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The wording of this book is so delicate that it could almost be mistaken for an extended poem if it were not for the strength of characters like Estrella and her mother Petra and the dialogue that goes spoken and unspoken between them.
From Petra and the harsh agricultural world around her, Estrella learns the difference between love without security and security without love; when Estrella makes her final choice, it is with the wealth of experiences of her own family.
Viramontes' book echoes not only great American writers of the past like Steinbeck, but classic Latin American literature like the "Popul Vuh" of the Mayas. The odd mixture of both cultures is smoothed over by the heavy sybolism of the cycles of the earth, and the humanity of the people who inhabit it.
The novel centers primarily around Estrella, a young girl on the verge of womanhood, and her relationship with Alejo, another migrant worker of the same age. Throughout the story, the characters are confronted time and time again with hardships they must endure, each time further questioning their faith. After Alejo is poisoned by a crop duster and falls ill, the family takes care of him, spending what little money they have for his treatment. Alejo, no stranger to harsh reality in his life, bleakly ponders if this is some sort of punishment from God. As his condition deteriorates and things look grim, Estrella curses God, thinking He "did not care," and that now renouncing Him, she "was alone to fend for herself" (139). At the end of the novel, in a scene that perhaps represents Viramontes' ideology the best, Estrella is perched on a rooftop, "on the verge of faith," yet she does not let herself fall (176). She doesn't trust "blindly" anymore, instead choosing to "trust the soles of her feet, her hands, the shovel of her back, and the pounding bells of her heart" (175). In the end, Estrella has learned that it is her own strength she must trust in, not God's, to carry her through the hardships she faces.
Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes, is at its heart, a novel that reveals to the reader through vivid metaphorical detail, the harsh world of the Mexican migrant worker. The book pulls its characters away from grasping blindly at faith in a benevolent God, and brings them to take comfort in the only constant that is rooted in their ever-changing environment: their own spirit to go on. Perhaps reflective of Viramontes' own ideology, this novel provides an excellent view of the loss of religious faith, replaced by gritty human spirit that can overcome any hardship. Inspirational and beautifully written, I highly recommend Under the Feet of Jesus to anyone!
The wording of this book is so delicate that it could almost be mistaken for an extended poem if it were not for the strength of characters like Estrella and her mother Petra and the dialogue that goes spoken and unspoken between them.
From Petra and the harsh agricultural world around her, Estrella learns the difference between love without security and security without love; when Estrella makes her final choice, it is with the wealth of experiences of her own family.
Viramontes' book echoes not only great American writers of the past like Steinbeck, but classic Latin American literature like the "Popul Vuh" of the Mayas. The odd mixture of both cultures is smoothed over by the heavy sybolism of the cycles of the earth, and the humanity of the people who inhabit it.
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