Reviews/Comments/Ratings of the Book "Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel

The majority of the reviews about the book Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel are positive and show that this book is one of the special books that are unique compared to the normal blended in novels.

"One of the best things about this book is the recipes that begin each chapter. From Quail in Rose Petal Sauce to Cream Fritters. There’s even a recipe for making matches. This novel is tender, heartbreaking and satisfying. It’s a story for anybody who has ever had mother issues (Mama Elena is unbelievable) or longed for something they could never have. It is a Mexican Cookbook and tall tale put together." WritersNewsWeekly.com





"This is a lovely story. A fast read, delightful from start to finish. Esquirel knits her story together with traditional Mexican recipes in which food and emotions are in sync at all times. She lights up her novel with the descriptions of farm life, outhouses, ranches, natural remedies, mysticism. Life at the turn of the 20th century. Yet this turn takes place in Mexico." Tanya Smith, Helium.com

"Throughout the book, the food is described in such detail, that I could taste every flavor...I have read many, many books, After a while, they all start to look the same. Many of the characters and plots fuse together as one. I can honestly say that Like Water for Chocolate is worthy of praise because it stands alone. It is a unique, entertaining, passionate story. It is also the reason I keep reading and hunting for great books." Amy Coffin, thebookhaven.net


The rating of the book Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel according to goodreads.com

From these reviews you can see that people enjoyed the synthesis of food and emotion. Unlike the many books that are presently read, the combination of these two concepts have not been seen before. Therefore, my anticipations of this book are that the book will be a joy to read due to the relation of food, be filled with culinary meaning as well be a delicious book to read.


Sources:


http://www.helium.com/items/1020575-book-reviews-like-water-for-chocolate-by-laura-esquirel


http://www.thebookhaven.net/Z_Like_Water_for_Chocolate.html


http://www.writersnewsweekly.com/review_water_chocolate.html


http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6952.Like_Water_for_Chocolate

Colombian Cuisine

Colombian Cuisine 

A GUINEA PIG

AJIACO

The main concept of Columbian food is that most of the food consists of meat and animal products. The background of Columbian food is based on African and European decent. Many visiting tourists like to enjoy Colombian food because of the fact that it is made with ingredients that they do not get at home everyday, such as: plantains, avocados and local herbs. 

Within Colombia, people usually eat a light breakfast, a large lunch in between 12 and 2 and then a light dinner. Their meals are usually accompanied by Colombia's well-known coffee. As well, the country's most successful export is bananas which can possibly be served in their traditional dishes.

FRIED ANTS

One of the most interesting cuisine delicacies in Colombia is Cuy. Cuy is cooked guinea pig. It was a common diet of the Inca Empire, and it still eaten within many indigenous communities in the Andean highlands. The guinea pig is usually served fried or grilled once they remove the hair and organs. Another interesting food served in Colombia is apparently fried ants.  

In the Caribbean coast, spicy cooking, with fish and lobster, is usually served. As well as coconut rice in the coastal cities. In Bogota and the Andean region, ajiaco is the traditional dish. It is made of chicken, potatoes, and flavoured with a locally grown herb called "guasca". 

AREPA

The ingredients that are most staple in all parts of Colombia include corn. A common dish takes the kernels that are ripe and grounds them by hand into a coarse flour which is mixed with water to form a thick dough. It then is cooked with a pancake until the outside is crisp but the center stays soft and moist. These pancakes are called arepas.

George Orwell's "A Nice Cup of Tea" Commentary

The Exquisite Manners of the Tea Leaf

The first impressions from reading George Orwell’s essay “A Nice Cup of Tea” include Orwell explaining the correct ways of handling the essences of drinking tea. The speaker guides the reader through instructions on how to drink tea and then talks about many of the faults people currently are doing when drinking their tea. The title of the essay directly refers to the essay’s content as well as the idiom which means that something suits someone nicely such as how elegant Orwell describes tea in general. The central meaning within this essay is methods of creating the perfect cup of tea. The central meaning is direct within the essay; however, the central meaning can be converted into a universal meaning that readers can all relate to when reading the particular literary work of George Orwell, which is that people who focus on quality and detail will receive greater results over quantity. Within Orwell’s essay “A Nice Cup of Tea” there are various literary techniques and tools that help enhance the understanding of the central meaning, they are: purpose; tone and mood, structure and syntax, voice and narrative point-of-view, diction, and imagery.   

The purpose, tone and mood of this essay enhances the central meaning directed within the essay. The overall purpose of the entire essay was to raise awareness of the forgotten delicacies of tea due to the advances of civilizations around the world. The purpose compliments the central idea of creating the perfect cup of tea due to the fact that if the central meaning of the text was not present, then there would be no purpose for the reader to read the essay. The tone Orwell expresses within his writing of this literary work is a sense of sincerity, seriousness, and himself being informative all at once. His tone of sincerity and seriousness within the text is to be able to get his points across to the reader with no ambiguities. As well his tone causes his words to be more concise and descriptive which leads to the third attribute to his tone within this essay. Orwell sets his tone to be informative for the reader because he wants the reader to be more interested in tea after he/she reads it and then it eventually leads back to the main purpose of the essay. The mood of the essay expresses a sense of being informed, being more appreciative towards the topic of tea and being more aware after reading the essay. As well, the mood also refers back to the purpose. As you can see, purpose, tone and mood are able to connect to one another to compliment the central meaning which further enhances the reader’s understanding of the text.

The structure and syntax used in Orwell’s essay helps increase the understanding of the central meaning. Within “A Nice Cup of Tea”, each paragraph conveys a certain idea of Orwell’s argument. The first paragraph consists of a hook, the following paragraph explains how important tea is, and then another paragraph states his argument. The following paragraphs follow through explaining the “eleven...points” (Orwell, 1) about making a perfect cup of tea as well as the comments about the current commonalities and examples of how wrongly people treat their tea. Orwell eventually ends with a conclusion that suggests other uses of tea which gives the reader interest in finding out more about the topic. Overall, the structure and paragraphing flows eloquently which helps the reader follow and understand the central meaning of the essay. The effective use of syntax that enabled the smooth flow of ideas come toward reader include the use of capitalization and conjunctions. Within the essay, the capitalization of “WITHOUT SUGAR” (Orwell, 2) gives the phrase more emphasis towards the reader. The emphasis that a capitalization can cause is massive to a reader because the phrase is larger than the rest of the words which shows that drinking tea without sugar is important. As well, the conjunctions that help start the list of creating the perfect cup of tea such as “firstly”, “secondly”, “thirdly”, “fourthly”, “fifthly” (Orwell, 1-2) etc. help emphasize the transitions between each of Orwell’s ideas. Overall, the use of structure and syntax greatly enhance the understanding.
The voice and narrative point-of-view of the essay enhance the understanding of the central idea. The voice of the essay is most likely the author himself, George Orwell and the narrative point-of-view is written in first person. The voice and narrative point-of-view share a similar role in emotionally engaging the reader because the essay is personal and opinion based. The situation within this essay seems that Orwell is trying to talk to the reader due to that fact he refers to the reader in second person as if Orwell was talking to the reader. This causes the reader to be personally engaged which causes better understanding of the central meaning Orwell is trying to convey.
Diction within the essay was used effectively to convey the method of making the perfect cup of tea. Orwell uses connotation based words to describe the incorrect aspects of tea practice such as “tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron tastes of grease and whitewash” (Orwell, 1). The connotations of tasteless, grease and whitewash all convey a sense of the tea turning out distasteful and unpleasant which affects the reader to avoid using those containers to pour tea from. Orwell also uses the diction within the essay “A Nice Cup of Tea” to be precise such as drinking tea using a “cylindrical type of cup” (Orwell, 2). The use of descriptive denotation within the essay helps form the essay into a instruction list which is easy to follow. 
The imagery used by Orwell in this literary work include images caused from descriptive instructions such as “six heaped teaspoons” (Orwell, 1). As well the description of not using strainers or other items to “imprison the tea” (Orwell, 2) cause the reader to picture tea leaves being trapped, unable to release themselves out into the open. This particular image was interesting due to the fact that the image directly magnifies one segment of the eleven points of creating the perfect cup of tea. As well imagery is used when Orwell states that “tea is meant to be bitter” (Orwell, 2) and then he compares it to beer which also is “meant to be bitter” (Orwell, 2). Another similar example of comparison is when he expresses his disapproval towards adding sugar to tea by comparing it to be “equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt” (Orwell, 2). These comparisons help show how and how important it is to enjoy tea at its greatest which enhances ones understanding of the central idea.
The literary techniques and tools Orwell uses within his essay of “A Nice Cup of Tea” are: purpose; tone and mood, structure and syntax, voice and narrative point-of-view, diction, and imagery. From purpose to voice or from syntax to imagery, all of the literary techniques combine together to one another to enhance the understanding the reader has upon this essay. The universal idea derived from the central meaning of quality giving greater results over quantity seems true in life. Exemplified in the essay, “one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones” (Orwell, 1). This idea can be applied to many other ideas such as homework, if one handed in twenty of the same mediocre assignments to the teacher, they would still receive the same low mark; however, if one was to hand in one outstanding assignment, the mark given to that one assignment would stay with a far greater result than twenty of them. These ideas are Orwell’s intentions within the essay “A Nice Cup of Tea”.

George Orwell's "Shooting An Elephant"

       The first impressions about George Orwell's "Shooting An Elephant" include a white man not being accepted by his surroundings in Burma. It eventually leads to a tragic death of an elephant and some happy Burmese people; however, in the end the narrator reflects on his actions. The central meaning within this essay is that social pressure on a person leads to foolish actions in order to be accepted. To be more specific in context, Orwell uses the many literary tools to help enhance this central meaning such as, plot and setting, characterization and chronology, diction, structure and title, imagery, tone and mood, and voice; narrative point-of-view and ambiguities.

      The plot of the essay briefly through each paragraph, that there is a white man who was not being accepted by the Burmese people within the setting of "Moulmein, in lower Burma" (Orwell). He expressed his feelings of frustration because he was on their side against the British empire; however, after he knew that the Burmese despised him he was now unsure. The Burmese expressed no interest in this white man until he was supposed to take a look at an elephant who was in a condition called "must" (Orwell). The Burmese were tremendously excited about this white man due to the fact that he had a gun, which caused them to interpret that he was going to kill the elephant. The narrator realizes the situation and then debates whether or not he should kill elephant. The elephant eventually was shot which lead to a dramatic and tragic death. At the end he reflects about his actions and he concludes that he only killed the elephant "solely to avoid looking a fool" (Orwell).

     The characterization and chronology of the essay was able to exemplify Orwell's intentions in enhancing the central meaning of this essay. Orwell characterizes two main people within the essay, one being the narrator himself  and the other being the Burmese people. Orwell portrays the narrator through his actions and reactions as well as his thoughts. An example that can help support this statement is the narrator saying "I had done it solely to avoid looking like a fool" (Orwell). The ideas and thoughts Orwell conveys about this character reflects a person who is self-conscious and unsure due tot eh fact that you can see him debating between several situations. The chronology throughout the essay progresses in a timely order which allows the reader to follow this phase of experiences of the narrator as well as better understand the characterization. 

     The diction used by Orwell to portray the main idea was to increase the drama of the effects of what people do to be accepted when under pressure such as killing the elephant; however, Orwell chooses to use the words "red velvet" (Orwell) to describe the blood or the words "stricken, shrunken, immensely old" (Orwell) to describe the elephant's reaction to the fired bullets.The connotation of these words are dramatic and it impacts the reader more to persuade the reader to be against what the narrator chose to do.

     The structure of each paragraph within Orwell's essay "Shooting An Elephant" seems to evoke a different side of his thoughts, for example, when he was debating whether or not he should kill the elephant, one side of his thoughts were in one paragraph and the other side of this thoughts were in another paragraph. It shows that the organization of the narrator's ideas enables us to see the contrast between each paragraph. The title of the essay can symbolize the deed the narrator has done which was to shoot an elephant. 

     Within the essay, Orwell used many similes and metaphors to describe his emotions and his situation throughout the essay. Orwell expresses the narrators anger with imagery to better exude the meaning towards the reader such as the narrator referring to the "Buddhist priests" as the worst of them all and him imagining [driving] a bayonet into a Buddhist priest's guts" (Orwell). Orwell also uses descriptions of environment and surroundings to let the reader gain a clearer understanding of the setting, for example "a very poor quarter, a labryinth of squalid bamboo huts, thatched with palmleaf, winding all over a steep hillside" (Orwell). When the people were watching the narrator encounter this elephant Orwell describes them “watching [him] as they would watch a conjurer about to perform a trick” (Orwell) this quotation shows the amount of excitement these people have towards this one white man who was unimportant before. He then realizes that “in reality [he] was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind”, this quotation is a simile and it shows that the narrator is expressing his thoughts of him being a puppet due to these people pushing him around the word of acceptance.

The tone Orwell is intending within this essay is a sense of reflection, regret and pity. Due to the fact that he is able to show reflection within the narrator is experiencing as well as a sense of regret and pity towards the narrator. The mood the reader should get a sense of is anger and resentment towards the narrator thinking that he is narrow-minded and a sense of pity towards the dead elephant.

The voice of the essay is possibly the author itself, Orwell, or a character within the essay. This leads to a sense of ambiguity of whether or not the voice of this essay is the author's. However, the narrative point-of-view of this essay is written in first person which personalizes the content within which helps the reader understand what the character is going through as the essay progresses.

The literary tools Orwell uses such as plot and setting, characterization and chronology, diction, structure and title, imagery, tone and mood, and voice; narrative point-of-view and ambiguities help enhance the understanding of the central meaning of social pressure on a person leads to foolish actions in order to be accepted. From plot to voice and from mood to diction all of these literary tools combine together to help enhance a better understanding towards the reader. These points are Orwell's intentions within the essay "Shooting An Elephant".