Both Like Water for Chocolate and The House of Spirits are novels that have plots that contain two male characters extremely significant to the development of the story. Both the male characters are caught in romantic conflicts which create and continue the lives of these as well as the life of other characters, therefore, positioning these characters in a level of importance more significant than many of the other involving characters. In Like Water for Chocolate the character of Pedro Muzquiz is of extreme relevance to the novel of Laura Esquivel. Pedro is initially presented to the readers as a man who is madly in love with Tita, the youngest daughter of Mama Elena, who due to family tradition is unable to marry Pedro because she now has to dedicate her life to taking care of her mother until her respective death. In a similar way, Esteban Trueba in The House of Spirits is the male protagonist, whose life is analyzed throughout the duration of the novel, ending after his death. Esteban, in a similar way to Pedro, is forbidden to marry his loved one Rosa, who due to political motives, is accidentally murdered after drinking venom that is initially meant for her father. Both these characters have strong feelings towards their loved ones and at a certain point in the novel are at a significant physical distance. In Esteban’s case, Rosa is at the del Valle’s house while he is working in the mines “and trusting that someday he would strike a marvelous seam of gold that would allow him to become a rich man overnight and return to lead Rosa by the arm to the altar”, saving all his money so that one day he will be able to support his matrimonial life with Rosa. The same thing happens to Pedro Muzquiz, who is also pushed apart from his loved one, Tita, due to being forced by his wife Rosaura, Tita’s sister, to move to Texas because she is threatened by the relationship between Tita and Pedro – a forbidden love. In a detailed analysis it is comprehended how Pedro as well as Esteban are two characters with similar traits. Another resemblance between both these characters is that due to their romantic destiny, they did not marry the women whom their hearts initially choose. Pedro marries Rosaura, Tita’s sister, as a way to maintain proximity with his true love that cannot marry him due to traditional motives her family has as a priority to maintain. Esteban also does not marry with “Rosa the Beautiful” known for her “strange beauty [of] a disturbing quality”, since she dies from being poisoned, which Esteban could not believe because “the only thought that had never crossed [his] mind was that Rosa could be mortal”. After years in Trés Marias, Esteban returns to ask for the hand of Rosa’s little sister, Clara. This means that both these characters not only did not marry the women who initially spark their love, but they also marry the sisters of these.
Both Pedro and Esteban like to have control over what they love and/or what is theirs by right. Despite the fact that Pedro creates a family with the sister of his loved one, he believes he has the right to control what Tita does or does not do, creating then in Pedro, a hypocrite as when he marries Rosaura, Tita does not try to dissuade him. This happens when Tita decides to marry John Brown, who plays an enormous role in Tita’s recovery, who after Pedro’s abandonment seems to become insane. When Pedro returns from Texas with Rosaura because of the marriage between Tita and John Brown, Pedro creates in Tita an uncertainty which he has no right to, since in the past he did what he thought was right and did not even ask Tita for her opinion. It can be doubted that Pedro has different intentions than he states, as he may have married Rosaura just to control Tita and not just to be closer to her. This happening in the novel of Laura Esquivel is very similar to Isabel Allende’s, who creates Esteban’s character as a resentful man who due to his wife’s death, turns into a different man, in this case, a severe, unfair and implacable man. Esteban, just like Pedro, likes to have control over everything possible. Furthermore, his conservative politics demonstrate how he believes in hierarchy of workers; putting himself on the top of this work chain. Esteban not only has an autocratic control over the workers in Trés Marías, but as well over his family. As an example of this, there is Blanca, daughter of Esteban, who has an affair with Pedro Tercero Garcia. This boy has secret meetings with Blanca, and when these forbidden meetings are uncovered by Esteban, he hunts Pedro Tercero Garcia with all his strengths and powers; when he finally finds him, he attacks him with an axe, and thanks to Pedro’s instincts, “he raised his arms to stop the axe” which “sliced off three fingers of his right hand”. After analyzing the resemblances between these two essential characters to the plot of each of the novels, in order to be able to compare the success of these, it is also necessary to verify what makes each character distinct from the other. In spite of all the resemblances both these characters possess, Esteban and Pedro also differ in various aspects. One of these aspects are the reasons of their marriages. In Pedro’s case, he chooses to marry Rosaura as a way to allow Tita and himself to maintain proximity as when he whispers in Tita’s ear “‘through this marriage I have gained what I really wanted: the chance to be near you, the woman I love…’”, as Tita is not able to have any kind of matrimonial compromise as long as her mother is alive, because of the tradition of having to care for her mother until her death. However, Esteban does not marry Clara to maintain proximity to Rosa because this would be impossible as Rosa died at the time in which Esteban asked for the hand of the youngest daughter of the Severo del Valle. It is possible to argue that Esteban marries Clara because this would be a way of maintaining proximity to Rosa even if it is by the simple fact that his wife is the sister of the initial owner and dominator of his heart. Esteban marries Clara years after Rosa’s death and does not marry Rosa because of her murder. Between Esteban and Pedro there also is a significant difference which distinguishes themselves in their personalities. Pedro is a subject much more calm and pacific than Esteban, who in the elapse of the story The House of the Spirits, proceeds to turn into a man even more vengeful, hateful and grumpy – later on giving him the title of a tyrant in Trés Marías. As proof towards this, there is the fact that Pedro in the whole of the novel, before all his difficulties, never utilizes his aggressiveness as a way to achieve his goals. Pedro, before the impossibility of uniting with Tita, assumes an attitude of acceptance by not forcing the situation. Whereas if it were to involve Esteban, takes an attitude of nonconformity as he takes instance where Clara provokes him, mentioning to him all the rapes he commits to so many girls in Trés Marías, making Esteban violently smack Clara. This contrast between the two characters is evident, but, may be discussed this way because Esteban is the protagonist of the story, while Pedro is just a mere important character in the novel, Like Water for Chocolate. Being the protagonist, all the details of his person are illustrated during the course of the narrative, something that Pedro is not subject to. An example of this is when Pedro moves to Texas, the readers know very little of what really goes on in his life with Rosaura; maintaining the anonymity about certain aspects of his life that could be significant to a description of more variety in terms of his aggressive facet – which may or not exist. This is the difference between himself and Esteban who cannot run away from the critics of the public in relation to his hostile attitude. In both these characters there are several similar and different factors when it comes to their attitudes and behaviors that are extremely significant to the comprehension of the novels. But, the truth is, that without both these men the respective stories would not be the same, as the two of them have a fundamental importance to the actions in both novels.

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[ 1 ]. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, pg. 5
[ 2 ]. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, pg. 4
[ 3 ]. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, pg. 32
[ 4 ]. The House of the Spirits, pg. 206
[ 5 ]. The House of the Spirits, pg. 206
[ 6 ]. The House of the Spirits, pg 38