Events in History, When the Common Wrote the Novel - Research Paper Example

Like water for chocolate This is a novel that an American hip hop rapper released in the year 2000 as his fourth album. The album has received favourable reviews from various magazine publications and thus making sales of over 70,000 copies during the first week. In 1997, Common travelled to New York where Thompson introduced him to D’Angelo (Esquivel 19). Thompson had specialised in production with various members of Soulquarians. One notices Like Water for Chocolate for its afro centric themes. It closes with spoken words that Common’s father recites. Macy assisted in the releasing of a newer version by replacing various charts (Gilly 23).The author sets this story at a time of Mexican Revolution that took place between 1910 and 1920 in Northern Mexico. It concerns a family where the youngest called Tita is an excellent cook and originator of various food recipes. Events in history, when the Common wrote the novel The Mexican Revolution concerned redistribution of land and government reform to the various women and men who played a pivotal role in the revolution. The process involved restructuring the society to include women in the public sphere fully. The main objective of this revolutionary was to create a new constitution. The congress that took place in1916 and the number of Mexican women who attended the congress was seven hundred (Esquivel 29). This group had the intention of reforming the 1884 Civil Code. This Civil Code denied women a right to act in an independent manner from the male who are the leaders of household in all aspects which include child guardianship and inheritance. The feminist congress had concentrations in education, voting, and issues concerning the holding of various public offices. In 1917, the government drafted the revolutionary constitution and women acquired various rights (McLynn 19). They acquired the right to vote and started becoming active in politics. Despite the fact that Mexico was independent of Spain, the governments had internal and external conflicts. The revolution tore the country in the twentieth century. Madero who was a liberal leader led a revolt in 1910 after he lost a rigged election. This culminated in Diaz resigning and Madero replacing him as president in 1911. Why Esquivel set this novel during the Mexican Revolution The Mexican revolution concerned different beliefs, different political parties, and how the country should be governed. All these disagreed with each other and fought for power and struggled to emerge as the ruler of the country. One finds the same observation in Tita’s family. Tita is not comfortable with Mama Elena’s traditions and disagrees with them. She hates her due to her behaviour of enforcing them in a harsh manner. Tita eventually despises Rosaura for her plan of having Esperanza care until death (McLynn 25). She tries to involve in other activities that would contribute to avoiding these traditions and, therefore, one characterises her actions as a revolution. Death of Tita, as well as other characters, contributed to a change in her family. The tradition which involved the transfer of recipes from mother to daughter stopped. The daughter who was the youngest had not to care much about their mother. The process of overthrowing the dictator who was previously ruling Mexico resulted in a revolution in the country that culminated in social and political changes. It also led to the end of previous traditions and rules of the country. How this backdrop function in the story This story explains the historical period in the story. It explains the reason as to why people practice various traditions in the novel. It explains that people have not yet avoided the traditions that they term as outdated. For instance, people still adopt the Mexican traditions of viewing women as inferior beings (Gilly 56). However, the revolution has enabled abandonment of these traditions that are not reasonable. The Mexicos legal system has adopted a reasonable way of treating women. It has ensured them protections and rights than other states like the United States (McLynn 29). We find that, in a case of inheritance, daughters acquire the same amount as the sons. On the other hand, a man cannot leave his wife penniless and in case of divorce, the widow also acquires their dowries back. Ways and reasons why the author alters historical events The author has altered various historical events in the play. The reason behind this is to express the change in the society concerning roles of women. One finds out that female characters dominate the novel since various political views has changed. Earlier on, the public opinion concerning the ability of women is little compared to that of men. Things have changed now, and one finds that women have a chance to fight in the battle during the Mexican revolution. The author has altered historical events since the Mexican Revolution represents a time of change. Conflict arises where the rebels fights the government as it disagrees with the current political situation. This explains conflict that one finds in the story where one views Elena as old government who bears the responsibility of imposing old laws. One finds out that as per the tradition, Tita must not get married but look after her mother since she is the youngest daughter. She becomes a victim of the traditions by disagreeing with Elena’s rule. The rule creates hostility, trouble, and death due to the wars in Mexico. Author’s suggestion about the nature of this historical period The author suggests that the nature of this historical period that characterizes the revolution to be a time of inequality. We realize that, during this time, people neglect women and view them as inferior people. People deny them various rights, like right to vote or view for positions of leadership in the community. Men view them as inferior people, and it is only after the revolution that they acquire their rights (Esquivel 76). The author views this historical period as outdated and traditional. The period employs various traditions that do not promote equality in gender and hence not appropriate. He argues that some of these traditions should be avoided since they are dehumanizing. People should not be discriminated on the basis of their gender. Everyone has a role of ensuring that they value human being without discrimination on a gender basis (Gilly 78). The struggle for power to control the country also controls this historical period. The country consists of people from different backgrounds and who adopt different traditions. This contributes to fights during the revolution that interfere with peace and harmony in the country. The nature of the historical period and the nature of experiences in the novel are similar. There is adoption of various traditions, which a civilised, society should consider as outdated (Esquivel 104). The author suggests that things were terrible in the past since people were still not civilised. The condition has steadily gotten attractive with time. People become civilised with time and discard the traditions that are not reasonable in the society. Work cited Esquivel, Laura. Like Water For Chocolate. Transworld, 2010. Print. Arrom Silvia. Revista. Retrieved from http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/revista/articles/view/393 Gilly, Adolfo. The Mexican Revolution. New Press, 2006. Print McLynn, Frank. Villa And Zapata: A Biography of the Mexican Revolution. Random House, 2011. Print Read More