Tradition by Dylan Atkin
Quotes which embody tradition:
“Thanks to her unusual birth, Tita felt a deep love for the kitchen” (6)
- Tita’s very birth goes against the norm, foreshadowing things to come in the book.
Her birth in the kitchen however also dictates her role in life in the kitchen.
“All the women in the family had to participate: Mama Elena, her daughters, Gertrudis,
Rosaura and tita, Nacha, the cook, and chencha, the maid.” (7)
- This is a quote about the participation in the making of Christmas rolls.
- My only question of this quote is: Where are the men? It shows that the society
has roles and the women are supposed to cook.
“Then Mama Elena would say:
“That’s it for today”…so when they heard that, they all sprang into action. First they
would have to clear the table; then they had to assign tasks: one collected the chickens;
another drew water for breakfast from the well a third was in charge of wood for the
stove. There would be no ironing, no embroidery, no sewing that day. When it was all
finished, they went to their bedrooms to read, say their prayers and go to sleep” (10)
- This quote from page ten gives the reader a good idea on what the characters did
on a daily basis in Mama Elena’s household. Mama Elena does not even tell them
what to do, however they know what to do, this gives the impression of routine.
Contrary to tradition in this quote is the fact that Mama Elena, a matriarch, does
the ordering, not a traditional patriach.
“If he intends to ask for your hand, tell him not to bother. He’ll be wasting his time and
mine too. You know perfectly well that being the youngest daughter means you have to
take care of me until the day I die.” (10)
- I think this quote is one of the most important in the book, and possibly the most
important to do with tradition. It is due to this held belief that Tita goes through
unreasonable oppression and is separated from Pedro, creating the backdrop for
the novel.
Tita:“ “But in my opinion…”
Mama Elena: “You don’t have an opinion, and that’s all I want to hear about it. For
generations, not a single person in my family has ever questioned this tradition, and no
daughter of mine is going to be the one to start.” ”(11)
- This is another quote to do with tradition. It also states that no-one questions the
tradition. It is interesting because This is the first time we physically see tita try
and rebel against her mother, but she is crushed.
“Still Tita did not submit. Doubts and anxieties sprang to her mind. For one thing, she
wanted to know who started this family tradition. It would be nice if she could let that
genius know about one little flaw in this perfect plan for taking care of women in their
old age. If Tita couldn’t marry and have children, who would take care of her when she
got old?” (11)
- We see tita using logic to denounce the tradition. This gives us the idea that the
tradition is illogical and wrong. Tradition represents the Mexican conservatives
who do not want mexico to change and maybe the author is implying that the
conservatives are wrong in their traditions.
““Congratulations”, Mama Elena said, “your stitches are perfect but you didn’t baste it
did you?”
“No,” answered Tita….
“Then go rip it out. Baste it and sew it again and then come show it to me.”” (12)
- That is really harsh words by Mama Elena, and it shows how deeply she is
entrenched into the past, unwilling to accept the future. It kind of also shows
Mama Elena as not a particularly clever person in my opinion.
“But if you really want Pedro to get married, allow me to suggest my daughter Rosaura,
who’s just two years older than Tita.” (Elena 13)
- Pedro wants to marry Tita but cant because Mama Elena sticks to tradition,
instead she offers up Rosaura.
“She entered a church in a row of girls all dressed in white and approached the altar,
which was covered with white candles and flowers…” ( 34)
- Traditional archaetypical wedding
“Carreno’s manual of etiquette said she couldn’t leave until then, so she kept her head in
the clouds and gobbled down her piece of cake” (39)
- Tita wants to leave the wedding due to the humiliation of the failure of not being
able to marry Pedro. However, she is stopped by some etiquette code from some
Carreno person.
“Tita was the last link in a chain of cooks who had been passing culinary secrets from
generation to generation since ancient times” (48)
- This is talking about Tita’s role in the kitchen and that what she had cooked had
been traditionally cooked since ancient times and that her skill was built off the
back of others
Pg 51-52
- Gertrudis leaves with a revolutionary, marking the break from society of Gertrudis. Her
leaving gives hope to Tita who is being crushed at this point in the novel. Gertrudis is
potrayed by the narrator as a heroine, ironically, she becomes a prostitute.
“Mama Elena burned Gertrudis’ birth certificate and all of her pictures and said she
didn’t want to hear her name again” (59)
- The idea of the family legacy is brought up here, and that it is not traditional to do
what Gertrudis did and it is a disgrace.
“I understand you had 3 daughters. Where are they?” (revolutionary)
“the oldest and youngest live in the united states, the other died” (Elena 91)
- I find it funny that Elena pretends gertrudis is dead, other than that, this quote also
shows her scorn of people breaking out of tradition.
“Mama Elena had disowned her daughter. Without words, they made their mutural
reproachers and thereby severed the strong tie of blood and obedience that had always
bound them together, but could never be re-established. Tita knew perfectly well that her
mover felt profoundly humiliated because not only did she have to allow tita back into
her house again, but until she recovered, she needed tita to take care of her.” (130)
-
Mama Elena disowns tita but has to let her back in the house so she can forfill her
traditional role as carer for the mother. Tita feels obliged to do that job as if it is
wrong if she doesn’t.
“Some day Im going to come and ask you for her hand.” (john)
“you know she cant marry” (Elena 131)
-
Elena is still hanging onto the same old traditions but john, unlike pedro does not
care whether Elena approves or not
“Jose was the love of her life. She hadn’t been allowerd to marry him because he had
negro blood in his veins” (137)
-
We learn that Elena herself, supposedly the bastion of tradition, is a rebel herself.
“She chose instead to provide Esperanza with the same diet Nacha had used with her
when she was a tiny baby: gruels and teas” (146)
- This quote exemplifies the tradition of the upbringing of the children.
“Esperanza would be the only child, the youngest child, and worst of all, a girl. Which
meant in the family tradition that she was the one designated to care for her mother until
the end of her days” (147)
“Rosaura explained to alex that he couldn’t [marry her] because this little girl was
destined to take care of her until the day she died” (150)
-
The tradition of the youngest child lives on in esperanza and Rosaura who
becomes the new mama Elena.
“John advanced his petition for tita’s hand. Pedro, as the man of the house, sullenly gave
his approval” (155).
-
It is tradition to only be able to marry if it is approved by the man of the brides
house. In this case it is pedro.
“Traditionally, on the night of the sixth of January, the bread is sliced and the person who
finds the doll hidden inside is required to hold a celebration on the second of february”
(174)
-
More tradition (Feb 2 is candlemas day)
“You had no right to have a boyfriend” (rosaura)
“Says who? Is that according to mama or you?” (Tita)
“According to family tradition, which you were breaking” (rosaura)
“And I am going to break with it several more times if I have to, as long as this cursed
tradition doesn’t take me into account…I had the same right to marry as you did” (Tita)
-
This is a big confrontation between tradition and no tradition. There is a big
argument and Tita finally chooses a clear side on where she is at rather than
keeping it into herself and it is the one which really kills rosaura mentally. It is
tita who at the end, indirectly causes Rosaura, and with it, the last of the bastions
for tradition, with it.