Like Water For Chocolate Character Descriptions

Tita - The protagonist of the novel, Tita is the youngest daughter of Mama

Elena, prohibited by family tradition from marrying so that she will be free

to take care of her mother later in life. The novel follows Tita's life from

birth to death, focusing mostly on her tortured relationship with Pedro and

her struggle and eventual triumph in pursuit of love and individuality.

Mama Elena - The tyrannical, widowed matriarch of the De La Garza

clan. Mama Elena is the prime source of Tita's suffering. Her fierce

temperament inspires fear in all three of her daughters. She keeps Tita from

her true love, Pedro, and it is later revealed that Mama Elena herself once

suffered from a lost love, embittering her for the rest of her life.

Pedro - Tita's true love, and the eventual father of Roberto and Esperanza.

Denied marriage to Tita by Mama Elena, he agrees to marry Rosaura,

breaking Tita's heart. Nevertheless, he asserts his continued love for Tita

throughout the novel and pursues her secretly. Pedro dies after he and Tita

are finally blissfully united while making love at the novel's end.

Rosaura - The second daughter of Mama Elena, Rosaura marries Pedro,

much to the despair of Tita. Rosaura leaves the ranch when Mama Elena

sends her and Pedro to San Antonio to keep Pedro and Tita apart. Her

first child, Roberto, dies as an infant; her second, Esperanza, prohibited like

Tita from ever marrying, weds Alex after Rosaura dies.

Gertrudis - The eldest daughter of Mama Elena. Gertrudis escapes the

ranch after reacting mysteriouslly to one of Tita's recipes. She runs away

with a rebel soldier, works in a brothel at the Mexico-Texas border, and

eventually returns to the ranch as a general in the revolutionary army. It is

eventually revealed that Gertrudis is the offspring of a hidden, extramarital

affair between Mama Elena and her true love, a mulatto man.

Dr. John Brown - An American doctor who cares for Tita when she

experiences a breakdown, and the father of Alex. John eventually falls in