First Draft-Midterm Essay!

Mehriniso Muhammadieva

CST 2400

10/20/2020

First Draft-Midterm Essay

Laura Esquirel’s, Like Water for Chocolate, is almost like a modern-day Romeo and Juliet that are filled with appetizing recipes. This novel was published in 1983 and has become one of the valued parts of American literature. The novel’s publicity and fame then brought this movie to life on February 17, 1993, by Alfonso Arau. While the novel, Like Water for Chocolate, is similar to Alfonso Arau’s film version; there are also some distinguishable differences. The use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound makes this translation literal, according to Linda Cahir’s definition. In order to provide this, I will explore the narrators’ description of the scenes. Second, I will use the film’s use of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds to show actions. Lastly, I will discuss what the film has that the book does not. 

The main novel begins with Tita, the main character, coming to life in the kitchen and filling the floor with the tide of tears; maybe because she knew that she would be denied marriage to her loved one. Tita is a character of talent and full of romance; Tita’s life is fully controlled by Mama Elena; what she does, whom she talks to, and whom she marries. However, Tita’s future is set up right after she was born to not get married and her task is to simply take care of Mama Elene for the rest of her life. We also have the older sisters of Tita; Rosaura and Gertrudis, Rosaura ends up marrying Tita’s lover and has his children, Esperanza and Roberto. Gertrudis is the first rebel of the De La Garza family, wanting to escape the securities of home, she is overwhelmed by her lustful passion. She ends up running away with a soldier bare naked and ends up becoming the chief. We also have Nacha, she is an important person to Tita, basically her mother figure. Nacha is the one that takes care of Tita from birth, she is always three when Tita is in need of help; her death becomes Tita’s great grief. We have Chencha, Tita’s best friend and companion throughout the film and the movie. Lastly, we have Pedro, Tita’s lover, and Rosaura’s husband. Pedro marries Rosaura to get close to Tita, as a result, Tita suffers tremendously; she becomes an insomniac, where she wastes her nights kneading it. 

When looking at the similarities and differences between the movie and the film one can barely find the differences because one, the movie goes by really fast. Second, Arau did a good job of recapturing Esquirel’s words/imaginations that it is almost impossible to see the difference. One of the similarities in the diegetic sound that is used both in the novel and the film. Throughout the novel, we have Tita telling the readers how she is feeling, and also we have communication between the characters in the novel. Arue does the same thing with the film, we have characters talking to each other and the sounds that are made in the kitchen, the ranch, we also have Tita’s voice as she speaks her mind to us only. That sound is the only thing the other characters do get to hear both in the film and the novel. One small difference we have is the beginning of the film where we see the death of Tita’s father, while in the novel we are automatically in the scene of Mama Elena giving birth to Tita. Another difference would be the death of Mama Elena in the novel. We have Mama Elena die of poisoning herself with massive doses of ipecac. While in the movie we have her die right when the revolutionaries attack the ranch and throw Mama Elena off to a cliff.