Under the Feet of Jesus

The story of Estrella, and her romantic relationship with Alejo, serves as the grounding force for the author's indictment of a system which exploits poor workers for the sake of increased profits for the wealthy landowners and agribusiness corporations. The evil done by those capitalist forces are not presented in the abstract or in theory, but in the very real suffering of the workers and the tragedy of Alejo who has been poisoned by the pesticides of the corporate agribusinesses.

The element which most makes Viramontes' novel effective is the non-sentimental way she presents her characters and situations. This shows a respect for the reader, letting the reader interpret the points being made, without romanticizing the farmworkers or making their adversaries the spawn of the devil. Certainly she wants the book to bring sympathy for the hard lives of the farmworkers in California, and anger against their exploitation, but she does so with a strong style and talent that gives her work a powerful and quiet authority.

There is also a fine subtlety to Viramontes' writing that respects the reader's ability to see what i

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r fears, her anxieties, her hopes. She allows the doll to express itself as a kind of honest substitute for herself, but then takes the role of the people and forces which do not allow her to express herself. She is a female in a world where females, even young females, are expected to suffer quietly and endure, to be there for the males when they are needed, and not to complain when the men are not there for them. Of course, Estrella finds hope in the love of Alejo, but even in that relationship suffering overwhelms the joy of love and human connection. Alejo will apparently be a fatality caused by the inhumane profit-seeking of big business whose leaders do not care about the suffering of the poor immigrant workers. So, once again, a female will be left behind on her own. We cannot blame Alejo for dying, of course, but Estrella is the heart of the novel and her love for Alejo, for better or worse,m is more important than Alejo or even his death. It is her plight that the reader is asked to identify with most. Just as her mother has been abandoned physically by Estrella's father, and mentally and spiritually by Perfecto, so is Estrella about to be abandoned by Alejo, against his will or not. In fact, one might say that th
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Petra Perfecto, Latina Estrella, Estrella Viramontes, Perfecto Alejo, Perfecto Estrella, Feet Jesus, York Plume, poor workers, Helena Maria, poor immigrant workers, love alejo, forced grow, immigrant workers, live life, course estrella, estrella's father, poor immigrant, estrella family, mere suffering,
Approximate Word count = 1421
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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