1. Welcome Today: Like Water for Chocolate
Common elements of Latin American literature
Images of women
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo

2. Common elements of Latin American literature
Realism
Historical fiction
Lives of ordinary people
Family sagas (Gertrudis p. 59)
Concern with social/political reform
Folklore (La llarona p. 68)
Latin cultural traditions
Magical realism
How many of these apply to L.W.F.C?

3. Frida Kahlo was born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderon on July 6, 1907, in her parents' house in Coyoacan, Mexico a suburb of Mexico City. Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress 1926

4. “Her finest recipes date from this period of suffering” (Esquivel 69).

5. As you look at Frida Kahlo’s paintings, notice how she chooses to represent women.
(she lived and created art during and after the Mexican Revolution).
You will be choosing one of Frida Kahlo’s pictures to focus on for a comparison we will be doing in class today, so think about which one you might choose.
How does Kahlo represent women in this particular picture?
What colors, or symbols, or gestures, or facial expressions does she use to emphasize this woman? Jot down some notes.

6. Self-Portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States, 1932

7. My Dress Hangs There, 1933

8. My Grandparents, My Parents and I (Family Tree), 1936

9. Frida and Diego

10. Portraits of Women by Frida Kahlo Portrait of My Sister Cristina 1928

11. Portrait of Eva Frederick 1931

12. Roots (Raices) 1943

13. Portrait of Dona Rosita Morillo 1944

14. The Two Fridas 1939

15. Self-Portrait with Necklace 1933

16. Self-Portrait (Dedicated to Leon Trotsky) 1937

17. How is Kahlo using symbols in her art?
What do the symbols generally represent?

18. Self-Portrait 1940

19. Self-Portrait with Necklace 1933

20. Self-Portrait 1940

21. How are symbols used in Like Water for Chocolate?
What are some of the symbols we’ve seen in the novel?
What do they generally represent?

22. Self-Portrait with Loose Hair 1947

23. The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Me, and Senor Xolotl 1949

24. Choose one of Frida Kahlo’s pictures to focus on.
How does Kahlo represent women in this particular picture?
What colors, or symbols, or gestures, or facial expressions… does she use to emphasize/illustrate this woman? Jot down some notes.
Compare and contrast your chosen Kahlo picture with one of characters represented in Like Water for Chocolate.
How does Kahlo show her women/woman differently than Esquivel does?
How are the two women the same/different?
How can you account for these similarities/differences?