Quotes from Laura Esquivel S Like Water for Chocolate on Birds

Brenda Lee 4/28/10 IB English HL Y1 Block 2A

Quotes from Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate on Birds

Symbols of Joy, Hope, Belonging: "They didn't just make real animals, they also made up some of their own, creatures with the neck of a swan, the legs of a dog, the tail of a horse, and on and on." (8) -Symbol of joy because her and Nacha are playing around with sausage shapes, or their substitute balloons in the kitchen. Makes for fond childhood memories

“Tita has lost all interest in life, except for her interest in feeding worms to a helpless pigeon.” (87) -Characterizes Tita as one filled with compassion for those who are in need

“Tita immediately missed the constant cooing of the doves, which had been part of her everyday life ever since she was born.” (92) “her main interest lay in feeding that pathetic baby pigeon. Only then did life seem to make a little sense.” (93) -Symbol of hope and peace and familiarity for Tita as she had lost everyone who had loved her, such as Nacha, Pedro, and possibly Gertrudis

“She took the pigeon and a pail full of worms and climbed up to the dovecote.” (99) -Tita’s connection to happiness and her world went with her to the refuge that was the dovecote

“She was at her high post in the window, looking through the glass at Alex, John’s son, who was chasing doves on the patio.” (123) -This seems like a happy game and activity, to be able to watch a child enjoy running around outside

“Its multicolored fabric reminded her of the doves’ plumage, the feathers around their necks, but without any sad associations with the distant day when she had shut herself in the dovecote.” (128) -Her dress from John symbolizes the possibility of a new life, and the new dress away from her mother as well as possible happiness and peace that John could offer her

Means to complete a task: "First they had to clear the table; then they had to assign tasks: one collected the chickens, another drew water for breakfast from the well, a third was in charge of wood for the stove." (10) “The castration is done by making an incision over the chicken’s testicles, sticking your finger in to get a hold of them, and pulling them out. After that is done, the wound is sewn up and rubbed with fresh lard or chicken fat. Tita almost swooned when she stuck her finger in and grasped the testicles of the first chicken.” (27) The castration itself symbolizes Mama Elena’s control over Tita by robbing her of the right to reproduce until Mama Elena is dead

“Two days after killing the turkey, clean it and cook with salt. Turkey meat can be delicious, even exquisite, if the turkey has been fattened up properly. … Fifteen days before the turkey is to be killed, begin feeding it small walnuts.” (65)

“She was in the henhouse gathering the just-laid eggs to fix them for breakfast. Some of the eggs were still warm, so she put them in her blouse, next to her skin, to relieve her constant chill, which had gradually been getting worse.” (69)

Magical Realism: “Tita stopped beating the cake and took the egg in her hand. The sound was quite clear, she could hear a baby chick peeping inside the shell. She held the egg closer to her ear and the peeping got louder. … “Because there’s a chicken inside this egg! Of course Nacha can’t hear it, but I can.” … “Open your eyes and look at your chicken!” Tita opened her eyes slowly. Surprised, she saw that what she had taken for a chicken was just an egg, and a fresh one at that.” (28) -A ghost chicken…magical realism!

“So skillful was she that it seemed Nacha herself was in Tita’s body doing all those things: dry-plucking the birds, removing the viscera, getting them ready for frying.” (50) -Nacha, though dead, is a ghost working within Tita to get things done and spare her from the wrath of Mama Elena

“She couldn’t continue her reflections because the chickens were starting to make a huge ruckus on the patio. It seemed they’d gone mad or developed a taste for cock-fighting. They were giving little pecks at each other, trying to snatch away the last chunks of tortilla left on the ground. They hopped and flew wildly in every direction, launching violent attacks. Among the whole group, there was one that was in the greatest frenzy, using her beak to peck out the eyes of every hen she could, so that Esperanza’s white diapers were sprayed with blood. Tita, stunned, tried to break up the fight, throwing a buck of water over them. That only enraged them more, raising the battle to a higher pitch. They formed a circle, each one setting dizzily upon the next. Soon the chickens were inescapably trapped by the force they themselves were generating in their mad chase; they couldn’t break loose from that whirl of feathers, blood, and dust that spun faster and faster, gathering force at every turn until it changed into a mighty tornado, destroying everything in its path, starting with the things that were closest—in this case, Esperanza’s diapers, hanging on the patio clotheslines. …That hen hurricane was boring a hole in the dirt of the patio, a hole so deep that most of the chickens disappeared from the face of the earth. The earth swallowed them up. After that fight only three chickens remained, plucked bald and one-eyed. And no diapers.” (217-218) -This scene is obviously magical realism as the chickens generate a tornado that sucks everything around them into the earth due to an argument between Tita and Rosaura

Negative Connotations: "A fit of trembling shook Tita’s body and she broke out in goose bumps when each new egg was broken. The egg whites reminded her of the testicles of the chickens they had castrated the month before. Roosters that are castrated and then fattend up are called capons. The family had decided to serve capons at Pedro and Rosaura’s wedding because they would impress everyone with the quality of the dinner, as much for the amount of work required in their preparation as for the extraordinary flavor of the birds themselves.” (26) -Connection to Chronicle—cocks comb used to impress bishop, capon used to impress wedding guests. Negative connotations because Tita is going through all this work just to impress people who are attending the wedding, and essentially supporting, of her sister and her boyfriend

“There was just one thing Tita didn’t like: the soft-boiled eggs Mama Elena tried to make her eat.” (30) “She just pretended that each quail had a soft-boiled egg stuck in its crop and that she was delivering it from its suffering, mercifully, by giving its neck a good twist. As a child she would have chosen death over those soft-boiled eggs she was made to eat. Mama Elena forced them on her. She would feel her throat tighten, so tight she couldn’t swallow any kind of food” (49-50) -Tita rejects anything her mother tries to feed her, as she was not breastfed and she grew up in the kitchen with Nacha as her substitute mother.

“for the eagle eye of Mama Elena saw the spark that flew between them from twenty feet away, and it troubled her deeply.” (79) -Eagles are very observant creatures and this is a bad thing in the case of Mama Elena as she is on the prowl for Tita and Pedro to mess up and confirm her suspicions

“The ones determined not to miss it were the buzzards—a flock of them circled the funeral party until the body had been buried.” (233 -Vultures there to eat Rosaura’s body… like the dogs trying to eat Santiago’s body

Passion: “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 ever one of the meal’s aromas. That was the way she entered Pedro’s body, hot, voluptuous, perfumed, totally sensuous.” (52) -The quail is a metaphor for Tita as she consummates her love for Pedro by pouring herself into the food, the transubstantiation

“The striking of the brass headboard against the wall and the guttural sounds that escaped from both of them mixed with the sound of the thousand doves flying free above them. Some sixth sense had told the doves that it was time to flee the ranch. With them fled all the other animals—the cows, the pigs, the chickens, the quails, the lambs, the horses.” (243) -Though they were not really in the lovemaking, the doves, chickens, and quails were aware of the passion that led them all to flee as they knew the matches would ignite

Victims of Sacrifice: “The one bird they did have was quail. …she went to the patio to catch the quail. …With a deep breath, she took hold of the first one and twisted its neck, as she had seen Nacha do so often, but she used too little force to kill the poor quail, which went running pitifully around the kitchen, its head hanging to one side….She realized that you can’t be weak when it comes to killing: you have to be strong or it just causes more sorrow. …For Tita she [Mama Elena] had made an exception; she had been killing her a little at a time since she was a child, and she still hadn’t quite finished her off. Pedro and Rosaura’s marriage had left Tita broken in both heart and in mind, like the quail. To spare the quail the pain she felt, Tita moved sharply and decisively, finishing him off as an act of mercy.” (49) - Tita’s sympathy for the quail furthers her characterization as one filled with sympathy and compassion for life and it is also a metaphor for Tita as Tita is being killed slowly by her mother

“Laughing, swinging the chickens he was carrying in his hands, the sergeant started toward the door. Mama Elena raised the gun, braced herself against the wall so she wouldn’t be knocked to the ground by the kick of the gun, and shot the chickens. Bits of chicken flew in every direction along with the smell of burnt feathers.” (90) -The chickens are victims of sacrifice as Mama Elena will not let the men into her house and is thus willing to give up all her chickens and doves that she didn’t hide away

“They were impressed by the dovecote’s size and by the darkness and the cooing of the doves gathered there, coming and going through narrow side windows. They close the door and windows so none of them could get away and set about trapping the pigeons and doves. They rounded up enough to feed the entire battalion for a week.” (91) -Source of food and victims of sacrifice for the soldiers and for the people on the ranch, respectively