Shannon Wong
April 5, 2009
Chapters 9-12
Because of her night with Pedro, she fears that she may be pregnant and she isn’t sure what to do or who to tell. She misses Gertrudis and wants to ask her for help, but she isn’t sure where she is. She also knows that she has to cancel her engagement with John because she’s lost her virginity. While Tita’s baking bread, Rosaura asks her for advice, she’s become fat because of her digestive problems and she has stinky breath, which causes Pedro to avoid her. Tita prepares special soups and food to help her lose weight but feels guilty about her encounter with Pedro. Mama Elena’s ghost appears, and scolds Tita for being a shame while cursing the baby in Tita’s stomach. That night a party was held for the Three Kings festival, Gertrudis returned to the ranch for a visit with fifty troops. She had become the general in the revolutionary army and a veteran of many battles. The rest of the night they spend listening to Gertrudis’s stories.
Gertrudis and her army stay for more then a week, and Chencha is tired of doing so much work. Tita longs to share her problems with Gertrudis, she’s very supportive and she urges Tita to tell Pedro about the expected pregnancy. At first Pedro is very happy and he wants to run away with Tita but he remembers about his daughter. The ghost of Mama Elena appears again to order Tita to leave the house, Tita refuses and responds by telling her that she’s always hated her and she has a right to stay at the home. The instant Mama Elena’s ghost turns into a spinning light, Tita’s swollen belly eases and her breasts are soothed, and her menstrual cycle began. The spinning light flies through Tita’s window as a fireball and land on and oil lamp on the patio, making Pedro’s whole body catch fire. Everyone runs to him, Rosaura runs out to him and he calls for Tita not to leave. She holds his hand and Rosaura is humiliated. She stays in a room for a week, while Tita cares for Pedro. That night, Gertrudis and her army have to leave, that same day John is returning from America.
After a week of exile, Rosaura looses 65 pounds. Tita nurses Pedro back to health and she’s afraid and nervous to tell John. Rosaura and Tita have an argument and Rosaura no longer wants Tita to care for Esperanza. Meanwhile, the chickens outside are fighting and they tore each other’s feathers everywhere. Feathers and blood stained Esperanza’s embroider diapers on the clothing line. The fight created a whirlwind, which voided the chickens into a hole in the ground. When it was safe, Tita went back in the house to see that the tamales were still not yet cooked. She remembered that Nacha told her that they could never be cooked if there was anger, so you must sing to them. Once John and his aunt arrived they were ready to be served. During the meal, John senses that she’s disturbed but they cannot converse about it while his Aunt is there. She’s deaf but she can read lips, so they speak in Spanish. Tita tells John of her encountering and he’s disappointed but still willing to marry her. He asks her to choose who she wants to spend her life with.
Tita and Chencha are busy preparing for Esperanza and Alex, John’s son, wedding. The years have past since the ranch with Rosaura, Pedro and Tita were silent. When the question of Alex and Esperanza’s marriage came up, it formed an argument with Tita and Pedro pleading for Esperanza’s wishes respected. After days of arguments Rosaura died with a terrible stench, very few attended her funeral for that reason. Esperanza was free of her wishes and everyone was overjoyed to celebrate their wedding. Everyone left after eating the cake, with a strange effect. Gertrudis once again was the first it affected, arousing her in sexual desire. Her and her husband with many more couples and people left with an excuse while Esperanza and Alex packed their suitcases and left to a hotel. Leaving Tita and Pedro free of sharing their emotions and they made love the first time without worrying of interruption. Tita and Pedro went into the dark room, but it was no longer dark. The furniture was rearranged and there were 250 candles lit. Tita was amazed that Pedro had worked so hard for that night, and Pedro felt impressed that Tita had done that for him, they didn’t even notice Nacha’s spirit lighting the last candle in the corner. Tita could see that a spiritual tunnel lead her to a death, but she calmed to stop herself from ending the glory. Pedro’s heart was pounding fast against hers until it stopped. She realized that he was dead and she devoured luminous candles to meet her tunnel once again. She saw Pedro through the end of the tunnel and whens he left to join him. Their body’s joined to create a fire and sparkling fireworks; the townspeople thought that it were to celebrate Esperanza’s wedding. But the fire burned for a week, and when Esperanza and Alex came back to the ranch, everything was burnt down except for a cookbook with different recipes.
Literary Elements:
Personification: “Now she admired the way they opened their skin and allowed the water to penetrate them fully, until they were split asunder to make way for new life. She imagined the pride they felt as the tip f the first root emerged from inside of them, the humility with which they accepted the loss of their previous form, and the bravery with which they showed the world their new leaves.” (Esquivel 198)
“In a case like that, you have to sing to them, which makes them happy, then they’ll cook” (Esquivel 219)
Metaphor: “Seeds didn’t have that kind of problem, they didn’t have a mother to be afraid of or a fear of those who would judge them.” (Esquivel 198)
“It was definitely true, Pedro had turned into a monster of selfishness and suspicion.” (Esquivel 212)
Simile: “It went through the window and shot out onto the patio, like a firecracker out of control” (Esquivel 200)
“They were dancing like a pair of love struck teenagers by the glow of one of the many oil lamps set up on the patio to light up the party.” (Esquivel 200)
“She felt completely empty, like a platter that held only crumbs, all that was left of a marvelous pastry.” (Esquivel 210)
“Tita couldn’t understand Pedro’s attitude; he was behaving like a child throwing a tantrum. He talked as if he was going to be sick for the rest of his days, but it wouldn’t be that long-in a little while he’d be completely healed.” (Esquivel 211)
“Tita tried to save a few diapers, but when she went to get them, she found herself being swept away b the force of the incredible whirlwind, which lifted her several feet off the ground and took her on three hellish orbits within the fury of beaks before flinging her onto the opposite end of the patio, where she landed like a sack of potatoes.”
(Esquivel 218)
“She fought with everything she had, she fought like a lioness to defend what affording to the tradition was her right- a daughter who would stay with her until she died.”
(Esquivel 239)
Hyperbole: “Her heart burst into a seething passion” (Esquivel 219)
“The house became a battlefield. Slammed doors were the order of the day.”
(Esquivel 239)
Theme: The theme of the story still hasn't changed from what i said before. Most of it is just stay committed and don't renounce love. True love can backfire and more importantly, to respect those around you and not to act impulsively.
Thoughts: Overall, this had a very good story line. Strange ending, and this book is not a book for everyone to read. I enjoyed it a lot and there are a few things that people can learn from this story.
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