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.
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.
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.
8
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 Es
quivel’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 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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 he r 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 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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 aga inst her mother’s rules.
