Magical Realism and Fantastic Sublime in Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel The different elements of the story Water for Chocolate are surprising. The feelings that go through a person listening, watching and savoring the events that happen during this story of the Spanish family's life. The customs of this family were so unorthodox. This story is fantastic, sublime and magical realism combined. Laura Esquivel wrote this novel in 1992. The nationality of the people in the novel was Mexican. A person can tell by the way the expressions were said and the things that were done in the story. The novel has many fantastic and sublime elements as well as magical realism. The elements of the story that remain imprinted in a person's mind are Tita's birth, the feelings of love that Tita has in her heart for her sister's husband, Tita's kitchen, the shower that catches fire, and Tita's sister who he goes away on a horse. When Tita was born, her mother flooded the kitchen table and floor when her water broke. The liquid had turned to salt and had to be swept off the floor. These kinds of things that happen in the real world won't happen. The fluid turning into salt was definitely an element of magical realism. The birth fluid that dries like salt is similar to the sublime. The mysteries of cooking are covered in Like Water for Chocolate. The sublime seems to have a definition of the inhuman being, an image that cannot be named. Magical realism has the definition of being magical and unreal. Tita's love that she had for her sister's husband during their marriage and throughout their marriage and lives. Tita's love has never changed. It was the magical way Tita felt the man she loved in her heart and... middle of paper... it's really hard to tell the difference between the two. The mysteries hidden in the story of Like Water for Chocolate never seem to show the true meanings. The novel is interesting and keeps the person on their toes. The main point of the story is that the boiling point within a person will boil over sooner or later, if given enough time. Emotions are strong throughout the story as well as how everyone deals with how emotions come out. Works Cited Arensberg, Mary. The American sublime. Albany: State University of New York Press, Albany 1986. Esquivel, Laura. Like water for chocolate. NY Doubleday, 1992. Faris, Wendy. "Scheherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction" Magical Realism Theory, History, Community.Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durkham, NC: Durham: Duke on, 1995: 163-190.