The reactions of tita against her mother`s rules in Laura Esquivel`s like water for chocolate.

viii

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.

ix

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 aturan-aturan 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.

i

THE REACTIONS OF TITA AGAINST

HER MOTHER’S RULE

S

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

ASarjana SastraUndergradute 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

vi

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.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ... i

APPROVAL PAGE ... ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ... iii

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... iv

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vii

ABSTRACT ... viii

ABSTRAK ... ix

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCION ... 1

A. Background of the Study ... 1

B. Problem Formulation ... 6

C. Objectives of the Study ... 6

D. Definition of Terms ... 7

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ... 8

A. Review of Related Studies ... 8

B. Review of Related Theories. ... 11

1. Theory of Characterization ... 12

2. Theory of Repression ... 14

3. Two Levels of Mental Life ... 15

4. Id, Ego, Superego ... 16

C. Theoretical Framework ... 18

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY. ... 21

A. Object of the Study ... 21

B. Approach of the Study ... 22

C. Method of the Study ... 24

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS. ... 26

A. The Characteristics of Tita ... 27

B. Mama Elena’s Rules ... 34

C. The Reactions of Tita against Her Mother’s Rules ... 39

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 49

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 54

viii 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.

ix 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 aturan-aturan 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.

1 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

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).

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

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.

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 asTita’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 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

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

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.

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 (1972:161-173) 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.

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

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

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

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.

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).

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

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.

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

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.

21

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-year-old 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

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,

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. .

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

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.

26 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

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

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

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 ox -tail 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

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).

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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,

56 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

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

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

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

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.

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.