Don't Take Food From Witches

It’s raining, and the sun is out. A witch is getting married. It’s a common folktale told by many Latin people. When people refer to witches, they are usually referred to as dark dressed, broom flying, evil intended beings. Witches contain a lot of power, or at least they are depicted that way. Whether good or bad, there are different ways witches incorporate their power, and one of these ways is food. In the books Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, The Odyssey by Homer and The Book of J, all of the main characters experience pain through food, whether it is physically or mentally. In Like Water for Chocolate through food Tita expresses her feelings for her love Pedro. In The Odyssey some forget who they are, and others disobey. While in The Book of J bad decisions cause them to experience the pain of knowing. In all of these books, food contains a lot of power, which all the authors show as magic.


Halloween is a great example of how food is incorporated with magic. On Halloween we usually see pumpkins, along with witch stockings. It’s as if there can’t be one without the other. “Witchcraft is commonly defined as the use of supposed magical powers to influence people and events” (Guiley). It is said that when there is a thunderstorm, it is because a witches influences it. When these thunderstorms happen, crops are destroyed and sometimes even killed. It may be possible that witches control the production of crops and foods being grown. Witches are known to be powerful beings. They can somehow influence the outcome of an event. “In folklore around the world, witches are believed to be masters of the supernatural world” (Guiley). This quote describes Circe from The Odyssey.


Circe is a witch that meets Odysseus, while he is traveling. Circe has captured Odysseus’s men. Circe knew the great significance food had on these men and it was through food she lured into her hands. Her magic influence on the food completely wipes out their minds. Though magic. “When they had eaten and drunk, she struck them/ with her wand and herded them into the sties outside” (X 255-256). Here is a great example of how Circe uses witchcraft on the men. Using her food she drugs them, and then she uses her wand and turns them into creatures that look like pigs. This is a great example how witchcraft uses peoples witnesses to concur them. By using magic, she uses a human necessity as their biggest weakness. Eventually, Odysseus and his men get away from Circe’s magic.


While traveling, they also land on the Island of Hyperion the sun. On this Island there are many Cattle’s and Sheep that belong to the gods. All of the men were given specific instructions to not kill any Cattle or Sheep. The men did not listen. While Odysseus drifts off to sleep, one of his men, Eurylochus convinces his men that they should not die of hunger, and should kill cattle. When Odysseus wakes up it was too late, all he smelled was the fat sizzling. Because of this Zeus tells Helios “I will soon strike their ship with sterling lightning and shatter it to bits on the wine-purple sea” (Homer book XII 398-399). Since none of the men knew this, they kept cooking the cattle which “…both roasted and raw, mooed on the spits, like cattle lowing” (Homer book XII 407-408). Here the author uses magic by having the cows still in some way be alive. Witches believe heavily in karma. “Witches also believe in the Threefold Law of Karma, which holds that magic returns to the sender magnified three times” (Guiley). Karma definitely occurs in this book when the men kill the cattle and then are punished by enduring a more tedious trip on their way back home.


Unlike The Odyssey, in Like Water for Chocolate magic is used a little differently. It is incorporated in many different ways. While Tita is preparing the Wedding Cake for her sister Nacha, and the love of her life, Pedro, Tita cries. Her tears fall into the wedding cake batter. Nacha tells her to stop, or she will ruin the cake. Nacha tastes the batter to make sure it’s okay. Tita’s tears didn’t ruin the taste of the batter. “The moment they took their first bite of the cake, everyone was flooded with a great wave of longing” (Esquivel 39). This is where the magic kicks in. Tita’s pain was expressed by her tears, which were mixed with the batter. When everyone ate the cake they felt sick, and they felt pain. This is just how Tita feels seeing her sister and Pedro get married. Her tears transpired sadness and hurt in others who tasted the very tears of her sorrow. According to Guiley “people have associated witchcraft with evil and usually have regarded a witch as someone who uses magic to harm others, by causing accidents, illnesses, bad luck, and even death”. This relates a lot to Tita. Like a witch with her potion, Tita unknowingly causes everyone heartache and pain through her tears. Tita’s tears being the devastating potion that in more ways than one could be considered as witchcraft.


Tears are not the only way Tita uses magic. Eventually, Tita and Pedro get to be together, but once they share that special moment, with all the excitement, Pedro dies. Tita wants to figure out a way to go with him, she wants to feel the heat and excitement Pedro felt, which was what took him away. According to Guiley, Witches are associated with evil, harm, and even death. Tita eats candles, so they can burn inside her. “When the candle she chewed made contact with the torrid images she evoked, the candle began to burn” (Esquivel 245). When this happens Tita begins to feel all of the excitement Pedro was feeling. Then a bright tunnel opened up, and Pedro was waiting for her at the end at the end of the tunnel. “In folklore around the world, witches are believed to be masters of the supernatural world. They supposedly conjure and command spirits” (Guiley). Tita knew deep down that nothing could stop her from being with the love of her life and she was willing to go to the greatest extent to get what she wanted. Having said that, the mouth is a place humans use to consume food; Tita consumed a wax candle, an object that is not supposed to be edible. Though Tita knew that the candle could do her harm, the bigger event happens when the candle burns Tita’s inside enough to take her away.


Unlike the other books, The Book of J contains a different type of magic. In this book Yahweh is the creator of all living things. He creates a man and a woman. They are both told to not eat from a tree in the garden. If they do “eat from it” said Yahweh “…that day death touches you” (book 3). Both the man and the woman knew the consequences that come with eating from that tree.


Yahweh created many fine animals. But, none of them were like the snake. The snake was “smoother-tongued than any wild creature” (book 5). This snake talks to the woman, her name is Hava. He asks her about the tree in the garden. Hava explains to the snake that they are allowed to eat from any other tree, but the garden. If they do not obey that, death will fall upon them. The snake convinces Hava that this is not true. He tells her “eyes will fall open like gods, knowing good and bad” (book 5). Guiley says witches “…may have special helping spirits called familiars, who take the form of animals, particularly cats, snakes, owls, and dogs.” Snakes are usually depicted as slick. This snake surely was. Food incorporated with magic, again triumphs the best interest of the snake, which is life.


In all of these stories we can see how witchcraft was used for good or bad. Tita with out knowing harms other people, Circe uses mad magic against Odysseus’s men, and Hava was betrayed by the snake. All in all you can see that witchcraft is what caused all of these events to happen. All of these stories also incorporated food. Witchcraft seems to be at its easiest when it involves food. Its as if witchcraft uses a persons desire against them. When people go to a wedding, they expect a great cake, not one that makes them feel sorrow. When a group of men are stranded in an island and told not to kill cattle, it is very likely they will kill the cattle in order to satisfy what they believe will keep them alive. Finally, the snake who convinces a girl that all she has said is wrong. All these stories have a great message. Never allow a need to become a weakness.





















Works Cited


The book of J. Trans. Rosenberg, David. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York, NY: Grove, 1990. Print.

Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for chocolate. New York, NY: Doubleday, 1989. Print.

Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. "Witchcraft." World Book Student. World Book, 2010. Web. 26 May
2010.
This article helps me understand more about witchcraft and how they used their magic. It will help me better explain the magic that Circe uses, and the magic that is incorporated into Tita’s cooking. This source is what I mostly based my paper on. It helped me better explain all of the magic used in the books.

Homer. The odyssey. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Pub. Co., 2000. Print.

Schein, Seth L., ed. Reading the Odyssey: Selected Interpretive Essays. Princeton, NJ.: Princeton
UP, 1996. Print.

This book is useful to help me explain Odysseus’ adventures. Also it explains the themes of the book, as well as the use of magic.