Discussion Questions for Like Water for Chocolate
1. What do you think the title of the novel means?
2. What does the subtitle refer to?
3. How does this novel reflect the “calendars for young ladies” that were popular in Mexico that it parodies? Are the monthly installments accurate in terms of time?
4. What is the setting for the novel—place and time? Why is the setting important?
5. Why does so much of the novel take place in the kitchen?
6. What comparisons are made in the novel between written history and oral history? Why is this distinction important?
7. What kinds of knowledge seem most important in the novel?
8. What enables Tita to finally be free of her mother’s control?
9. What is the symbolism of the bedspread?
10. Discuss the ways the author uses memory in the novel.
11. The author frequently shifts from third person narration to second person narration as Tita is cooking. What effect does this use of second person have?
12. Which of the characters do you think are strong characters? Why? Which are weak? Why?
13. Why does the novel fit in the category of magical realism?
