconscious mind.
Besides linked with the unconscious and repression, the psychoanalytic
approach also linked with the tripartite model the id, ego, and superego which
become the part of repression. The unconscious mind of Tita, can be categorized as
the id, because according to Bressler (1998:150), the irrational, instinctual,
unknown and unconscious part of the psyche Freud calls the id, containing our
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35
secret desires. In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, the unconscious mind or the
id of Tita consist of her disguised desire to get married to Pedro, and also the other
of her mother’s rules which are not related to the marriage. However, Mama Elena
forbids Tita’s desire to get married to Pedro by giving a rule of marriage.
Mama Elena’s rule of marriage is Tita, as the youngest daughter, has to take
care of her until she died. Therefore, because of her mother’s rule of marriage, Tita
cannot married to Pedro Muzquiz, her beloved man. It is shown in the novel, “If he
intends to ask for your hand, tell him not to bother. He’ll be wasting his time and
mine too” (p.10).
Mama Elena gave the rule of marriage for Tita, because, the first reasons is,
when Mama Elena was young and she wants to get married to her first lover, Jose
Trevino. However, Mama Elena’s love towards Jose Trevino was forbidden by
Mama Elena’s parents, because Jose Trevino was a Negro. It is shown in the novel,
She hadn’t been allowed to marry him because he had Negro blood in his
veins. A colony of Negroes, fleeing from the Civil War in the United States,
from the risk they ran of being lynched, had come to settle near the village.
Young Jose Trevino was the product of an illicit love affair between the elder
Jose Trevino and a beautiful Negress (p. 137).
The second reasons is, because when Tita was a newborn baby, her father
Juan De la Garza was died because of heart attack. Therefore, Mama Elena becomes
the head of the family, who takes the responsibilities to take care of her daughters,
and the ranch. It is shown in the novel,
When she was only two days old, Tita’s father, my great-grandfather, died of
heart attack and Mama Elena’s milk dried up from the shock. Since there was
no such thing as powdered milk in those days, and they could not find a wet
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36
nurse anywhere, they were in panic to satisfy the infant’s hunger. Nacha, who
knew everything about cooking offered to take charged of feeding Tita. Mama
Elena accepted her offer gratefully, she had enough to do between her
mourning and the enormous responsibility of running the ranch and it was the
ranch that would provide her children the food and education they deserved
without having to worry about feeding a newborn baby on top of everything
else (p.6).
The third reasons is, Mama Elena wants to give a punishment to Tita through
the rule of marriage that Tita becomes the source of the problem that experienced
by Mama Elena. Therefore, Mama Elena wants Tita to feel what is felt by Mama
Elena, that she is not allowed to get married to her lover by giving a rule of marriage
that Tita, as the youngest daughter, has to take care of her mother until her mother
died.
The writer has explained that besides of her mother’s rule of marriage, there
are also other rules which are not related to the rule of marriage. The first rules, is
throughout her childhood, Tita is forced to deal with controlling and demanding of
her mother. Therefore, as she grows older, she becomes a cook of her family. When
Tita becomes a cook, it can indicates that her habit activity is she always work in
the kitchen. Therefore, it can also show that from the habit activity of Tita, the
character of Tita can be characterized through her mannerism.
From Tita’s habit activity that she always spends most of her life cooking and
preparing food, Tita’s character can be characterized through character as seen by
another, that the character of Tita can be described through an opinion by another
character that the sixth sense Tita was developed about everything concerning food.
It is shown in the novel
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From that day on, Tita’s domain was the kitchen, where she grew vigorous
and healthy on a diet of teas and thin corn gruels. This explains the sixth sense
Tita developed about everything concerning food. Her eating habits, for
example, were attuned to the kitchen routine: in the morning, when she could
smell that the beans were ready: at midday, when she sensed the water was
ready for plucking the chickens: and in the afternoon, when the dinner bread
was baking, Tita knew it was time for her to be fed (p.7).
The second rules, is when Mama Elena asks Tita to prepare the bath.
However, Tita makes some faults when she is preparing the bath for Mama Elena
that makes Mama Elena angry at Tita. It is shown in the novel,
But she had never found as many faults as today. And that was because Tita
ready had been careless with all the fine points of the ceremony. The water
was so hot that Mama Elena burned her feet when she got in, Tita had
forgotten the aloe water for her hair, burned the bottom of Mama Elena’s
chemise, opened the door too far, and finally, got Mama Elena’s attention the
hard way and was scolded and sent from the bathroom (p.94).
The third rules is, when Mama Elena asks Pedro and his family to move to
San Antonio, Texas by giving a reason that Rosaura should have a better medical
attention in San Antonio. It is shown in the novel
“I worry that some day my daughter Rosaura will need a doctor and we won’t
be able to get one, like when Roberto was born. As soon as she gets her
strength back, I think it would be best if she went to live with my cousin in
San Antonio, with her husband and little boy. She would receive better
medical attention there.” (p.80).
From that explanation, it can be concluded that Mama Elena described as the
huddle which hampers the love between Tita and Pedro as the wall in romeo and
juliet.
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When Tita heard that Mama Elena asks Pedro and his family to move to San
Antonio, it repress her. Tita does not want to separate with her nephew. It is shown
in the novel,
“Those words echoed like cannons inside Tita’s head. She couldn’t let it
happen. They couldn’t take the child away from her now. She had to keep
that from ever happening.” (p.80).
Tita’s pain that she has to be separated with her nephew, is shown when the
milk in Tita’s breasts was dry up, and she wonders who was feeding Roberto in San
Antonio, and also when Tita cannot sleep, because Tita always thought about
Roberto. It is shown in the novel,
The milk in her breasts had dried up overnight from the pain of her separation
from her nephew. As she looked for worms, she kept wondering who was
feeding Roberto and how he was eating. Those thoughts tortured her night
and day. She hadn’t been able to sleep, for a whole month (p.93).
Tita’s pain when she has to be separated with her nephew, Roberto, shows
that Tita subconsciously keep anxious thought, because she cannot take care of her
nephew anymore, which is same with the definition of repression based on
Freudian Repression Definition and Overview that repression refers to
subconsciously keep anxious thoughts and impulses out of consciousness.
When Tita heard that her nephew, Roberto, was died in San Antonio. After
Tita heard it, the anxious thought which is Tita keeps in her unconscious, it impulses
out of consciousness through blaming Mama Elena, who killed Roberto, and also
saying to her mother that she feels sick of obeying her mother, which become her
first reaction against her mother’s rule. It is shown in the novel,
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Tita felt a violent agitation take possession of her being: still fingering the
sausage, she calmly met her mother’s gaze and then, instead of obeying her
order, she started to tear apart all the sausages she could reach, screaming
wildly. “Here’s what I do with your orders! I’m sick of them! I’m sick of
obeying you!” “You did it, you killed Roberto!” screamed Tita (p.99).
Mama Elena’s rule of marriage for Tita can be categorized as the third part of
psyche, the superego. According to Bressler (1998:31), the superego serves as
filtering agent, suppressing the desires forbidden by society and thrusting them back
into the unconscious. Overall, superego manifests itself through punishment.
Therefore, in the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Mama Elena gives the rule of
marriage for Tita in order to suppress the id or the desire of Tita to get married to
her lover, Pedro Muzquiz, which then thrusting them back into the unconscious
mind of Tita.
According to Carl Jung (1951:104), the personal unconscious embraces all
repressed, forgotten, or subliminally perceived experiences of one particular
individual. Therefore, those third rules which are not related to the rule of marriage
can be concluded as personal unconscious, because those third rules are formed by
Tita’s personal experiences, which made by Mama Elena herself.
C.
The Reactions of Tita against Her Mother’s Rules
According to Jess Feist and Gregory J. Feist in Theories of Personality
Seventh Edition (2008:24) states that the unconscious process often enter into
consciousness but only after being disguised or distorted enough to elude
censorship. To enter the conscious level of the mind, these unconscious images,
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40
first past the primary censor, then they enter to the conscious. These unconscious
images have strong sexual or aggressive motifs, because childhood sexual and
aggressive behaviors are frequently punished or suppressed. Punishment and
suppression often create feelings of anxiety, and the anxiety in turn stimulates
repression.
Based on Feist-Feist in Theories of Personality Seventh Edition (2008:24),
the unconscious of Tita is her disguised desire to get married to Pedro that want to
be revealed in and through the conscious. However, to enter the the conscious level
of the mind, Tita’s disguised desire past the primary censor, which can be
represented as the food. In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Tita’s desire to get
married to Pedro is hindered by her mother through her mother’s rule of marriage.
Consequently, Tita disguise her desire in the form of food to express her emotions,
because it serves as a medium which emotions can be transmitted. For example,
Tita makes a wedding cake in Pedro and Rosaura’s wedding, which describes her
sorrow towards Pedro and also Tita makes a quail in rose petal sauce, which is the
quail itself symbolizes Tita’s broken heart towards Pedro. Those foods can be
represented as the primary censor, because the aim of the primary censor is to
prevent the unconscious desire of Tita become preconscious by throwing the
unconscious desire of Tita back into the unconscious. Those foods, which both of
them show Tita’s sorrow towards Pedro, can prevent the strong childhood sexual
of Tita or the unconscious desire of Tita to be with Pedro become preconscious by
throwing them back into the unconscious. The unconscious desire of Tita has a
strong childhood sexual, because when Tita was fifteen years old, she wants to get
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41
married to Pedro. However, the childhood sexual of Tita is suppressed through her
mother’s rule of marriage, which can make Tita feels anxiety, especially when she
has to be separated with her nephew, Roberto. Therefore, Tita’s anxiety come into
the conscious level of mind, especially through her first reactions that she feels sick
of obeying her mother.
The reactions of Tita against her mother’s rule can be categorized as the ego,
because according to Abrams in “Psychological and Psychoanalytic Criticism." A
Glossary of Literary Terms (1999:248), when Mama Elena forbids Tita’s sexual
(libidinal) wishes to be with Pedro, it comes into the conflict with, and repressed
into the unconscious realm of the artist’s mind, therefore Tita makes some efforts
to be with Pedro. For instance, even though the love between Tita and Pedro is
forbidden by Mama Elena, but it never stopped them to communicate each other.
They takes every opportunity they can in order to communicate each other. Besides,
Tita also gave big efforts to be with Pedro through her four reactions in order to
break her mother’s rules.
In addition, Hall in his book A Primer of Freudian Psychology ( 1954:31)
gives an example that when the id imagines some food because the individual is
hungry, the ego tries to motivate the individual to get some food to eat. Based on
this theory, in the novel Like Water for Chocolate, the writer wants to show that
when Tita wants to be with Pedro, she has some motivations to be with Pedro by
breaking her mother’s rule.
There are four actions, which described as the
motivations of Tita to be with Pedro.
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The first reaction of Tita is caused by the death of her nephew, Roberto. It is
proven in the novel that when she heard that Mama Elena asks Pedro and his family
to move to San Antonio. The separation between Tita De la Garza and her nephew,
Roberto, devastates her. A short time later, news arrives that Roberto has died, most
likely due to his removal from Tita’s care. The death of her nephew causes Tita to
have a breakdown. It is shown in the novel,
“Tita felt a violent agitation take possession of her being: still fingering the
sausage, she calmly met her mother’s gaze and then, instead of obeying her
order, she started to tear apart all the sausages she could reach, screaming
wildly. “Here’s what I do with your orders! I’m sick of them! I’m sick of
obeying you!”(p.99).
This is the boiling point of Tita’s action which is same with the meaning of
the title phrase ‘like water for chocolate’, which may be used to refer to anger, such
as being ‘boiling mad’.
The ‘boiling point’ of Tita’s action in disobeying her mother’s rule is that
finally she can not say anything and got naked in the dovecote and holding the
pigeon. It is shown in the novel,
Dr Brown found Tita naked, her nose broken, her whole body with pigeon
droppings. A few feathers were clinging to her skin and hair. As soon as she saw
the doctor, she ran to the corner and curled up in a fetal position (p.100).
This first reaction is made by Tita after she feels anxiety that she has to be
separated with her nephew, Roberto, and Tita’s anxiety comes into her unconscious
mind, then it is impulsed out of consciousness through this first action. This first
reaction also shows that Tita already wants to break her mother’s rules.
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The second reaction of Tita is after her mother sends her away, Tita
experiences a life of freedom and love from Dr. John Brown. She gains the strength
to oppose her mother. During the time that she spends with Dr. John Brown, she
gains her own outlook on life and the ability to make her own decision. Tita stands
up for herself and claims her independence by declaring the only thing that she
really wants is to be free from Mama Elena. She reacts against her mother’s rule by
eventually refusing to stay with her mother. It is shown in page 118, “The only
thing she was absolutely sure about was that she did not want to return to the ranch.
She never wanted to live near Mama Elena again.”
In addition, she also hopes her mother dead. It is shown in the novel,
While she was in her hiding place, she had prayed that nothing bad would
happen to Mama Elena, but unconsciously, she had hoped that when she got
out she would find her mother dead. (p.92).
The third reaction of Tita is when Mama Elena falls ill and Tita returns to the
ranch to take care of her. Although Tita’s return seems like she is fulfilling the
tradition that her mother dooms her to, Tita ensures that she remains in control of
her life and holds no obligation to her mother. While at the ranch,
It was a relief to delegate to Chencha the painful duty of caring for her mother,
so that she was free to start embroidering the bedsheets for her trousseau. She
had decided to marry John as soon as her mother was better (p.133).
Tita stays true to her new found independence and proceeds with her plans to
wed Dr. John Brown. It is shown in the novel
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John took Tita’s hand on the way back to the ranch, and Tita in turn took his
arm, to emphasize that there was something more than friendship between
them. She wanted to cause Pedro the same pain she had always felt seeing
him beside her sister (p. 139).
This third reaction shows that Tita reacts against her mother by breaking the
rule of her mother’s rule and making a plan to get married with Dr. John Brown.
This is also shows Tita’s anger towards Pedro, which is shown when Tita chooses
to accept the proposal from Dr. John Brown. Tita wants to take a revenge for Pedro
for the same pain that Tita always felt when she saw Pedro beside her sister,
Rosaura.
The fourth reaction of Tita is when Tita reacts against the ghost of Mama
Elena. The ghost of Mama Elena shows up to tell Tita that what she did was wrong.
On the other hand, Tita said a magic words to the ghost of Mama Elena. This is
shown in the novel,
“See what you’ve done now? You and Pedro are shameless. If you don’t want
blood to flow in this house, go where you can’t do any harm to anybody,
before it’s too late”. Tita replies, “the one who should be going is you. I’m
tired of your tormenting me. Leave me in peace once and for all! Leave me
alone. I won’t put up with you! I hate you, I’ve always hated you! Tita had
said the magic words that would make Mama Elena disappear forever.”
(p.199).
After all this time, Tita finally stands up against her mother and puts her in
her place. She chooses to fight back instead of just remaining quiet and obeying her
mother’s rule. After she rebels, she is set free.
From the fourth reactions of Tita against her mother’s rules, it can be
concluded that according to the nine techniques of characterization that is proposed
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45
by M. J. Murphy, the character of Tita can be characterized through her reactions
towards her mother’s rules.
Finally, the motivations or the ego of Tita to be with Pedro are succesfully.
In other words, Tita can reach her id or her pleasure to be with Pedro successfully.
It is proven in the novel that at the end of the story, Tita and Pedro get married and
want to live with each other until the end of their lifes. This marriage is the
important event in the novel since all the conflicts are resolved and the true love is
finally realized. The meaning of Tita is set free is that Pedro and Tita are united in
a passion so intensely. They can make love freely.
All of the third research questions are related to each other. In this chapter,
the writer relates those third research questions by using psychoanalytic approach.
Freud in Barry gives the definition of psychoanalytic criticism that,
‘Psychoanalytic criticism is a form of literary criticism which uses some
techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature.
Psychoanalysis itself is a form of therapy which aims to cure mental disorders
‘by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the
mind.’ (2002: 96).
Based on the theory, the writer can show the interaction between conscious
and unconscious mind of Tita, as the central character in the novel Like Water for
Chocolate. The conscious mind of Tita is shown when her mother gave a rule of
marriage that as the youngest daughter, Tita had to take care of her mother until the
day her mother died, and when Tita heard that Pedro wants to get married to
Rosaura, her sister. Those two events are still in the eye of Tita’s conscious, and
also it related to the characteristics of Tita. It is shown in the novel Like Water for
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46
Chocolate, when Pedro wanted to ask Tita’s hands for marriage, Mama Elena
refused it by giving a rule of marriage that Tita, as the youngest daughter, she had
to take care of her mother until the day her mother died, in page 10,
“If he intends to ask for your han, tell him not to bother. He’ll be wasting his
time and mine too. You know perfectly well that being the youngest daughter
means you have to take care of me until the day I die.”
After Tita heard it, she accepts and obeys her mother’s rule of marriage by
becoming submissive for her mother, caring her mother when she falls sick, caring
Rosaura and also her first child, and Tita also patient, even though her mother
always beating her mentally. Meanwhile, when Tita heard that Pedro wanted to get
married to Rosaura, her sister, it was related to the five characteristics of Tita, which
is she became a creative person. It is shown in the novel, when Tita made a wedding
cake for Pedro and Rosaura’s wedding, which is the ingredient of wedding cake
itself is Tita’s tears. This wedding cake itself symbolizes Tita’s sorrow towards
Pedro,
The night of the wedding reception she had gotten a tremendous hiding from
Mama Elena, like no beating before or since. She spent two weeks in bed
recovering from her bruises. What motivated such a monstrous punishment
was Mama Elena’s conviction that Tita, in league with Nacha, had
deliberately ruined Rosaura’s wedding by mixing an emetic into the cake.
Tita was never able to convince her that she had only added one extra
ingredient to the cake, the tears she had shed while preparing it (p.41).
In addition, Tita also made a quail in rose petal sauce, which the quail itself
symbolize Tita’s broken heart towards Pedro. It is proven in the novel, that when
Tita made that food, she wanted to deliver her sorrow towards Pedro that through
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47
the meal, there is a new system of communication between Tita, as the sender, and
Pedro, as the goal.
Furthermore, after Mama Elena gives the third rule which is not related to the
rule of marriage, that is when Mama Elena asks Pedro and his family to move to
San Antonio, Texas. Consequently, after Tita heard it, it makes Tita feel anxiety,
because she cannot take care of her nephew. It is shown in the novel,
“Those words echoed like cannons inside Tita’s head. She couldn’t let it
happen. They couldn’t take the child away from her now. She had to keep
that from ever happening.” (p.80).
That event becomes the repression of Tita which comes into her
subconscious. Meanwhile, the news of the death of Roberto in San Antonio comes
into the ranch, and it makes Tita’s anxiety thought comes into her unconscious, and
then impulses out of consciousness through her four reactions in order to break her
mother’s rules. This is shown in the novel when Tita becomes angry at her mother.
She blames her mother, who killed Roberto and she already wants to react against
her mother by saying that she feels sick of obeying her mother. It is shown in the
novel,
Tita felt a violent agitation take possession of her being: still fingering the
sausage, she calmly met her mother’s gaze and then, instead of obeying her
order, she started to tear apart all the sausages she could reach, screaming
wildly. “Here’s what I do with your orders! I’m sick of them! I’m sick of
obeying you!”
“You did it, you killed Roberto!” screamed Tita, beside herself, and she ran
from the room, wiping the blood that dripped from her nose. She took the
pigeon and a pail full of worms and climbed up to the dovecote (p.99).
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This reaction becomes Tita’s first reaction to break her mother’s rules which
are the rule of marriage and also the third rules which are not related to the rule of
marriage. The writer explained that when Mama Elena gave the rule of marriage
for Tita, Tita accepts and obeys that rule by becoming submissive for the authority
of her mother, caring Rosaura, her mother, and also her nephew, and Tita also
becomes patient, even though her mother always beating her mentally. However,
Mama Elena was too mean to Tita. In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, Tita was
submissive for the authority of her mother that she did not married to her lover,
Pedro. However, Mama Elena asked Pedro and his family to move to San Antonio,
it made Tita had to be separated with her nephew. Tita has been patient towards her
mother, but she could not stand anymore towards her mother’s rules. Consequently,
when she heard that her nephew was died in San Antonio, Tita impulses her
unconscious out of consciousness through her first reactions that she feels sick of
obeying her mother. This reaction shows the denaturing of Tita from submissive
for the authority of her mother becomes react against her mother by saying that she
feels sick of obeying her mother. After Tita says that she feels sick of obeying her
mother, she can not say anything and naked in the dovecote by holding the pigeon.
She is acting like a crazy person. It is also shown in the novel,
Chencha found Tita holding the pigeon. She didn’t seem to realize it was
dead. She was trying to feed it some more worms. The poor thing probably
died of indigestion because Tita fed it too much. Tita looked up, her eyes
vacant, and stared at Chencha as if she had never seen her before. Chencha
came down saying Tita was acting like a crazy person and refused to leave
the dovecote (p.100).
In addition, the second reactions and the fourth reactions of Tita still shows
the continuation of the reactions of Tita against her mother’s rules. The second
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49
reactions shows the denaturing of Tita from submissive for the authority of her
mother becomes react against her mother by showing her hatred to her mother by
eventually refuse to stay near Mama Elena again, and also she hopes that her mother
died. Meanwhile, the fourth reactions shows that Tita becomes react against her
mother’s rules by declaring to her mother that she wants to be free from her mother.
On the other hand, the third reactions of Tita, which is she wants to break her
mother’s rule of marriage by making a plan to get married to Dr. John Brown,
shows the reactions of Tita against her mother’s rule of marriage. This reactions
also related to the fourth characteristics of Tita, which is she faithful to Pedro. It is
shown in the novel, when Dr. John went to the Northern part of the United States
in order to bring his deaf-great aunt, Tita lost her virginity. Therefore, Tita cannot
married to Dr. John Brown. It is shown in the novel, in page 222, “While you were
gone, I had relations with a man I’ve always loved, and I lost my virginity. That’s
the reason, I can’t marry you anymore.”
In addition, Tita shows her faithfulness towards Pedro through sacrifices her
life by lights up herself on fire after Pedro’s death in order to be with Pedro forever.
It is shown at the end of the novel, in page 245,
She pulled from her bureau drawer the box of candles that John had given
her. She needed to have plenty of fuel in her body. She began to eat candles
out of the box one by one. As she chewed each candle she pressed her eyes
shut and tried to reproduce the most moving memories of her and Pedro.
When the candle she chewed made contact with the torrid images she evoked,
the candle began to burn. She let herself go to the encounter, and they
wrapped each other in a long embrace, again experiencing an amorous
climax, they left together for the lost Eden. Never again would they be apart.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, the writer comes to the conclusion of this study. In this thesis,
the writer has been successfully answers all of the three questions that are stated in
the problem formulation, by using the theory of nine techniques of characterization,
theory of two levels of mental life, theory of repression, and theory of tripartite
model id, ego, and superego. The writer uses psychoanalytic approach to analyze
the interaction between the unconscious and conscious mind of Tita, that the
unconscious mind of Tita, are her mother’s rule of marriage and the third rules
which are not related to rule of marriage, which then impulses out of consciousness
through her four reactions to break her mother’s rules in order to be with Pedro
forever.
Tita, the youngest daughter, has five characteristics. First, she is submissive
for the authority of her mother. Second, she is caring. Third, she is patient. Fourth,
she is faithful to Pedro. Fifth, she is creative. According to the theory of nine
techniques of characterization that is proposed by M.J. Murphy, those five
characteristics of Tita De la Garza, can be characterized through her speech,
conversation of others, reactions, and direct comment.
Mama Elena’s rule of marriage is Tita, as the youngest daughter, has to take
care of her mother until her mother died. Mama Elena gave the rule of marriage
because, the first reasons is, when Mama Elena was young, she was also not allowed
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50
to get married to a Negro. However, she was forced married to Juan De la Garza,
Tita’s father.
The second reasons is, Tita becomes the source of the problem that
experienced by Mama Elena that aftter Tita was a newborn, her father, Juan De La
Garza, was died because of heart attack. After that, Mama Elena becomes the head
of the family, who has responsibilities to take care of her daughters and the ranch.
The third reasons is, Mama Elena wants to give the punishment for Tita that
she has to take care of her mother until her mother died, and Mama Elena wants
Tita to feel what is felt by Mama Elena. Mama Elena’s rule of marriage can be
categorized as the third part of psyche, the superego, because it is suppressing the
id (the desire) of Tita to get married to her lover, Pedro Muzquiz, which then
thrusting them back into the unconscious mind of Tita.
Besides the rule of marriage, Mama Elena also gives the other rules which
are: the first rule is, Tita becomes a cook of her family. From the first rule, the
character of Tita can be characterized through her mannerism and character as seen
by another. The second rules is, Tita is preparing the bath for Mama Elena. The
third rules is, Mama Elena asks Pedro and his family to move to San Antonio. When
Tita heard it, it makes Tita feel anxiety that she cannot take care of her nephew.
After Tita heard her nephew was died in San Antonio, it comes into the unconscious
and impulses out of consciousness through her four reactions.
The process of the unconscious mind of Tita, to enter the consciousness, must
past the primary censor which can be represented as the food. The unconscious
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51
mind of Tita is her childhood sexual, which is suppressed by her mother through
her mother’s rule of marriage. Therefore, Tita uses two foods, which are the
wedding cake and quail in rose petal sauce to express her sorrow towards Pedro.
Both of them can prevent the unconscious desire of Tita which has the strong
childhood sexual to become preconscious by throwing them back into the
unconscious.
The reactions of Tita against her mother’s rule can be categorized as the ego,
because when Mama Elena forbids Tita’s sexual (libidinal) wishes to be with Pedro
come into the conflict with, and repressed into the unconscious realm of the artist’s
mind, consequently, Tita makes some efforts to be with Pedro. For instance, even
though the love between Tita and Pedro was forbidden by Mama Elena, but it never
stopped them to communicate each other, and Tita also gave big efforts to be with
Pedro through her four reactions in order to break her mother’s rules.
The first action of Tita to break her mother’s rule is when Tita heard that
Roberto was died in San Antonio. This is the boiling point of Tita’s action in which
it represents title of the novel that is ‘like water for chocolate’, which is refer to
Tita’s anger, such as being ‘boiling mad’. This first action also shows that Tita
wants to break her mother’s rule of marriage by stands up to say that she feels sick
of obeying her mother.
The second action of Tita is after her mother sends her away, Tita experiences
two things, those are life freedom and she fell in love with Dr. John Brown. Finally
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52
she stands up for herself and claims her independence by eventually refuse to stay
with her mother again, and she also hopes her mother died.
The third action of Tita is when Mama Elena falls ill and Tita returns to the
ranch to take care of her. However, Tita ensures that she holds no obligation to her
mother. She cling to her stand point that has got her independence and proceeds
with her plans to wed Dr. John Brown.
The four action is when the ghost of Mama Elena comes to tell Tita that what
she has done is wrong. On the other hand, Tita cannot stand anymore with her
mother, so she says a magic words that she always hates her mother and she asks
her mother to leave her alone. Finally, the ghost of Mama Elena disappear forever.
After all of the hard time that she got with Mama Elena, Tita finally chooses to fight
back instead of just remaining quiet and obeying her mother’s rule. After she rebels,
she is set free.
From the fourth reactions of Tita against her mother’s rules, it can be
concluded that, based on the theory of nine techniques of characterization, the
character of Tita can be characterized through her reaction towards her mother’s
rules.
Finally, the efforts or the ego that Tita has done, are successfully. Tita can
reach her id (pleasure) to get married to Pedro. At the end of the story, Tita and
Pedro are get married and they are united in a passion so intensely.
There are relationships between the characteristics of Tita, her mother’s rules,
and the reactions of Tita against her mother’s rules by using the psychoanalytic
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
53
approach. By using this approach, the writer can show the interaction between
conscious and unconscious mind of Tita. The conscious mind of Tita are her
mother’s rule of marriage and when Tita heard that Pedro was get married to
Rosaura. The conscious mind of Tita is related to the characteristics of Tita, for
instance, her mother’s rule of marriage related to the characteristics of Tita, which
are she is submissive for the authority of her mother, she is patient, and she is caring.
Meanwhile, when Tita heard that Pedro was get married to Rosaura, it shows that
Tita is creative person.
Furthermore, after Mama Elena gives the third rule which is she asks Pedro
and his family to move to San Antonio, it makes Tita feel anxiety, which come into
her subconscious. After Tita heard that her nephew was died, it comes into her
unconscious mind, which then impulses out of consciousness that Tita said to her
mother that she feels sick of obeying her mother, which become her first reaction
against her mother’s rules. After that, she naked in the dovecote and acted like a
crazy person. Meanwhile, the third reaction of Tita shows that Tita is faithful to
Pedro, especially when Tita lost her virginity, consequently, Tita cannot married to
Dr. John. In addition, at the end of the story, Tita sacrifices her life by eating candles
after Pedro’s death.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams, M. H. "Psychological and Psychoanalytic Criticism." A Glossary of
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Ann, B. Dobie. Theory into Practice: An Introduction to Literary Criticism, Third
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APPENDIX
Appendix : Summary of the Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate.
The grandniece of Tita De la Garza begins telling the story. Like Water for
Chocolate tells the story of Tita De la Garza, as the youngest daughter, in a family
living in Mexico at the turn of the twentieth century. Through twelve chapters, each
marked as a "monthly installment" and thus labeled with the months of the year.
Each installment features a recipe to begin each chapter.
One day, while making sausage on the ranch, Tita announces in front of the
family that Pedro Muzquiz wants to come speak to Mama Elena. Because Tita is
the youngest daughter she is forbidden by a family tradition to marry. Therefore,
Mama Elena tells Tita that ‘being the youngest daughter means you have to take
care of me until the day I die.’ Unfortunately, the next day, Pedro Muzquiz appears
with his father (don Pascual) at the De la Garza house, ready to ask for Tita’s hand,
but Mamá Elena offers her middle daughter, Rosaura, to him instead. Pedro accepts
this proposal, realizing it is the only way he can be close to Tita, his real love. At
that time, Chencha almost drops right onto Mama Elena the tray containing coffee
and cookies, which she have carried into the living room to offer don Pascual and
his son. Excusing herself, she rushes back to the kitchen, where Tita is waiting for
her to give every detail about what is going on in the living room. Meanwhile, Tita
is preparing the Christmas rolls in honor of her sixteen birthday. Mama Elena comes
into the kitchen and confirms to Tita that she had agreed to Pedro’s marriage to
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57
Rosaura. Hearing Chencha’s story is confirmed, Tita feels her body fill with a
wintry chill: in one sharp, quick blast she was so cold and dry her cheeks burned
and turned red, red as the apples beside her. Nachaa follows don Pascual Muzquis
and his son to the ranch’s gate, walking as quietly as she can hear the conversation
between father and son. Nacha overhears that Pedro tell his father that he “will
marry with a great love for Tita that will never die.’
Rosaura and Pedro live in the family ranch. Next day, Pedro sends Tita a
bouquet of red roses to congratulate her on being named official ranch cook.
Rosaura knows what's up between her hubby and Tita, sees the bouquet and cries.
Mama Elena tells Tita to get rid of the roses. Tita cannot just throw them in the
trash, first, she has never been given flowers before, and second the roses comes
from Pedro. All at once, she seems to hear Nacha’s voice dictating a recipe, a
prehispanic recipe involving rose petals. Tita has nearly forgotten it because it
called for pheasants, which they do not raise on the ranch. When the quail in rose
petal sauce is served, there any many reactions of it: Pedro loves it; Rosaura gets
sick; and Gertrudis gets turned on. “On her the food seemed to act as an aphrodisiac,
she began to feel an intense heat pulsing through her limbs. An itch in the center of
her body kept her from sitting properly in her chair. She begins to sweat, imagining
herself on horseback with her arms clasped around one of Pancho Villa’s men: the
one she had seen in the village plaza the week before, smelling of sweat and mud,
of dawns that brought uncertainty and danger, smelling of life an of death. She was
on her way to market in Piedras Negras with Chencha, the servant, when she saw
him coming down the main street, riding in front of the others, obviously the captain
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58
of the troop. Their eyes met and what she saw in his made her tremble. She saw all
the nights he’d spent staring into the fire and longing to have a woman beside him,
a woman he could kiss, a woman he could hold in his arms, a woman like her. She
got out her handkerchief and tried to wipe these sinful thoughts from her mind as
she wiped away the sweat. But it was no use. She turned to Tita for help, but Tita
wasn’t there, even though her body was sitting up quite properly in her chair, there
wasn’t the slightest sign of life in her eyes. It was as if a strange alchemical process
had dissolved her entire being in the rose petal sauce, in the tender flesh of the
quails, in the wine, in every one of the meal’s aromas. That was the way she entered
Pedro’s body, hot, voluptuous, perfurmed, totally sensuous.” Gertrudis runs out of
the bathroom to save herself and the smell of Gertrudis's body is so strong it makes
Juan (a rebel soldier) gallop on horseback toward her. When he sees Gertrudis he
knows she "desperately needed a man to quench the red-hot fire that was raging
inside her" Next, Juan lifts Gertrudis onto his horse and they make intense love.
Mama Elena asks Tita what happened and she invents a story about the
Federal troops setting fire to the bathroom and kidnapping Gertrudis. Mama Elena
buys the story, hook, line, and sinker. Later, Father Ignacio (the parish priest) tells
Mama Elena that Gertrudis is working at a brothel. Then, Mama Elena burns
Gertrudis's birth certificate and pictures and her name is never mentioned again.
Each year Tita prepares the quail in rose petal sauce in tribute to her sister’s
liberation.
Meanwhile, Rosaura bears a son, named Roberto. Tita treats her nephew as if
he were her own child, to the point that she is able to produce breast milk to feed
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59
him while her sister is dry. Mama Elena feels that Roberto makes Pedro and Tita
more closer, therefore Mama Elena asks for Pedro and his family to move to San
Antonio. This separation devastates Tita. This separation makes her feels anxiety
that she cannot treat Roberto anymore. A short time later, news arrives that Roberto
has died, most likely due to his removal from Tita's care. Tita feels "the household
crashing down around her head. The blow, the sound of all the dishes breaking into
a thousand pieces. She sprang to her feet” (p.99). Tita starts screaming and ripping
sausages apart. Mama Elena smashes Tita's face with a wooden spoon. Tita blames
Mama E for killing Roberto and hides in the dovecote. Mama Elena removes the
ladder so that Tita can't climb down. Mama Elena asks Dr. Brown to take Tita to an
insane asylum. Dr. Brown finds Tita with a broken nose, covered in pigeon
droppings and naked. Chencha runs alongside the carriage and tosses Tita's
bedspread to her. Dr. John Brown takes pity on Tita and brings her to live in his
house. He patiently nurses Tita back to health, caring for her physical ailments and
trying to revive her broken spirit. After some time, Tita gets better, but has no desire
to speak and she doesn't taste her food. She decides never to return to the ranch.
No sooner has she made this choice than Mama Elena is injured in a raid by rebel
soldiers, forcing Tita to return. Tita hopes to care for her mother, but Mama Elena
bitterly rejects Tita's good will. She refuses Tita's cooking, claiming that it is
poisoned. Not long after, Mama Elena is found dead from an overdose of a strong
emetic she consumed for fear of poisoning.
The death of Mama Elena makes Tita frees from the curse of her birthright
and she accepts an engagement proposal from John Brown. Meanwhile, Rosaura
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60
and Pedro have returned to the ranch and have produced a second child,
Esperanza.The night that John officially asks Pedro to bless the marriage, Pedro
corners Tita in a hidden room and makes love to her, taking her virginity. Soon
after, Tita is certain that she is pregnant and knows that she will have to end her
engagement to John. The affair between Pedro and Tita prompts the return of Mama
Elena’s ghost, who comes in spirit form to curse Tita and her unborn child.
Finally, Gertrudis returns to the ranch as a general in the revolutionary army,
at the helm of a regiment of fifty men. Gertrudis forces Tita to tell Pedro about the
pregnancy.Pedro is glad after he hears the news and he drunkenly serenades Tita
from below her window. Mama Elena’s ghost returns, violently threatening Tita
and declaring that she must leave the ranch. For the first time, Tita stands up to
Mama Elena and, in forceful words, declares her autonomy, and banishing her
mother's spirit. As she expels the ghost, Tita is simultaneously relieved of all her
symptoms of pregnancy. After rescuing Pedro, Tita is consumed with caring for
him and helping him recover. John Brown returns from a trip to the United States
and Tita confesses to him her relations with Pedro. John replies that he still wishes
to marry her but that she must decide for herself with whom she wishes to spend
her life.
Years pass, and the ranch focuses on the wedding between Esperanza and
Alex, the son of John Brown. Rosaura has died. With Rosaura dead and Esperanza
married, Tita and Pedro are finally free to express their love.
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61
On their first night together, Tita and Pedro experience love so intense. Pedro
and Tita go to the dark room, which has been transformed with candles. Their sex
is so intense and the climax so good that Pedro literally dies in a state of ecstasy.
After he dies, Tita must reignite her fire and eats the box of matches that John gave
her. Their fiery bodies set off sparks and light the dark room on fire.
Esperanza returns to the ranch and finds Tita's recipe book. In a flash-forward
we learn that when Esperanza died, she gave the book to "me"—the narrator of the
story, Esperanza's daughter and Tita's great-niece. Today, the narrator's father,
Alex, is coming to her house for her birthday.