Like Water for Chocolate Characters

The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time Not your average protagonist, Tita's born prematurely on a kitchen table. Her knowledge is based on said kitchen and while this would be great if she were living i...

No Wire Hangers. Ever seen Mommy Dearest? If you haven't, imagine the scariest, most violent and unjust mother you can think of. Multiple that by three and you're pretty close to Mama Elena's chara...

Rosaura, Rosaura, Rosaura. What exactly are we supposed to feel for this woman? Sympathy? Disgust? Shame? Anger? Injustice? Whatever we, or you, or all of us feel, it's safe to say that this chica'...

Rebel without a cause? Middle child issues? Whatever she's got, she's got it bad. The way we see it, Gertrudis is one of the bravest characters and essential to the novel because she symbolizes a s...

What to say about this man? Tita's true love, Rosaura's unfaithful husband, father of Roberto and Esperanza, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. It's hard, at least for us, to decide whether we...

Although she's not around for much of the book, Nacha is a driving force behind Tita's strong character. She's a mother figure, a bosom buddy, a Top Chef Judge, a guardian angel, and a mysterious i...

You gotta be careful what you say around Chencha; while she's nice enough, she's a huge talker:Your ma talks about being ready for marriage like she was dishing up a plate of enchiladas. (1.48)No s...

The lone gringo in the novel, he's definitely a prime example of "nice guys finish last." He falls in love and proposes to Tita and says: I don't want to put any pressure on you. I just want to ass...

Pedro's father doesn't understand why Pedro agrees to marry Rosaura. He thinks true love and the fact that Pedro made a vow to Tita sort of go against marrying the other sister. That's about all th...

We think it's no coincidence that Paquita's last name means "wolf" in English. For some reason, she's always looking for Tita to slip up, or to give her an excuse to gossip. When Tita gets flustere...

Captain of the rebel forces in Mexico, local Don Juan, and capturer of Gertrudis's virginity and heart. While he's certainly a manly man, he's smart enough to realize that Mama E and Gertrudis are...

The firstborn of Pedro and Rosaura, poor kid doesn't live very long. He dies because of eating something bad while in San Antonio, Texas. Hope it wasn't a breakfast taco…

Son of Dr. Brown, he marries Esperanza and is the father of the narrator.

Mama E's real love, he is the product of an illicit love affair between the elder Jose Trevino and a "beautiful Negress"; he is killed mysteriously the night he was supposed to run away with Mama E.

Tita's father and Mama E's husband who she is forced to marry instead of Jose. When he finds out that Gertrudis is not actually his daughter, he has a heart attack and dies.

Niece of Tita, second child of Rosaura and Pedro, born 3 months premature, just like Tita. She is the mother of the narrator of the novel, and she breaks the tradition of no marriage by marrying Alex.

Spiritual healer, Kikapu Indian and another example of Indigenous women being given a hard time. She came to be part of the family after Dr. Brown's grandfather captured her and took her with him f...

John's grandpa captures Morning Light and takes her to Texas to be his wife. Just about as unromantic as you can get.

John's great-grandparents.

Chencha's first sweetheart, he doesn't care that she's not a virgin anymore and marries her when she comes to the village for a rest.

In Gertrudis's troop, he's in love with her but loses her to Juan. His sister and mother were raped by a man who had a spider-shaped birthmark and he later killed him violently. Later in the novel...

Aunt Mary comes from Pennsylvania to attend John and Tita's wedding. She loves Tita's beans.

Tita's teacher as a child, who was said to have been a widow at 18 with a baby, and eventually ended up sweeping the streets of the entire town.

The wet nurse hired to feed Roberto when Rosaura can't produce milk. Unfortunately, she is soon killed by a stray bullet in town.

This guy shows up at all the important ceremonies of the De la Garza family and agrees with whatever Mama Elena says.

They all work on the ranch.

She is the seventy-year-old North American who cooks for the doctor and takes care of his son, Alex.