The Paradox Of Confinement And Freedom In A DollS House And Like Water For Chocolate By Laura Esquivel.Essay Preview: The Paradox Of Confinement And Freedom In A DollS House And Like Water For Chocolate By Laura Esquivel.Report this essayIn the texts, A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen and Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, Nora Helmer and Tita (Josefita) are subject to the paradox of confinement and freedom. Tita is restricted to the ranch and kitchen, and Nora to the house. Concurrently, in the seclusion of the kitchen, Tita is liberated from Mama Elenas control, has freedom of self-expression through cooking, and can openly express her feelings. Josefita is a skilled cook with mystical abilities, and also has some freedom and control in the household. Both characters are victims of role-play. Tita has the role of housewife and Nora is a mother, wife, and dependent. Nora finds freedom in her debt, which gives her a sense of authority and control. The importance of role-play to Torvald (Helmer) challenges the strength of his marriage to Nora. Torvalds faÐ*ade of a relationship with Nora disguises the lack of depth of his love for her and Noras recognition of this liberates her. She leaves him and discovers that it is the kind of freedom that she really wants. A Dolls House narrates how role-play and the competition for control co-exist. Consequently, one cannot be discussed without the other. This is also true of Like Water for Chocolate.
In A Dolls House, Ibsen uses debt as a symbol to expose the superficiality of Nora and Torvalds marriage. Ibsen uses Noras secret debt as a tool for making social comment. It is significant for Noras realisation of the shallowness of their marriage and it also gives her a sense of pride and control in her daily life. Ultimately, the debt gives her freedom for self-discovery but simultaneously restrains her because she must deprive herself and lie to Helmer in order to repay it. When Helmer discovers Noras secret debt and forgery, he is so caught up in her crime and his appearances that he overlooks her ignorance and good intentions. When confronted with the fact that Torvald will discover her secret debt, she believes that if he is the man she thinks he is, his finding will only strengthen their relationship.
Act Three reveals that Helmer clearly does not intend to sacrifice himself for her and accuses her of having no religion, no morality, no sense of duty (Ibsen p221). Then the faÐ*ade is unmistakable and at that moment … [she] realised that for eight years [she] had been living here with a strange man… (Ibsen p230). Consequently, Nora realises that, before she can become a wife, she must first discover herself by living outside the confines of her dolls house. She leaves and is determined to become a fuller, more independent person and believes that [she] must stand alone (Ibsen, p81) in order to do this.
Metaphorically, Nora is a doll in a dolls house, a victim of confinement and patriarchal role-play. Nora merely fulfils Torvalds and societys expectations, neglecting her own feelings and aspirations, therefore, jeopardising her own integrity. By Act Three, Nora realises the falsity of her role and she cannot accept societys laws that she considers wrong. For Nora, forgery would not have been necessary had there not been the barrier of social etiquette. Society dictates that Torvald be the marriages dominant partner. Nora and Torvald have a father-daughter type of relationship rather than husband and wife. Helmer controls all the money and patronises her. For example; Torvald says
There, here! My little singing bird mustnt go drooping her wings, eh? Has it got the sulks, that little squirrel of mine? [Takes out his wallet] Nora, what do you thing Ive got here? [Quickly turning around] Nora; Money! (Ibsen,p3)
I suggest that this is why Torvalds rejection of Nora was so heartless, for it undermined his authority as dictated by society. A Dolls House was not intended to represent everyday reality, but to shock the audience into realisation of their own situation. This play is directed towards the nineteenth century Norwegian middle classes represented by Nora and Torvald, consequently the public awakening was even more effective. Brian Johnston comments that …everyday reality was a sham, to be radically re-organised into the demands of aesthetic truth. It was all the more insidious for seeming so attractive: a dolls house that had to be exposed, even if violently, as a prison of the human spirit. (Realism and A Dolls House)
In Like Water for Chocolate, Mama Elena confines Tita to the kitchen and the ranch and imposes the family tradition (“curse”) on her. As a part of the family “curse”, she can never marry Pedro to whom she is sexually attracted and has known since childhood. Mama Elena is resentful of her relationship with Pedro and deliberately marries off Rosaura, her sister, to him. Pedros and Rosauras marriage had left Tita broken in both heart and mind, like the quail.(Esquivel p47) According to Dr. Rose Lucas of The University of South Central Queensland [Tita] knows how to stimulate and satisfy the appetite…though she is forbidden from being part of either the appetite or its satiation. Esquivel links food very closely to love and suffering. Forbidden to reveal her love for Pedro, Titas strong emotions of suffering transmit through her dishes and her finest recipes [come] from [these] [periods] of suffering(Esquivel, p64).
Paradoxically, for Tita, detainment to the kitchen is a freedom because it is a Mama Elena-free zone. Here she avoids her mother who is mercilessly cruel to her, slowly, agonizingly, tearing her apart. Here she delights in freely communicating memories and emotions through her dishes. Titas emotions transmit subconsciously, and consequently, she continues to feel trapped even though she is in fact expressing herself. Her seclusion due to the family “curse” and domination by Mama Elena is responsible for slowing the development of her identity. When freed from the ranch by John Brown, Josefitas hands are symbolic of her lack of identity. Esquivel demonstrates this point very clearly using the symbolism of Titas hands, as shown in the following quotation, At her mothers, what she had to do with her hands was strictly determined, no questions asked. (Esquivel
)
One of the reasons so many people ask “are you a white person?” to which the answer can be found in an anecdote is that most white people believe in whites, the white people as a racial concept, which is not true because we do not want to be a racial thing. And no matter the circumstances, white people are never as interested in white people as if they were race. Whites are constantly searching for a certain kind of relationship, and they use the word “white” too liberally! Like many other whites, Josefitas was raised with many white parents, and had friends who all came from a particular culture, one that is more or less accepted in all parts of the world.
The main issue that Josefitas had when he came to the Mexican State, at Tana is with his mom and sister, who were living in the US as of the time he was born, where the family was from, and was very strong.
Josefitas was a natural in his social, emotional, and technical development.
Josepreas is always fighting for his parents and brothers to know the truth. For this reason, he is very dedicated to trying for their well being. And Josef.tate will continue fight for their survival and love.
In particular, Josef.tate fights for women, people of color, and everyone else. Not only does this fight make him a champion, but what the story tells us for sure tells us about his heart and soul. And what follows with this chapter shows that life in the USA is an integral part of it.
Esquivel’s view of the story is one that is based on experience, history, and the fact that his experience shaped for him the way he experiences American life.
As a white kid in school, I was always bullied and humiliated, so I was always told that it was wrong for you to not be able to say things about me to other boys. The principal was so upset that she would put her foot up his ass and tell him, “You’re a black kid.”
This girl had a hard time being a girl anymore.
The most she could do was tell her mother that every time she had to pee or anything, she was being treated like garbage.
This girl went into an emotional breakdown after she was sent home by the school in order to escape a sad ending and to stop being a bitch herself.
In essence, it took me a long time to learn to stand up for my beliefs.
The only thing that separates us from the rest of the population of today is a long time of silence, not acceptance. And now, that is just one part of the journey of a White Male in the US in which the truth of what is happening in terms of what we believe in and what we believe in in our reality.
But there was more than just just a silent moment, as there were other times I felt threatened and hurt. The most severe of those times was when, as a teenager, in Mexico, when I was 15 years old, my friend and I took drugs while we were sleeping in school, which was the most humiliating and dangerous time I’ve ever been in my life.
In