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
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 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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 Ti ta’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 M uzquiz, 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 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
nurse anywhere, they were i n 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 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
From that day on, Ti ta’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.
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, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
