The Connection between Soul Food and Like Water for Chocolate

Like Water for Chocolate is a magical realist novel, written by Laura Esquivel, that combines two of Latin American’s loves, food and passion. Esquivel does an excellent job at capturing her audience’s attention and slowly transitioning them into the storyline of Tita and Pedro. Esquivel does not use the transition of time and space as other magical realist authors do, but she uses other magical realist techniques to demonstrate the “magical” part of the book. I found it interesting to compare the way that Esquivel uses magical realism throughout the entire novel because I would imagine it would be harder to hold your audience’s attention rather than using it only in a short story.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. I typically do not enjoy literature when it is chosen for me, but because of the relevance to today’s society and the clear metaphors in the book, I would definitely read this again for pleasure.
Food, lust, and love are all things that contribute to every society regardless of time and people. Food is such a contributing factor to one’s mood and actions, and Esquivel illustrates this clearly in the text while integrating magical realism. The vomiting, passion for one’s first love, and sadness are all caused by the food. Tita’s emotions are “put into” the food, and everyone who eats begins to feel those strong emotions themselves. This is much like today in some regards; if someone cooks a nice, hearty bowl of soup, the soul feels warm and safe (hence “soul food”). Americans are influenced by this whether they are conscious of it or not. One way to my father and boyfriend’s heart is food. If I prepare fried chicken, okra, cornbread, and some pecan pie, those guys are happy campers. It makes me feel better about myself to cook for others as well. This is what Esquivel is concentrating on when we see Tita retreat to the kitchen when something is wrong or she is upset. Cooking is her way of venting and escaping her current condition.
I could go on and on about the way that Esquivel creates passion and lust by literary devices without explicitly stating them, but I just wanted to state the main themes from which I learned, and that is the use of food in everyday society.

Zorro and the Amazing! Use of Graphics!

Although I am not able to fully discuss Isabel Allende’s version of Zorro, her plot combined with Matt Wagner’s Storytelling and Francavilla’s use of vivid imagery is full of interesting and exciting themes. When discussing this graphic novel, many points could and should be discussed; however, I am going to focus on the use of graphics in combination with words to create a magical realist novel. Unlike previous excerpts of text we have read, this book is completely occupied with bright and action-packed images that help to glide the reader through the facts of the story.
I worked as a graphic design artist for three years, so the illustrations in this graphic novel really “hit home” with me. Understanding the precise placement of text and gutters, thickness of gutters, and color tones are play a vital role in understanding this character of Zorro. The majority of readers understand better with an image than with straight-forward text, so the ability of the author to combine with such illustrations brings the level of intensity over-the-top. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel, not for its content as much as its exquisite use of picture and text placement. The image that drew my attention the most was in chapter one when Diego and Bernardo are traveling through the cave. This page has no gutters and a combination of narrative text and dialogue. Starting at the top left-hand corner, we see the opening of the cave, and our mind continues to travel with the images to the bottom right-hand corner. The picture without gutters allows the readers to relax and allows the mind to flow just as the picture does. I also LOVE the fact that the narration, right in the most suspenseful parts, is put on the bottom corner of the page, so the reader must either turn the page or bring the eye up to the top of the next one. This further intensifies the novel. The brown torn look of the narration stands out on the page and is easy for the eye to find. If anyone was interested in studying graphic design, I would highly recommend studying this graphic novel. I have gained much by being introduced to Allende’s graphic novel of Zorro. It has greatly expanded my view of the comic book (although I understand it is not one) and has helped me to learn more about this world of the graphic novel.

Borges

When I was reading Borges’s writings, I was immediately lost and confounded by the consistent change in time and tenses. It creates confusion because his writings were not written to be interpreted literally, but they were written to demonstrate underlying themes. Borges, along with fellow magical realists, used time as a means to prove that humans create their own idea of time, both the past, present, and future. In “The Garden of Forking Paths,” Borges even creates a literal object with which to demonstrate this, the labyrinth and the novel. “Every one imagined two works; to no one did it occur that the book and the maze were one and the same thing.” He used the labyrinth illustrate to show how people formed the idea in their own minds that the labyrinth and the novel were two distinct works, but, in fact they were the same thing. The labyrinth is a good illustration of the world. We are often lost in the world and do not realize that we have become so consumed with the world, that we cannot see that the world actually has two meanings and has another purpose to it as well (the novel). I find that when I spend time with the Lord and my Bible, I can see the world for more than merely a day or an hour, but also for a series of lessons that are meant to teach me something.
Another interesting point that relates to my beliefs is from “The Gospel According to Mark.” The religious content is extremely prevalent in this short story, and I found it contrary to my personal experience. Although I am not Catholic, I am an active member in my local church, and Christ is the center of my life. In this story, Espinosa read the gospel of Mark to the Gutres, but due to their ignorance, they were unable to see the purpose of the story and only saw the literal. When others look at me as a Christian, they may not understand exactly why I act or why I do the things I do because they only see the literal. I, on the other hand, feel like the Gutres at times when I read these magical realism stories. I cannot see the purpose and meaning behind it, due to my ignorance of the topic; I can only see the literal.
“Emma Zunz” is a particularly fascinating piece of art. I found, that of all of Borges’s writings, I could relate and figure out this story. Although I have not been raped nor have I had a man force my father into committing suicide, I have been wronged by others and can sometimes twist the story in my mind to create a reality that did not actually happen. When someone hurts me, intentionally or not, it is easy to convince myself that they actually meant to cause that pain. I think to myself about how that person mistreated me and how I can get revenge, but until I realize that it was an accident, I am going to feel hurt and mistreated. I created my own fantasy about the past which will affect my future. If I decide to harbor those feelings and imagine that person laughing at my suffering, I will probably react poorly in the future; however, if I forgive, I can change the future by acting kindly. This is an example of what Borges was saying with Emma. She creates this fantasy in her mind, but to her it was reality. In my American Film Noir class, we observe how characters, usually the protagonist, create this mythical world and imagine circumstances that to the reader seem ridiculous, but to the character is brutal reality. The more stories I read that incorporate magical realism, the more I can identify these types of characteristics and the more I question the real meaning of time. My view of the world in regard to time is simply that God created time for humans to refer back to a particular event, but time continues to repeat itself and yet move forward so we can continue on this linear path of life.

Marquez

Marquez
“The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” and “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” are two short stories with a common thread to two different audiences. Both short stories deal with the theme of the objectification of beauty. Marquez tries to convey to his audience that what we see is not necessarily what the truth is. For example, in “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” the village people see a man who is beautiful and imagine him to be the perfect husband, lover, and son; while in “The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” the people expect the angel to be beautiful and are disappointed and do not believe that he is an angel because he is not good to look upon. Both views are wrong and extremist and this is Marquez’s point.
The people that see the drowned man do not see the reality of the fact that he is covered in mud and scales; the people that see the angel do not see the reality of the fact that, although he is not beautiful in their eyes, that does not discredit him from being an angel. My favorite sentence in the two stories is “The Handsomest Drowned Man. ” “But it was a vain illusion.” This sentence sums up all of Marquez’s work. He is striving to shed some light on the reality and not what people have come to believe is reality.
This theme of mixing the reality and what people have come to call reality is confusing, so to better understand it, we can look at some real life examples. For instance, to me personally, I am a very straight-forward thinker; I am not an abstract-minded person. When I see a piece of art such as this:
I do not see naturally see past a swirl and blending of colors; however, if I were with my cousin, an art major, she could see and observe the context in which it was painted, how the artist flowed with picture, etc. It is a matter of perspective. This alludes back to our study of Cortázar. He often included the theme of art in his writings, and his writings could be confusing at first, but with a proper perspective and a keen awareness, one is able to see past the literal.
The text is interesting, because Marquez is showing the relationship between religion and being accepting of the divine. I am a Christian, and one of the contraries in the Christian realm is how does God work in the lives of others today. For example, some Christians believe they can speak in tongues or if they see a certain pastor, God will use the pastor to heal a disease or illness; however, in the same spectrum, there are other Christians who believe God can still do miracles, He just does not choose to do miracles the same way today as He did in the Bible through Jesus. It all relies on the acceptance of the divine, and our ability to accept it. This text agrees with my beliefs, because I feel as if God still works today, and we must be aware of possible movements of God. Marquez’s writing applies to all religions. Do not be so narrow and close-minded, and you can see what is the true reality.
Another point which I found interesting is a minor one, but it caught my attention. The following quote from “The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” proves this point:
“Father Gonzaga held back the crowd's frivolity with formulas of maidservant inspiration while awaiting the arrival of a final judgment on the nature of the captive. But the mail from Rome showed no sense of urgency. They spent their time finding out in the prisoner had a navel, if his dialect had any connection with Aramaic, how many times he could fit on the head of a pin, or whether he wasn't just a Norwegian with wings. Those meager letters might have come and gone until the end of time if a providential event had not put and end to the priest's tribulations.”
I noticed that Marquez makes a point to emphasize how much time was wasted by Father Gonzaga and the people. Perhaps he had other intentions, but I believe that many people find this problem in several religions. There is so much regulation and discussion of points and particulars, they do not feel they can worship without being restricted. I believe that most people want the freedom to worship God as they please, without constraints.
As a work of art, I found the piece to be long and drawn out. “But they also knew that everything would be different from then on, that their houses would have wider doors, higher ceilings, and stronger floors so that Esteban's memory could go everywhere without bumping into beams and so that no one in the future would dare whisper the big boob finally died, too bad, the handsome fool has finally died, because they were going to paint their house fronts gay colors to make Esteban's memory eternal and they were going to break their backs digging for springs among the stones and planting flowers on the cliffs so that in future years at dawn the passengers on great liners would awaken, suffocated by the smell of gardens on the high seas, and the captain would have to come down from the bridge in his dress uniform, with his astrolabe, his pole star, and his row of war medals and, pointing to the promontory of roses on the horizon, he would say in fourteen languages, look there, where the wind is so peaceful now that it's gone to sleep beneath the beds, over there, where the sun's so bright that the sunflowers don't know which way to turn, yes, over there, that's Esteban's village.” All of this is one sentence emphasizing the length and monotony of the story. Once the story was explained to me, I began to see its value as a piece of art, but I do not feel as if that part of the story was to be easily understood.
Overall, I enjoyed the text, but I benefited from it once it was explained to me. This story has given me a greater motivation to not classify and judge as quickly, but also to have a greater understanding of the world around me without limitations of normality and ideals.

Cortazar

Cortázar’s three short stories we have read have several common themes including isolation, hypocrisy, art, and the reality of reading. The transformative aspect of art and the reality of reading are some of the continuous threads woven throughout his work. Both “The Continuity of Parks” and “Axolotl” are the prime examples of how art can change and sometimes without the reader knowing it. It should also be noted that in both “The Continuity of Parks” and “Axolotl,” the characters were isolated. The man in the green chair and the man visiting the aquarium were both by themselves and became so involved in their reading or studying, they forgot about the world around them. There has been many times I have been reading a book so intensely that the world or time I am reading about seems to overshadow the present world. Many readers would share this same thought, and this is what Cortázar is trying to convey. “Our Demeanor at Wakes” focuses on hypocrisy, and if you tell yourself something long enough, you eventually will come to believe it. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s man of propaganda, used this tactic during World War II. He was quoted several times saying, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” This is similar to what the people at the funeral were doing, but they did not realize they did it to themselves. Cortázar’s readings seem to touch on many topics that are still relevant and prominent today, and it is important that we learn from themes and messages.

Popol Vuh

The first five chapters of Popol Vuh, which was written by the Mayans, tell their version of the creation of life and time on earth. It was intriguing to compare the Mayan's myth of creation to the Biblical perspective of creation. Starting from the beginning of the text, the comparisons are evident. The first similarity I noticed was the order that the gods created everything including the earth. They seem to generally coincide. In the Biblical worldview, God created the light first, and then proceeded to create living things. The same is true in Popol Vuh; the gods created light and then they went on to create living creatures. Some of the text in the two stories are identical. In Genesis one the Bible says, “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Popol Vuh states, “Thus they spoke. Let there be light…” Another parallel is how both state that things came into existence by the spoken word. Some religions and theories believe in other forms of creation, but verbal creation is a unique factor that I found. I have been raised in a Christian home all my life and have strong beliefs about the foundations of the earth. I found this excerpt of Popol Vuh to encourage my belief. I believe that the parallels are present because all people got their information from the same source and have changed and twisted the story to fit their culture. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to read this passage and take a closer look at the ancient Latin-American literature.