There are three syllables in contentious: con - ten - tious.
It is an adjective.
It has a Latin origin.
The most common definition is aggressive, controversial, inclined to argue.
The stressed syllable is ten.
Dr. Brown shows Tita how phosphorous combined with oxygen can create a flame. He shares with her one of his grandmother’s old sayings that everyone has a box of matches inside them that can only be lit by oxygen and a candle. The oxygen, says Dr. Brown is a lover and the candle can be any other pleasure in life. He claims that finding the elements to ignite the matches within is a task that each person must complete in order to nourish his soul. If a person does not discover what ignites their matches then the matchbox dampens and the soul leaves the body in search of something to nourish it.
Also this symbol of “matches” repeats throughout the book as a symbol of Tita’s happiness and her life. When all the matches are light in the end she died.
https://www.gradesaver.com/like-water-for-chocolate/q-and-a/how-is-tita-like-a-book-of-matches-p115-116-422207
Since the flames of the gas chambers and the flames of the battle extinguished his true belief in god, he is saying that he will never forget. He will never forget the pain and suffering and his lost loved ones and all the pain he survived through.
