Literature often describes complex phenomena, which otherwise perhaps would remain ignored. An example of such complex phenomena is the coexistence of two contradictory elements, dominance and love. The dominant personalities in Like Water for Chocolate and The House of Bernarda Alba respectively, Mama Elena and Bernarda Alba, do not explicitly show love towards their daughters, but this is revealed by their unusual behavior and actions. Some elements of characterization or narrative mode in both works attempt to limit the reader's perception of the dominant personalities to their static characteristics. In Like Water for Chocolate, the story is told to us from a third-person limited subjective point of view. Tita's great-granddaughter is a limited narrator, who knows absolutely everything about a single Tita character and every bit of knowledge in that character's mind, but is "limited" to that character - that is, things unknown to the central character (Tita) they are undescribed. Thus, this point of view can be considered unreliable. The presence of Tita's hatred towards Mama Elena almost throughout the book and the representation of Mama Elena as a "disturbing" character like a ghost also contribute to limiting the perspective of the work. We are presented with only one static characteristic of Mama Elena. In The House of Bernarda Alba, although the use of dialogue broadens the range of perspectives, Bernarda's dialogue is limited compared to that of the others. The fact that there is no soliloquy with Bernarda may imply a limitation of the perspectives open to the reader. We are only shown the dominant side of Bernarda's character. Even the hatred of Poncia, who is one of the few characters shown from different perspectives, towards Bernarda can be considered as a limiting factor of the perspectives. In this way the reader's perception is narrowed. While mother Elena and Bernarda Alba are seen as tyrants from a rather narrow perspective, they can otherwise be seen as traditionalist mothers. From this new perspective, one could argue that Mama Elena is nothing more than an Orthodox mother who used cruel methods, including corporal punishment, to shape her children in the best way. From Mama Elena's perspective, she makes choices that are, as she “[thinks] best for [them]” (p. 167). This perspective is particularly relevant to Tita's education: “The Magi never brought [Tita] what she asked for, but instead what mother Elena thought was best for her.” (p. 167) Mama Elena's character as a traditionalist mother is further revealed by specific episodes: providing Tita with something "better" than Three Kings Bread, forcing Tita to sew up her stitches because she hadn't basted it (p...