They are both domineering. They are both oppressive. They are both despotic. Esteban Trueba, in Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits, and Mama Elena, in Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate, are two very similar authoritarian characters in their nature and function in much the same manner. Allende's patriarch and Esquivel's matriarch assist in the development of other characters through their interactions with these characters and the response each character has to living in …showed first 75 words of 1049 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1049 total…