The expectations of society in plays

It's still incomplete miss, i just wanted you to see thet i HAVE been working.

The expectations of society in plays.

Society plays an important role in Laura Ezquivel’s ‘Like Water for chocolate’.

This story is about an atypical middle-class family in Mexico during the revolution (1910-1921). The “typical family in Mexico during the revolution had a man (of the house) that was the principal source of income for the family. The wife’s role varied because of Porifirio Diaz’s ideologies for “pimping Mexico up the French way”. Because of this, typical middle class woman could have the luxury of not having to take care of house business by hiring a maid. But more typically the woman had to do the house keeping.

Like Water for chocolate lacks some figures in the typical family scheme. Mama Elena is the head of the house. She is a widow and has servants to help her with the house keeping. The main character however is NOT Mama Elena. The main character is Tita, Mama Elena’s daughter. From the beginning Mama Elena says that Tita has the role of taking care for her whenever she’s old because that’s tradition in society. From the start of the play, there is a banquet in which the De la Garza family is introduced, giving place to lots of anxiety and preparation. So from the beginning Laura Ezquivel portraits how important the looks were to society in those days.

Henrik Ibsen does something alike in a doll’s house. The story starts on Christmas eve, with Nora (the plays main character) being introduced being delivered a package. Then Torvald (her husband) is introduced being a little cross about Nora spending so much money, so from the beginning Ibsen shows how important money will be in his play, but expresses it in an almost childish way by calling her a “squirrel” or a “sky lark”. This gives the reader the impression that Torvald treats his wife as a child because he underestimates her, because he doesn’t know Nora’s secret, “...I too have something to be happy and proud about. It was I who saved TORVARD'S life.''. In Norwegian society I’m sure they have the same roles for genders. So Nora being so independent (I make this assumption because Torvald doesn’t know about Nora spending so much money) is a little too much freedom.

When Nora is speaking to Christine, the deceit is surfaced. The reader now knows that Nora knows about handling money and that she made a “manly” decision to save her husband’s life. This in contrast with society’s expectations is clearly badly seen because no-one would ever think a housewife such as Nora would ever borrow money and be so independent from her husband. ''Is it foolish to save one's husband?'' and ''Papa didnt give us a penny. it was i who found the money.'' Clearly shows how Nora has solved the problem she had at the time.

In Like Water for Chocolate, Pedro confesses his love for Tita and tells her that he wants to marry him. During the revolution, the man was supposed to go to the bride’s parents and ask them is they would let her daughter marry him. From this point on, you can realize that this is not a typical setting because during the Mexican revolution, people used to marry for land and not for love. Pedro does this but Mama Elena refuses because it was Tita’s role to take care of her until she died. ''If he intends to ask for your hand, tell him not to bother, he ll be wasting his time.''. On the other hand, she offers Rosaura and Pedro accepts.

Pedro’s father is outraged by this decision but is settled because Pedro tells him that he married her to be close to Tita. This is deceit and is badly seen by society. Even when he has a son with Rosaura, Pedro still loves Tita and many times had intentions of cheating. The key part pof the play in which you realize that society does play a big role in Like water for chocolate is when Rosaura tells Tita that she can have Pedro but on the condition that whenever they are with someone else, she and Pedro still seem like man and wife. This clearly shows how important third views are in this play. 'They ordered 200 roosters to be brought for castrating and fattening up. This task fell to Tita and Nacha'' There is a social expectation towards Tita.

The key part in a doll’s house is when Krogstad tries to blackmail Nora.