The Theme Of Power English Literature Essay

The Theme Of Power English Literature EssayIn both Like Water for umber (LWC) by Laura Esquivel and A Woman at Point Zero (WPZ) by Nawal El Saadawi, the author shapes the readers opinion on the theme of effect. The theme condition is presented in both of the books protagonists, Mami Elena and Firdaus. Both characters show significant feminine power throughout the book as vigorous and bold characters. Mami Elenas power is show through the actions she inflicts on her daughters and the capability to control each of their fates. Firdauss power is visualised as a aggrieve victimisation her status to manipulate mens desire to her own advantage.Woman at point zero narrates the story of Firdaus, an Eqyptian womanish of the 20th century, born and raised within the misery of lower clear up and chauvinist Muslim society. For Firdaus her expectation of power is simple men pitch power and women do not. By birth, I was lower class My engender. Knew very few things in lifeHow to exch ange his virgin daughter for a dowry when there was still timeHow to bend only over the headmans hand and pretend to kiss it, how to beat his wife and do work her spiciness dust each night.2El Saadawi describes Firdaus as a feeble character since birth, described as existence lower class and as well as a description of power represented by her laminitis overcome her mother. Beca custom of her misfortunate cultural position, the character is persecuted by provokeual harassment and encumber submission to young-be striketing(prenominal) desire. As a result, fe staminate suffering and conquest is clearly identified by the reader throughout the fresh. Thus creating Firdaus, a prestigious bawd, whose interaction with society is confined within the basis of male persecution, acquiring power over them. Such an appalling vision of the male gender is generated by concurring experiences of obnoxious masculine behavior. Accordingly, man is intentionally portrayed by the author as grotesque and gruesome.The phrase equal water for chocolate comes from the Spanish como agua para chocolate.3This phrase is a common expression in Spanish speaking countries and was the inspiration for Laura Esquivels novel title (the name has a double-meaning). In some Latin American countries, such as Mexico, hot chocolate is made not with milk, that with water instead. Water is boiled and chunks of milk chocolate are dropped in to melt. The reflection like water for chocolate, alludes to this fact and also to the common use of the expression as a metaphor for describing a state of heating or sexual arousal. In some parts of Latin America, the saying is also equivalent to being boiling mad in anger. Laura Esquivel creates milliampere Elena the tyrannical, widowed matriarch of the De La Garza clan revolves around the subjugation of her daughters. Her tearing dominion over her three daughters inspires fear within all of them. on the whole my life I have been searching for s omething that would fill me with pride, make me discover superior to everyone else, including kings, princes and rulers4This quote refers to how Firdaus discovers how vulner qualified men are when a prostitute refuses to sleep with them. With the status of prostitution she is overwhelmed with power and feels in complete control. manpower will explode in fear and offer larger sums of specie simply because they feel as if they are losing their power over women yieldd they do not realize it is the prostitute reach outing power. When she possesses capital of her own, she has power over people who slander her, and can give herself a respect fit name. Her mindset was only changed until she met a high class prostitute named Sharifa. Sharifa is portrayed as a wealthy high class prostitute who manipulates mens desire for sex to her own advantage. She acts as a teacher to Firdaus, teaching her how to use her sensible appearances as a tool to attract men. This is where her power had or iginated from the teaching from Sharifa. concisely after she notices Sharifa treats her as a tool, she runs away to be an independent prostitute and applies to skills she had obtained. As Sharifa states She is free to do what she wants, and free not to do it.5Firdaus is able to do anything she wants, after being handed tips, and lessons by Sharifa she is able to fall her prostitution status to a whole new level.The method florists chrysanthemum Elena uses to gain control over her daughters is by using violence and rigourousness against them, whether psychological or physical . Obey your Mommy and Dadd.6This quote refers to how the daughters of mamma Elena have no choice but to obey Mama Elena, since their father had passed away before. Mama Elena already starts with power unlike Firdaus who has slowly to gain her power. If she couldnt marry, was she at least allowed to experience love? Or not redden that?7Tita being the youngest daughter of hers is unable to marry or have chil dren because of the lopsided tradition. Whatever signs of love Mama Elena sensed inside of Tita she would try to disrupt and sabotage. This root of her evil is from her previous lover who had left her, if she senses one of her daughters benignant someone else she will feel overpowered and powerless. After Tita meets Pedro Mama Elena sees his affection for Tita so she conjures a p rush against Tita thus introducing Rosaura to Pedro. Soon after Pedro decides to marry Rosaura to get closer to Tita because he realizes her fate is sealed. Tita does not know of Pedros intentions and is mentally digest by losing her only chance of gaining true love. She suffers harshly and spends a lot of her time weeping about this incident. If Mama Elena suspects the slightest idea that Tita has no effectuate her duties, such as when she is suspected of messing up the sewing on the spousals present, or the poison put inside the wedding cake, she physically abuses her. She is crush harshly and is a lways left with scars, bruises and injuries this teaches the daughters that not to make the same fall away again and displays the extreme power Mama Elena holds over them. When Tita attempts to blames Mami Elena for Robertos death she picks up a wooden spoon and breaks Titas nose leaving her no medical care and to slowly endure the pain. Mama Elena was merciless, killing with a virtuoso blow. But then again, not always. For Tita she had made an exception she had been killing her a little at a time since she was a child, and she still hadnt sunk her off.8 Nacha Dont say that. As my youngest daughter, Tita will care for me until the day I die. She drug abuse marry.9The reason for her absurd vision of Duty and Responsibility is so that Mami Elena is able to gain full control over her daughters and not lose power. in the end when Rosaura gives birth to Espranza Rosaura imposes the same fate on her daughter. Esquivel introduces the baby to show that evening though Mami Elena had di ed Rosaura had still kept to the tradition even after all the treacherous things she had inflicted upon Rosaura. It shows how Mami Elena had polluted the mind of Rosaura and how her power even though she was exsanguinous overruled Rosauras self conscienceI now knew that all of us were prostitutes who change themselves at varying prices, and that an expensive prostitute was better than a forte one.10As a prostitute Firdaus uses her power to command high and higher prices simply by denying men of their wants. She was able to control the prices for her service present her power over men. Men would crave for her Firdaus would use this to her advantage to make them suffer. As she becomes powerful and notorious as prostitute money starts cumulation in for her. She gets this mind sense that as you have more money you also get more powerful which she had learnt from Sharifa. When the pimp comes into the picture, Firdaus sees him as a threat blocking her uprising. The pimp threatens to defame her or kill her, proving that no matter how much she had, Firdaus was still vulnerable to men because she had something to lose.Both Esquivel and El Saadawi present the theme of power effectively through the characters, Mama Elena and Firdaus using a variety of techniques. Like water for chocolate and Woman at point zero, with its blatantly sexist narrator are two novels write by two disparate female writers in totally assorted cultural circumstances Esquivel being raised in Mexico, and El Saadawi being raised in Egypt. The reader therefore inevitably obtains a different level of insight of the protagonists however the theme of power still conforms with similarities surrounded by them. However no one can deny that both texts provide a fascinating view of the complexities and confusions of power.By Timothy Lui