Like Water For Chocolate, Section 3

“Growing up, one realizes how many things one cannot wish for, the things that are forbidden, sinful. Indecent. But what is decent? To deny everything that you really want?”(171). I think this passage is interesting because it addresses how we are all socialized to adopt certain morals. And the older we get, the more these morals are impressed upon us. As Tita explains right before these lines, it was easy for her to ask for things she wanted because as a child because she was not yet completely indoctrinated into this moral system. But now that she is a woman, she feels especially oppressed by what she is told is right and wrong. She is more conscientious of how she is expected to act in society and in her family. She is told that what she is doing with Pedro is wrong, yet since they both love each other, she wonders how it could be. In this excerpt, Tita questions why what is “decent” should deny people the right to fulfill their desires. If what is “decent” opposes a person’s right to be happy, then the word actually seems to take on the opposite meaning. There isn’t really a point in trying to fit some predetermined idea of decent if it is arbitrary and oppressive.

“The truth! The truth! Look, Tita, the simple truth is that the truth does not exist; it all depends on a person’s point of view”(184). I find that what Gertrudis claims here about truth relates very well to the passage above about morals, or what is considered decent and indecent. At this point, she and Tita are speaking of the dilemma Tita is in: that Tita might be pregnant with Pedro’s child. Tita is very distraught about her situation because she is afraid that Rosaura will find out and think that she is terrible sister. As we see, Gertrudis tells Tita that it is not true that she is betraying Rosaura because truth is not determined by one person or in one way. So, thinking of morals in the same way, it seems that the truth of what is right and what is wrong doesn’t necessarily exist either. What Gertrudis says makes a lot of sense when she reminds Tita that the truth could be that Rosaura betrayed Tita in a sense by marrying Pedro when she knew he and Tita loved each other. In other words, the truth of the matter looks different to Rosaura than it does to Tita. All in all, this passage argues that each person can see his or her own truth in any situation.  

“She would have to find some way, even if it was an artificial one, of striking a fire that would light the way back to her origin and to Pedro” (239). I feel that this passage relates to what we’ve discussed in class about how one cannot fulfill his or her desire while still alive. It seems that the only way to satisfy such overwhelming desire is to die. Tita’s desire for Pedro is so strong that she burns up all the matches she has inside of her, which almost kills her. Somehow, she manages to temper her desire enough so that she doesn’t completely succumb to it. Though she remains alive, she says that she is incapable of feeling anything because she has just burnt out all of her desire. Therefore, we see how even though desire is deadly to fulfill, at least some of it (some matches) is necessary to feel and to be alive. Because Pedro died satisfying his desire, Tita is compelled to try to relive hers so that she can be with him in eternity. Since she used up her matches, she eats candles and, thinking of Pedro, is able to relight them and experience that burning desire again that will kill her.