Hidden Meaning in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate Essay

Hidden Meaning in Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Laura Esquivel’s novel, Like Water for Chocolate, is a contemporary novel based on romance, recipes and home remedies. Very little criticism has been done on the novel. Of the few essays that are written on this work, the majority of them consist of feminist critique. This novel would be most easily approached from a feminist view because of the intricate relationships between women. However, relationships between women are only one of the many elements touched upon in the novel. Like Water for Chocolate is a novel that uses recipes as a crypt for many important themes in the novel. Jaques Derrida defines crypt as something that, "disguise[s] the act of hiding and to hide the disguise: the crypt hides as it holds" (Derrida 14). The recipes are more than just formulas, they hold, concealed within them, memories. These crypts are revealed through food and the process of food production. Esquivel has personal ties with food and feels that the prod uction of food creates a center of the household. Tita, being the person most closely associated with food preparation in the novel, becomes the primary focus in the structure of her family. The crypts that Esquivel uses are opened throughout the novel in a variety of ways. Tita is constantly struggling against her mother, tradition and inevitably her own destiny. Along the way many aspects of her trials are revealed in her cooking. Eventually, Tita is able to free herself from the emotional chains that her mother has bound her. In the end her destiny is revealed, which in return sets her free from her struggles. Esquivel begins each chapter of the novel with a different recipe. The various recipe... ...rodic Consumption of Popular Romance Myths in Como Agua Para Chocolate." Latin American Literary Review. 24.48 (1996): 56-66. Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. Trans. Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Ibsen, Kristine. "On Recipes, Reading and Revolution: Postboon Parody in Como Agua Para Chocolate." Hispanic Review. 25 (1996): 133-146. Januzzi, Marisa. Laura Esquivel. "Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments, with Recipes, Romances and Home Remedies." Review of Contemporary Fiction. 13 (1993): 246-246. Loewenstein, Claudia. "Revolucion interior al exterior: An Interview with Laura Esquivel." Southwest Review. 79.4 (1994): 592-607. Valdez, Maria Elena. "Verbal and Visual Representation of Women: Como Agua Para Chocolate/Like Water for Chocolate." World Literature Today. 69.1 (1995):78-82.

Frankenstein and Blade Runner

FRANKENSTEIN AND BLADE RUNNER EXAM NOTES Module A: Comparative study of texts and context. Comparative: compare and contrast Context: EVERYTHING, values and perspectives ANALYSING MOVIES Cinematographic Editing Frame composition Colour/group/shade Sound/ music Script/dialogue Acting qualities. EXPLAIN How frank represents the context of 1818 are both warnings to the evil of technology And blade runner context of 1982 BLADE RUNNER CONTEXT Ridley Scott is reflecting values by reacting against them.The biggest link that both are dealing with besides the excesses of sciences. -consumerism -industrialism topics being reflected in blade runner -greed -development at any cost Post war era, out of the Vietnam War . Computer industries booming and Ridley scott reflects this throughout the movie. Los Angeles is filled chosen as an example of industrialism. Economic rationalism- states that the economy dictates everything that happens in society.The Reagan& the Thatcher administration created a free economy whereby the government had less intervention with businesses this in turn created a great class distinction where the rich became richer and the poor became poorer. This idea is reflected in the movie by the idea of â€Å"onworld† and â€Å"offworld† lands where only the rich can afford to live away from the dead earth. Thatcherism- philosophy that anything that technologically advances is good anything that prohibits otherwise is bad.Industrialism – A dwarfing feeling is conveyed through the camera looking up towards the buildings and this further expresses the industrialism that has conquered this society. it is constantly repeated throughout the movie. Chose Los Angeles as a symbol of American industrialisation and technology, as a result of this you had the emerging environmental movement Both texts have a deep suspicion about the dangers of science and technology and what will happen if sci and tech will continue without control Consumerism- c oke, Atari etc are all symbols of consumerismFRANKENSTEINS CONTEXT 1818 – Frankenstein, romantic period 1780-1830 FOLLOWING age of enlightenment (rationalism) beginning of the industrial age: Head and heart knowledge Objectivity vs. subjectivity ENLIGHTENMENT- a period where reasoning and knowledge was central to authority (Rationalism) ROMANTICISM- a reaction to enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature. The influences in context within Frankenstein (1818): â€Å"Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example†¦ who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow†- showing the dangers of enthusiasm which is common to enlightenment writers.In the 1831 edited version, language which sounds obsessive and uncontrollable is added. Frankenstein expresses more emotion and it reveals a more romantic spirit. The change in rhetoric was to show the dangers of romantic egotism and not to show the dangers of science. However this is irrelev ant in the sense that the change represents both sides to her context. The period of enlightenment and romanticism. INDUSTRIALSATION- all about urbanisations and the growth of big cities, before this was a close link to nature. Not so much about urbanisation but more about unlimited technology.Frankenstein has the rural theme with most characters out in the Alps chasing the monster etc. * Romanticism is the birth of a new sensibility, key elements is a growth in notions of individual consciousness- meaning being aware of individual consciousness and hence individual imagination. Having a man create a replicant human being and the amazing way frank wanted to learn the secret of life. Unaided with any assistance could learn language and everything else. – Very superior communication skills * Dangers of experimental science in which humanity is not its goal. The need for love and nurturing. * She clearly reflects aspects of her context, in that a small group of women such as her mother were the forerunners of the feminist movement. Starting to fight that group later be known as the suffragettes. She represents strong feminist views; it’s an analysis when men try to procreate without a woman. She is parodying expressed by the male romantics about the world of love and romance. Quite deliberate that the significant emotional attachments are with men: Frank- monster ClervalWalton WHAT CAN BE DISCUSSED A) CONCERN ABOUT SCEINCE AND DEVELOPMENT I) F + CONTEXT II) BR+ CONTEXT B) ONTOLOGICAL QUESTION WHAT IS A HUMAN BEING LIVING LONGER. VALUE OF LIFE AND FOR LIFE. C) MORAL CHOICES D) NEED FOR LOVE FAMILY AND EMPATHY E) JUDGING PEOPLE BY APPEARANCE – I) made the monster as a playmate for himself and turns out to be a hideous deformed ugly monster. Rejects him on the basis of appearance II) Replicants purely by their eyes – Frankenstein hated the monster because of its eyes. Exposes terror

Semiotics, The, And The Greatest Obsessions Of Beauty By...

Semiotics is a theory often employed in the analysis of texts and through juxtapositions, it has many forms which exists in symbolic visualisations and consist of significant meanings behind a message. By analysing the syntagmatic structure of the film, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, one can gather that the film s overall intent is portraying the effects of war and pacifism and the greatest obsessions of beauty by juxtaposing signs, symbols, denotation, connection and myth. My analysis is separated into 4 juxtapositions: war, pacifism, beauty, ugliness and consumerism; each identifying the signifies and signified, the model being exploited, what messages are being put across and the principle at work linking them all together. This is based on Robert M. Seiler’s â€Å"Guide To A Semiological Analysis†. The symbolisation of beauty and ugliness depends on where you are from as â€Å"culture and society decide what the sign means, rather than nature or biology† (Bignell, 2002) It’s not something we are born with. It’s something our surroundings decides for is. However, people within the same culture may differ in how they interpret a sign because of their way of thinking. Therefore it is more of a case that semiotics â€Å"is the study of signs in society, and while the study of linguistic signs is one branch of it, it encompasses every use of a system where something carries a meaning for someone† (Bignell, 2002), which means people will always have their own opinions about something.