"Like Water For Chocolate" Journal #4

I have finished my novel, and have loved it! It ends by, I will keep it vague in the sake of not spoiling, Tita is not pregnant. Rosaura dies. Esperanza is able to wed to John’s son. And after countless of years of hiding their love, Tita and Pedro made passionate love without any worries. The fire inside Pedro killed him, and moments later killing Tita (just by her reliving their inner fire).

I really enjoyed how this book displayed culture, sense of self, and struggles we face throughout life. It has given me a great research topic of how cultures affect our relationships and marriage. In this culture, Tita was forced to obey her elders and community; otherwise shame would come to the family name. We, as American’s, tend to not consider those things as hurting our families and tend to think only of ourselves. We also seem to put less emphasize on the family name, compared to countries like Mexico and India. I look forward to researching more of these patterns.

Going back to my original senior project question: How does someone discover/rediscover themselves? Tita, on page 199, finally stood up to her mothers putdowns. “I’m tired of you tormenting me. Leave me in peace once and for all!” She also, at this point in the novel, knows who she is-as a sister, lover, aunt, and most importantly a passionate cook. “I know who I am! A person who has a perfect right to live her life as she pleases. Once and for all. Leave me alone; I won’t put up with you! I hate you, I’ve always hated you!”

My favorite moment of her self realization was page 240: “…how long ago it seemed that Tita had felt like a chile in nut sauce left sitting on the platter out of etiquette, for not wanting to look greedy.” She finally was able to be with Pedro, instead of alone out of courtesy. She was done with all of the fake marriages and forced families. She knew who she loved, and nothing was going to stop her from loving him anymore!

Like Water for Chocolate Journal #3

Much has happened since my last blog! First of all, Tita completely disobeyed Mama Elena by screaming and yelling at her for all the mean things she has done. She had a mental break down, and Mama ordered Dr. John to put her into an insane asylum. Instead of listening to Mama, John took care of her until she discovered herself again. He is so caring, and loves her dearly!

Tita eventually goes back to the ranch, ironically, to take care of Mama Elena. Mama and Chencha were raped and attacked by some of the revolutionaries, leaving Chencha an emotional wreck and Mama severely injured. Eventually, Mama died. She believed Tita was poisoning her food, so she took antibiotics after every meal. Which, in the end, poisoned her!

Pedro and Rosaura come back to live on the ranch after Mama’s death. Rosaura is pregnant again and has a baby girl named Esperanza. Because of complications, Rosaura will not be able to have another child. It kills Tita to hear that Rosaura would keep the cruel tradition of the youngest daughter will not marry, in order to take care of her mother till death.

The most scandalous event was Pedro and Tita made love. They keep their affair going for a long time, until Tita realizes she is pregnant! How could she have been so careless? She can’t run away with Pedro. He has a child, she has a niece. They would hurt Rosaura terribly. And as much as she despises her sister, she could never hurt her the way she has hurt Tita! And what would Tita do about her engagement to John? He was gone, getting his grandmother for the wedding. What was Tita doing? Preparing for the wedding, no, sleeping with another man.

Luckily Gertrudis has come back for a week. She is now married to the man she ran away with, and a general in the revolutionary army. Tita confides her secretes to her sister, but all her sister can think about is her favorite desert about to burn on the stove. What is Tita going to do?

These events in the novel are creating immense hurdles for Tita to jump. Yes, she has lost and found herself all in the past 100 pages. Now she must show her morals and ethics. I believe her true self would not run away with Pedro, but by herself. She will leave with the mess she has made, and try to leave as many hearts in tack as possible. Although she does have that respect for others, in stories the main character does not always do as they should-just like Tita should not have been sleeping with Pedro. I am excited to read and finish this novel, to see the progress Tita has made. Discovering herself without the negative influences and abuses on Mama Elena is an amazing accomplishment. She gives young ladies hope, who have been physically and or verbally abused by a parent and feels trapped.

“Like Water for Chocolate” Journal #2

After the Nacha’s death, Tita becomes head of the kitchen. Pedro gives her flowers as a gift to congratulate her! But, doing so only makes Rosaura cry and Mami very mad. Instead of throwing away the beautiful Roses Tita received, she made quail in rose sauce. The one mistake she made was holding the roses too tightly, thus causing her to bleed-turning the petals into a bloody red color, instead of pink.

Everyone knew the dish was exquisite, but only Pedro complimented her on a job well done. Gertrudis was starting to feel different. She was sweating and starting to feel an intense heart beat. She began to imagine a man on horseback, more so a desire for this man. This revolutionary, in the midst of battle, came on horseback to find Gertrudis. And they ran off to do what lovers do…Mami heard she ran off and was now working at a Brothel. She is now “unknown” to Mami.

Pedro and Tita were in tears seeing the act of love being carried out, which is what they could not have. There was a moment where you think Pedro is going to ask her to run away with him, but Mami starts yelling what’s going on out there!

In April, Tita is cooking for Pedro and Rosaura’s son Roberto. They host a party for the new baby boy. To Tita’s surprise she loves him. Also, she is the only one who can breast feed him. It is as if her sister was caring “her baby” all along. Even though she thought her fate may have been denied her, she ended up getting a special bond with that boy.

Mami made Pedro, Rosaura, and baby Roberto move to San Antonio. Tita had become depressed. They were the only reason she lived to the next day. She was getting in trouble all of the time for her careless errors. Then one day they got word the revolutionaries were on their way to their farm. They hid as many valuables as possible. After Tita came out of hiding, she immediately became even more depressed to not hear the cooing of the doves. But, was surprised to find one small baby dove, which she is now taking care of (almost as if it were Roberto). It is the only thing that keeps her spirits up!

Tita is struggling with the life she has been denied. Which brings us back to the original question, what does it take to find oneself? At this point Tita is lost. It is possible that a nervous breakdown, runaway, or suicide will be coming within the next chapter. She needs someone to guide her to a path of purpose. She only knows this life of being forced to work to support her mother, who she hates. Any revolt, of any sort, would lead to being beaten. Tita must get out of that house. I wish that Tita and Pedro could find each other and runaway, but this is unrealistic. Not all love stories are like what you see in the movies. I hope soon Tita realizes what she needs to do to discover her true self!

Eat, Pray, Love: Blog 3

Liz has now spent about 5 weeks at her Ashram. She has been frustrated with her meditation time, but finally has improved. She is now able to silence her mind or “ego” as her friend from Texas tells her. He also tells her “you got some serious control issues” page 150. He, Richard from Texas, becomes that one person for Liz who she can talk to about all of her spiritual setbacks. He makes her laugh, cry, smile, and most importantly discover that she needs to let go.

As much as she dislikes meditating, she HATES doing the daily chant called the Gurugita. Liz struggles every morning-going through the 182 murderous versus of “sacred” Socratic dialogue. It is a conversation between the goddess Parvati and the almighty god Shiva. Whatever Shiva imagines, Parvati brings to life. Their dance or union (Yoga) is the cause of the universe and its manifestation.

Swamiji, (her Guru’s Guru-once owned this Ashram, until he passed it on to his best student) she believes is kind of “stocking” her. He is so powerful-it scares her. But at the same time all she wants is Swamiji. He is the only one she prays to, only one she sees in her dreams and meditation. He laughs and loves her. When he laughs at her thoughts, it only makes her angrier, which motivates her even more. It is now her last week. She promises she will go to Gurugita everyday this week, no skipping this week! She even overslept on Monday, waking to find out her roommate locked her in their room. Instead taking this as a legitimate excuse, she climbs out the window just in time for Gurugita. This to me truly shows Liz’s determination to discover another aspect of her life.

So back to the question: How and why does exploring a world uncommon to one bring out traits and desires one did not know before? In part two of the book, Liz is discovering her spiritual self. She has her setbacks, like missing David (once again). And she also struggles with meditating and the chanting of Gurugita. But all in all, she learns to silence her mind and the power of god. This was what she wanted from India when she decided to travel there.

Looking back, to the beginning of the book, to the first night she found herself crying and desiring something-anything other than what she had at that moment in time, she began to grow. In India, she begins to let go of her control issues (first of all, admitting them!). She knows now you can’t control the failures of your relationships. Sometimes your soul mate is meant to show you the reflection of yourself, which is not always good. Therefore staying with that person is not always the right choice (aka if you don’t want to feel pain every single day). She has challenged herself to do things she didn’t think were possible. It takes great strength for one to do what she has done in India. I’m excited to read on and see her complete her revolution in full circle!

Eat, Pray, Love: Blog 2

Elizabeth finishes her last two months in Italy with more language lessons from her friends and a lot of traveling. She sees Naples, Venice, Sicily, etc. Her sister, aunt, and good friend even visit her. She eats even better food than she has ever had before, and buys new jeans (she has already outgrown her “Second Month in Italy pants” page 110). As she is leaving Italy, she is able to say to herself, “I exist more now than I did four months ago” (Page 116).
Next is India. Here is where she will be practicing her devotion to her Guru through meditation and yoga 18 hours a day, for six weeks! “My Guru always says that only one thing will happen when you come to the Ashram-that you will discover who you really are” (Page 129). Which is perfect for her right now; she is leaving Italy extremely pleased, with all of the pleasure she let herself feel without guilt. Now she wants to completely devote herself to the Ashram life. Her day begins at 3:00 AM and ends at 9:00 PM. It’s both extremely physically and psychologically draining.
In India, I think she will find the next piece of herself she has been looking for. This year long journey through many different places will end up bringing her the balance she is looking for. But for the moment she must be “unbalanced” and seek only the devotion aspect of her life. Yet I am only at the beginning of her Indian journey, she is enthused and motivated. Her time in Italy was beyond words, and now she is prepared to have the complete opposite experience, but just as rewarding.
So, how will Elizabeth find herself in India, just as she found a piece of herself while in Italy? The first step is to assimilate into her Ashram. She uses the analogy of assimilating a new chicken into the already established chicken coop. “You must…slip the new bird into the chicken coop in the middle of the night while the others are asleep” (Page 119). After that she begins to get in the flow of things. She begins her yoga again. Her yoga helps her to “find God through meditation, through scholarly study, through the practice of silence, though devotional service or through mantra-repetition of sacred words in Sanskrit” (Page121).
What does discovering God and devotion to a Guru have to do with discovering one’s self? Faith. Believing is power. Clearing one’s mind through complete and utter silence can only do good. You become unstressed, relaxed, and afterward able to be in peace with yourself and your environment. You may think it sounds easy to do, but it is the contrary. Elizabeth is about to discover what it takes to not think for extensive periods of time.

Eat, Pray, Love: Blog #1

Eat, Pray, Love

By: Elizabeth Gilbert

BLOG #1

            Elizabeth Gilbert is thirty year-old, who has found herself lying on her bathroom floor crying about her “perfect” life. She thought by the time she turned 30 she would want to be settling down starting a family. Now realizing she has a husband a beautiful home, yet all she can think is “I don’t want to be married anymore” (Page 10).

            Elizabeth goes through this awfully painful and long divorce; all ending with her broke, depressed, and desiring love of self. She decides to travel. She has always wanted to speak Italian fluently, and what better way to do that than go there! She wanted to go to India to visit her Guru’s Ashram. Lastly, she felt the need to fulfill the prediction of an old Indonesian medicine man, “you’re destined to move to Bali and live with him for four months” (Page 28). All together she wished to experience kalos kai agathos, the singular balance of the good and the beautiful. She stopped trying to choose and decided to spend four months living in each country.

            Her first stop is Italy. She eats gelato about three times a day and practices her Italian at school, with her friends, and with Giovanni (she helps him with English and he helps her with Italian). She also learns a new concept: the art of doing nothing. With all of this in mind, she defeats her depression.

            How and why does exploring a world uncommon to one bring out traits and desires one did not know before? In Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert explores three abroad countries: Italy for its pleasure, India for meditating, and Indonesia (Bali) for love. She leaves behind her baggage and pursues new ideas and confidence.

            In Italy she learns the ability to do simply nothing. She makes a delicious meal and enjoys every single bite. She then reads her Italian newspaper, practicing her skills. She is fully embraced in what she is doing that she doesn’t worry about what she is going to do tomorrow or how much weight she is gaining from eating gelato three times per day. This is probably her most significant accomplishment so far, because she strayed from her ways she learned as a child-to always be doing multiple things at once. Therefore she used to feel guilty when only spending time on one task. Now she understands the concept of enjoying the most simple, but splendid tasks in life. She does not feel the least bit guilty for enjoying her meal and newspaper.

            Another example of Elizabeth learning to enjoy the pleasures of life, would be her desire to learn the most beautiful language in the world: Italian. She has no reason to learn, except for the fact she wants to for herself. Even though her friends tease her for traveling to Italy to better her Italian skills, she doesn’t let them ruin her spirits. She is sick of doing things society thinks she should be doing right now (like settling down in a suburb and raising children). Trumping them all, she does what her heart tells her to do. Of course with the guidance of, still unsure of who or what he/she really is, God.

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