Welcome

Today: Like Water for Chocolate

• Common elements of Latin American literature

• Images of women• Mexican artist Frida

Kahlo

Common elements of Latin American literature

• Realism• Historical fiction• Lives of ordinary people• Family sagas (Gertrudis p. 59)• Concern with social/political reform • Folklore (La llarona p. 68)• Latin cultural traditions• Magical realism

Motif

• A recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature. Ex: Using food to convey emotion

• A motif may also be two contrasting elements in a work, such as good and evil, heat & fire, etc.

• A motif is important because it allows the reader to see themes that the author is trying to express, so that they may interpret the work more accurately.

Common literary characteristics for Latin American literature

• Use of foreshadowing (p. 58)

• Use of symbolism (quail p. 49)

• Metaphor/simile (last chili… p. 57-8)

• Locate these examples and see if you can find one more of each! Add them in your notes!

Symbols in Literature and Art

• How are symbols used in Like Water for Chocolate?

• What are some of the symbols we’ve seen in the novel?

• What do they generally represent?

Frida Kahlo was born Magdalena Carmen Frieda

Kahlo y Calderon on July 6, 1907, in her parents' house

in Coyoacan, Mexico a suburb of

Mexico City.

Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress

1926

1907-1954

• Active in social, economical, and political changes in Mexico

• Mexican Pride

• Both Mexican and European bloodlines added scrutiny to her national identity: compelled her work forward.

Suffering and Art• “Her finest recipes date from this

period of suffering. Just as a poet plays with words…” (Esquivel 69).

• "I've done my paintings well, not quickly but patiently, and they have a message of pain in them.” – Frida Kahlo

• "I am not sick…I am broken... but I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.... ”- F.K.

• As you look at Frida Kahlo’s paintings, notice how she chooses to represent women. – (remember she lived and created art during and after

the Mexican Revolution).

• You will be choosing one of Frida Kahlo’s pictures to focus on for a comparison we will be doing in class today, so think about which one you might choose. – How does Kahlo represent women in this particular

picture? – What colors, or symbols, or gestures, or facial

expressions does she use to emphasize this woman? Jot down some notes.

Self-Portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States, 1932

My Dress Hangs There, 1933

My Grandparents, My Parents and I (Family Tree), 1936

Portraits of Women by Frida Kahlo

Portrait of My Sister Cristina

1928

Portrait of Eva Frederick

1931

Roots (Raices)

1943

Portrait of Dona Rosita

Morillo

1944

The Two Fridas

1939

Self-Portrait with Necklace

1933

Self-Portrait (Dedicated to Leon Trotsky)

1937

• How is Kahlo using symbols in her art?

• What do the symbols generally represent?

Self-Portrait

1940

Self-Portrait with Necklace

1933

Self-Portrait

1940

Self-Portrait with Loose Hair

1947

The Love Embrace of the Universe, the

Earth (Mexico), Me, and Senor

Xolotl1949

• Choose one of Frida Kahlo’s pictures to focus on. – How does Kahlo represent women in this particular picture? – What colors, or symbols, or gestures, or facial expressions…

does she use to emphasize/illustrate this woman? Jot down some notes.

• Compare and contrast your chosen Kahlo picture with one of characters represented in Like Water for Chocolate. – How does Kahlo show her women/woman differently than

Esquivel does? – How are the two women the same/different? – How can you account for these similarities/differences?

Homework

• Read “May” and “June” and “July” in Like Water for Chocolate- expect a quiz