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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
This research analyzes a fiction novel of a Mexican writer Laura Esquivel titled Like Water for Chocolate. The novel is written in 1989, and filmed in 1992
biography.com. The first version of the story is written in Spanish with title Como Agua para Chocolate. This novel has been translated from the original
Spanish into many languages. The English translation is done by Carol and Thomas Christensen and published by Anchor Books publisher in its first edition
on November 1995. The novel is originally published in hardcover in the United
States by Doubleday in 1992.
This novel is filmed in 1992, directed by Alfonso Arau. The film gets all 11 Ariel awards of the Mexican Academy of Motion Pictures, including the Ariel
Award for Best Picture. This novel is sold over 4.5 million copies biography.com. This film is the highest grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the United
States at the time. The Washington Post states that the story in Like Water for Chocolate is the portrayal of the Mexican feminism.
This story is dominated by Mexican culture, even it has the setting of the Mexican Revolution. Laura wrote this story in monthly installments, and she
always began the story with Mexican recipes. The genre of this story is romance and magical realism.
Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate mainly tells about women and tradition. It tells about a daughter who keeps struggling to get her
freedom from the family tradition which is applied by her mother, Mama Elena.
B. Approach of the Study
In relation to the topic chosen in this research, feminist criticism is employed in the discussion. Feminist criticism
focuses on women’s ability to gain gender equality in many aspects of life through their own acts and choices. This
criticism believes that the limitation given to women comes from men’s authority.
Women are considered to be inferior to men especially in the aspect of working skill, ability, and education. They are portrayed as only the controller of kitchen
and any other feminine activities which do not need their intellectuality. Bressler states in his book titled Literary Criticism that:
… Women, they declare, are people in their own right; they are not incomplete or inferior men. Despite how often literature and society
fictionalize and stereotype women as angels, barmaids, bitches, whores, brainless housewives, or old maids, women must break free from such
oppression and define themselves 1999: 189.
This criticism covers the issues found in the work by the researcher because it represents the woman character in the story who tries to free herself
from such oppression given to her. The oppression given is the product of
patriarchy which limits her freedom to be the woman she wants.
In 1960s , women’s representation in literature is considered as a form of
patriarchal socialization. It provides the acceptable versions, roles, and aspirations of women Barry, 2002: 122.
In Virginia Woolf’s essay “Profession for Women”, she mentions
about „Angel in the house’. The angel refers to women, whose duties are to take care of the household activity, such as take care of the husband and
children, cook, and to take care of her beauty. In her essay, she tells her experience about her first time of writing. She doubts her ability in writing. She says that the
Angel, as the phantom, which represents the old thought about women, tells her not to let anyone know that what she writes is from her own mind.
… My dear, you are a young woman. You are writing about a book that has been written by a man. Be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive;
use all the arts and wiles of our sex. Never let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own Woolf, 1931.
The case in Woolf’s essay represents the situation in Tita’s life. The limitation she gets from her mother and the patriarchal practices restricts her to be
herself, just like the woman in Woolf’s essay. The term „angel in the house’ also
represents the women in Mexico whose obligations are to take care of the family and domestic areas.
This approach is applied as the point of view to identify each reaction of Tita towards the patriarchal oppression. Therefore, when analyzing everything
about Tita in the story, the researcher always relates it to the gender role issues, especially women’s role. The focuses of the observation are the oppression,
inequality, and limitation to women from women’s perspective.
This approach helps the researcher to understand Tita’s resistance and
how women themselves think and react about their relation with tradition so that women choose to follow the tradition or fight against it. Therefore, this approach
is appropriate to analyze this story.
C. Method of the Study
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