Monday, April 11, 2011

Like Water for Chocolate II

“…in short, it seemed Mama Elena’s genius was for finding fault (94-95).” This explains Mama Elena’s character perfectly. Throughout the reading Mama Elena has found fault with everyone and everything, except Rosaura. The only reason that Mama Elena didn’t find fault is because Rosaura is going to end up being exactly like her. She demands perfection and refuses to acknowledge that perfection isn’t possible. A little further into the reading the story mentions that Mama Elena must have made a mistake while making the sausages but she refused to admit it—she blamed it on other people.
“That is but one small example of the huge difference in ideas and opinions that existed between the representatives of these two very different cultures… (111).” Since beginning the book I have thought that if the author left out certain details that this book could be set during any time period. I think this quote further emphasizes my idea because it still applies today. For the most part, people are still ignorant of other cultures. In a way this part of the book stresses the importance of understanding, or attempting to understand, other people because more interaction between cultures and people is necessary.
“For her, lying was a survival skill that she had picked up as soon as she arrived at the ranch… Anything could be true or false, depending on whether one believed it (127).” I thought this was interesting because it showed a side of the characters that hasn’t been introduced before now. This is brought up when Chencha fears telling Mama Elena that she has seen Tita. It seems like many of the characters are so afraid of her that they willing lie to her. As the head of the family Mama Elena should be encouraging them to lead a pious life that fits the ideals of their religion. Instead she is, in a way, forcing them to choose self-preservation over religion.

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