The Idea of Love in, Like Water for Chocolate

Decisions, Decisions The choices we make in our daily lives determine the outcome of our existence. When it comes to finding true love, many people believe that it is almost impossible to find your destined lover. However, this was not the case for Tita De la Garza and Pedro Muzquiz. In Laura Esquivel’s novel Like Water for Chocolate, the love that these two characters shared was everlasting. Although they had many obstacles to face, they were still able to continue their love after decades. Even though with so many people against them, their love was still certain, making it reasonable for Tita to pick Pedro over John. Pedro was Tita’s first and only love. Unfortunately, they were unable to express their true feelings for each other in the beginning because of a family tradition that continued to live on through Mama Elena, Tita’s cruel mother. This tradition indicates that the youngest daughter would be unable to marry to be left to take care of their mother. Tita, being the youngest daughter, was unable to marry; therefore, Pedro was forced to marry her older sister Rosaura in order to be closer to his true love. His reasoning to his father was, “When you’re told there’s no way you can marry the woman you love and your only hope of being near her is to marry her sister, wouldn’t you do the same?” (Esquivel 15). Another incident that occurred between Pedro and Tita was when she loses her virginity to him. The way Esquivel describes this moment in her novel was magical. She made it seem that it was destined for them to make love and be together. Although Tita was already engaged to John Brown at that moment, this did not stop her from losing her virginity to her true love. Esquivel describes the glow emitting from the dark room as “a strange glow; Plumes of phosphorescent colors were ascending to the sky like delicate Bengal lights” (Esquivel 158), which refers to the passion that both Tita and Pedro shared as they made love for the very first time.