Mama Elena sees Tita as a threat, because with her comes the risk of subversion to her controlling patriarchal order. Mama Elena tries to control Tita in every aspect of her life, from marriage to her cooking. "Mama Elena knew that the quail was exquisite; nonetheless, Pedro's remark did not sit well with her, and she replied: "It's too salty." " (Esquivel, 51). Although Tita was in love with Pedro, Mama Elena forbid her to marry because of her predetermined destiny that she could not escape. She believes that she can control Tita on the basis that she is her mother, and Tita is a member of the family, so she is expected to follow the family's traditions and obey her mother. "In the De la Garza family, one obeyed-immediately. Ignoring Tita completely, a very angry Mama Elena left the kitchen." (Esquivel, 13). Mama Elena refused to listen to anyone's opinions on the tradition but her own, and those that agreed with her. Tita was forbidden from speaking about her protests against the tradition and the problems she saw with it.
In The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Miss Brodie tries to control her students lives and force them to take on the same opinions as her. " "Who is the greatest Italian painter?" "Leonardo da Vinci, Miss Brodie." "That is incorrect. The answer is Giotto, he is my favourites." " (Spark, 9). Miss Brodie continually takes her opinion and passes it off as the objective truth to her students. She perfectly demonstrates the adverse effect that power of authority over a group of people can have. She lets her students make few decisions by themselves, and she is able to force change of attitudes and beliefs in them. Her "Set", a group of students that she has chosen to be her favourites, are the ones that she attempts to influence and control the most. "These girls formed the Brodie set.At that time they had been immediately recognisable as Miss Brodie's pupils, being vastly informed on a lot of subjects irrelevant to the authorised curriculum.
