El Español

Question: “Traditional values constrain the individual and must be dismantled to achieve freedom.”

“I know why the caged bird sings” – seven striking words uttered from the lips of none other than Maya Angelou. When one hears these words, several others flood the forefront of the mind: sorrow, captivity and solitude are most prominent. Delving deeper into the subliminal message, one could easily identify that the bird represents the individual whose freedom is being restrained while the cage, the conforming society to which the individual belongs. These words figuratively speak to restriction of the individual within the confines of the “cage” which is “made” from: societal norms, values and traditions. Going outside of this “cage” is not an option and limits the desires, freedom, creativity and expression of the individual’s being. The same holds true in Como agua para chocolate, where donde hay patron, no manda marinero. How, then, can one say that traditional values allow for the full expression of an individual? Traditional values constrain the individual and must be dismantled to achieve freedom. The novel explores several themes, one of which is domination. Domination is the exercise of control or influence over someone or something. In Como agua para chocolate, domination tends to have negative connotations. Mamá Elena, the mother of Tita, upholds her stance as head of the household with sheer force and power. She is not to be questioned and her word is understood to be edict. In her own words to Tita, “tú no opinas nada y se acabó.” She acts as dictator and is symbolic of the oppressive traditional and societal values of the time and whenever she is challenged or feels that way, the instigator is severely punished. One such example is in Chapter Two, Febrero, where Mamá Elena punishes Tita brutally with physical force as she suspected her of placing an emetic, medication that induces vomiting, into the batter of Rosaura’s wedding cake. Mamá Elena felt as though her authority was being challenged and confirmed her dominance through physically harming Tita. Constantly, the desires and thoughts of those in Mamá Elena’s household are thwarted. Their opinions and feelings do not matter to her and so they are discarded or concealed. This does not mean that they cease to exist as Tita is one example of this. She was caged by Mama Elená’s domination, but she still felt a strong desire towards Pedro, her lover. The domination only caused deep sorrow and pain, both physical and mental to Tita. What, then, is the true purpose for Mama Elená’s domination? Another theme that seems to oppose traditional values in the context of this novel is love. Tita has an inexplicably resilient love for Pedro. In Febrero¸ at the wedding of Pedro and Rosaura, Pedro riskily holds Tita close and whispers, telling her that he is happy he is now married as he can now be closer to the woman he loves, Tita herself. This blatant display of love towards Tita goes against societal norms and values. Their love transcends what is considered to be right, it is a true expression of their individuality. However, time and time again this is restrained by the ideology of the day where the youngest daughter must remain unmarried and take care of her mother until death. This traditional value has confined them and reduced their relationship to what would have been deemed illegitimate exchanges, only illegitimate because of the unwritten law of the day. What, then, is the purpose of traditional values if all it has done to Tita and Pedro is prevent them from expressing their true love for one another? In a place where la mujer honrada, la pierna quebrada y en casa, another major theme to be examined is rebellion. Rebellion comes because of the tight rein with which Mamá Elena holds her household. Her tight restraint on her household, her consistent denial of the individuals’ freedom of expression has caused an upheaval against her. Her iron fist is like a hand squeezing play dough – it will squeeze and restrain the substance for a while, but when too much force is applied, the substance will begin to escape through the crevices of the hand. The same applies where her confining traditional values are able to maintain order to a point, however, when they become too much of an infliction on the freedom of the individual, there is a challenging of her authority which many times is chaotic. An example of rebellion is in chapter one, Eñero, where Tita has just been denied the right to have Pedro seek her hand in marriage. Tita, having never questioned Mamá Elena’s judgement, for the first time wants to defy her mother’s decision. “Tita no estaba conforme. Una gran cantidad de dudes e inquietudes acudían a su mente,” are the exact words that are used to describe Tita’s doubting of Mamá Elena’s words which later leads to rebellion where she continues to dote on Pedro and the restraining by Mamá Elena seems to be of no good purpose since Gertrudis runs off in a sexual frenzy, something that Mamá Elena stood strongly against. However, with all Mamá Elena dictatorship style behaviour, rebellion perpetuated the novel because will to fulfil individual desire was stronger than the will to follow the rules of the household. Traditional values seem to be arbitrary and unnecessary as they oppose the freedom of individuals which will eventually cause rebellion. Therefore, as is said in colloquial language, “something’s got to give,” which means that there has to be some choice made between two things, one being chosen, the other being the one that has to “give” and in this case, traditional values do not hold much importance. At face value, they seem to be very useful in social cohesion and control, but what when they begin to obstruct human freedom and the spirit of a human being? How then can one validate their importance? There can be no compromise. We have seen through this discourse the negative effects of traditional values, how it imposes on individuals. The caged bird sings because it needs to be free. Open the cage of societal constraints and let it fly.