Mikage's Kitchen Motif

At the beginning of the chapter, Wharton describes the kitchen. Pick out elements to show how the kitchen seems to be different now that Zeena has gone.

A motif is a topic that constantly recurs in literature. The meaning of the first quote and its relation to motif is that flashbacks often occur in the book. This relates to truth because it reveals clues on what Erik did to his eyesight and later reveals the truth of how cruel Erik is. Another motif is Paul’s insightfulness.

She uses food and memories to keep her anchored. “Food nourishes the soul. I believe that everyone deserves a hand prepared meal. People need to slow down and eat. Food is a blessing that helps build community in the sharing of well prepared food.”

wrote the article “My Mom Couldn’t Cook”, argues that point by being the sole cook for his wife and daughter. Junod was inspired to cook for his family, by growing up eating the food prepared by a mother who he realized hated to cook and a later understanding that led him to the realization that she did not know how to cook. Tom Junod writes an entertaining piece, his credibility is built through the personal stories he shares and his emotional appeals have a way of keeping the audience interested, but his language becomes distracting and overall it takes away from his argument.

”(9) This quote shows that Jeannette cooks hot dogs all on her own without any help from others. The last theme I recognized in The Glass Castle is Child neglect. For example,”One evening when Dad was away we had nothing to eat and we were all sitting around the living room trying not to think of food, Mom kept disappearing under the blanket on the sofa

Kitchen’s non-linear structure provides the reader with context on the foundation and depth of Mikage and Eriko’s relationship. Many flashbacks are added following Eriko’s death. Mikage’s time in the Tanabe residence is briefly described without many specifics, oddly enough it is pictured as her most prosperous. She then recounts her time in the house with a painful nostalgia. “But that was the summer of bliss. In that kitchen. I was not afraid of burns or scars.” ( 59) Memories exemplify Mikage’s acknowledgment of her happiness only after she loses it. The first part is only so brief because it skims over Mikage’s happiest moments, these memories are instead placed in the second part. The motive was to illustrate the abrupt reality of such bliss and how unsustainable it is. After the most intimate of the memories of Eriko, including

“The cold inside of her”, is a mark of her character. The cooking could be symbolized as the function or the processes in her life. There are symbolic ways of looking at each of these descriptions. Esquivel makes such dramatic use of these symbols to institute magical realism throughout

Cooking is one of the things that keeps Tita to go on with life, it is her passion. When Tita was going through dramatic situations in her life she used cooking as one her strengths to help her to be strong. In the article “Feminism in Like Water for Chocolate” it states, “it is through food that Tita both compares and understands her own emotional and physical state. This statement explains to the readers that Tita can only figure out her emotions when it comes to the kitchen and cooking.” Cooking to Tita is important because she entered the world right there on the kitchen table amid the smells of simmering noodle soup, thyme, bay leaves, and cilantro. Cooking become a huge impact on Tita life because she felt like she can only express herself when it came to cooking. Just in the same way, Tita had another strength that attributed to her which includes, the long-lasting love she has for people. In the novel, the author Laura Esquivel explains how Tita is a person who is nurturing and self-sacrificing. For examples, in the novel she states “the baby’s cries filled all the empty space in Tita’s heart. She realized that she was feeling a new love; for life, for this child, for

Mikage Sakurai surrounded by struggles that is effected in her life, which is included, both her parents died (p.4) then her grandmother died, so her family had steadily decreased one by one as the years went by (p.4). She feels lonely and lost. Apparently, when she starts looking for a new apartment, one of the important places in the apartment is kitchen because she believes that kitchens are the best place in this world (p.3). The sentence which indicates that she obsessed with kitchens, she said " when it comes time to die, I want to breathe my last in a kitchen (p,4). "A place where they make food (p,3)". We can infer from this, Sakurai loves cooking and it is the most important activity in her life. For my experience, when I was stay

The poem "Maybe the World Ends Here" by Joy Harjo is focused on the subject of family and life. Harjo is by all accounts saying that the "kitchen table" is the basic element in the things we do to unite individuals. The poem proceeds to portray everything that happens at the kitchen table and the general population it unites. For most families and in many homes, individuals get together and share their considerations, thoughts and day by day events amid mealtime at the table. It is when everybody gets together and just talks and shares themselves. It is a way individuals stay associated. This is the place individuals go to for sustenance, for finishing undertakings, for talking and for some different things. It is where youngsters are taught

Yoshimoto provides an overall transition between darkness to lightness from the beginning of Kitchen to the end, which demonstrates Mikage’s developmental journey in discovering that time will constantly move despite any abruptions in life and no one will be capable of preventing it. Proceeding the death of Mikage’s grandmother, she is once again stuck with a “hollow in [her] heart” (56) the following Winter as it was the grieving period for Eriko; however, now she has developed a philosophy that “[she] wants to

Food and family tradition are important for this story, since the food is seen as a way of communication and family tradition as an obstacle within Tita’s life. Ever since she had been born, her closeness to food was seen from that very moment. In the first "scene" of the book, this can be seen. “Tita made her entrance into this world, prematurely, right there on the kitchen table amid the smells of simmering noodle soup, thyme, bay leaves, and cilantro, steamed milk, garlic, and of course, onion” (Esquivel, 5-6). This shows how she connects to food, and this connection only grows more throughout the story. Although, later on Tita is able to mix her own feelings within her food preparation helping her communicate what she feels. When she is cooking is also gets emotionally involved, therefore this lets her mix her feelings in the recipe as well.

The family eating together is a representation of unity. Aunt Ida through her quilts evokes the imagery of unification just as Soto’s imagery of his family eating together.

Never have I taken the time to think of the significance of the kitchen table in my life, but I have come to realize that my kitchen table has always been a place to unwind and share with my family members. From childhood to my adult hood, I have always come to the kitchen table in celebration, conference, in search of security, and enjoyment. The kitchen table of the past always brought my family together, and the table in my present brings focus to my school work and an occasional “catch up” conversation with my family, and in the future I hope to have a similar kitchen table setting as I did in my childhood, but with my own style.

I thought what a wonderful way to tell a story” (Mujica 38). The reader is often present in the kitchen with Esquivel when she writes about her past experiences in the kitchen.