Date: Tue, 11 Jul 1995 14:04:32 -0400
Subject: Re: Like water for Chocolate ...


Having read and now having become obsessed with postcolonial literature after
a Senior English Seminar in "Postcolonial Literature" , I find myself
noticing more and more a thread that is many times present in these stories.
 The movie: Like water for Chocolate also has what seems to be a
distinguishing undercurrent for the women "survivors". I use the term
survivors even though TITA chooses suicide in the end.  That thread centers
around a life that is led by spiritual power in a world where you may be
oppressed.  The survivors in these novels are not the persons who have gained
power by the pursuit of wealth, be it land, or money, or position. The
survivors have reached a spiritual awareness of themselves and it gives them
power to stop reacting and start acting in a way that is not traditional
(colonial could also be inserted here).  There is a return to something
basically within the woman that cannot be bought or acquired by earthly
means.
The stereotype of the red-haired daughter's abilities because she is from
African parentage could also be seen in the survivor thread as giving her an
advantage in a world where she will have inherited skills to not only allow
her to cope but will aid her in changing the world left by her mother and
sister.


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