Hart 1

Matt Hart

25 November 2014

English 130

Helena Maria Viramontes’s Under the Feet of Jesus tells the story of Estrella

and her family and their journey as migrant farmworkers. Throughout the novel we,

the reader, are exposed to the lives of migrant farmworkers and their daily

struggles. We are exposed to the adversities that they face because of the status in

society, their lack of resources, mainly money, and the harmful effects of pesticides

and other hazardous conditions. These aspects of migrant farmworkers lives

become evident when Alejo is sprayed with pesticides by a biplane and becomes

increasingly ill. Estrella and her family see Alejo’s declining health and want to help

him. They take him to the local clinic and as greeted with another negative aspect of

migrant worker life. The nurse that is supposed to be helping them is failing to

properly help them due to their social status as migrant farmworkers. There is a

blatant disregard of civility because they are being viewed as less than human. The

nurse then proceeds to create a problematic situation when it comes to paying the

doctor bill.

There are a few critics, in relation to ecocriticism, that believe that there are

many unaddressed safety hazards that affect the migrant farmworkers, a couple of

which that are addressed within Viramontes’s novel, the first of the two being

Marilyn McEntyre. In her article Sickness in the System: The Health Cost of the Harvest.

She discusses the lives of migrant farmworkers in California and the hazards of pesticides

Hart 2

within those communities. She specifically addresses the climax of the novel “when

Alejo, a cousin about Estrella’s age, finds himself caught in the field when, without

warning, a biplane appears and beings to release pesticide spray” (104). McEntyre

proceeds to discuss how Estrella’s family faces many small life risks while working in on

the farm. She also discusses how Estrella resorts to violence towards the nurse after the

episode at the office.

The second being Janet Fiskio who in her article discusses Agrarianism and

environmental injustices such as non-farmworkers that exploit the migrant workers

because of their lack of money and other resources. I agree with many ecocritics

that the conditions faced by migrant farmworkers are hazardous and overlooked.

The conditions faced by Estrella and her friends and family in Viramontes’s Under

the Feet of Jesus aren’t just plot lines in a novel they are real life occurrences that are

not as prominent in todays society as they could be. Migrant farm workers are being

taken advantage of due to their lack of money and citizenship, which makes them

scared to stand up for themselves and make change. The adversity faced by Alejo is

an example of how even though he has lived in this county and has his rights he is

still judged by non-farmworkers and treated as less than a person. Fiskio discusses

how in school Estrella’s teacher was mainly “concerned about the dirt under her

fingernails” (24) rather than he education. Fiskio also addresses the figure of the

crowbar just as McEntyre does by noticing how it appears after “Alejo has been

poisoned by pesticides and a nurse at a clinic takes the family’s last dollar while

refusing to help him, thus depriving the family of the gas money they need to drive

him to the hospital” (313).

Hart 3

The final critic is Sharla Hutchinson, in her article Recoding Consumer

Culture: Ester Hernández, Helena María Viramontes, and the Farmworker Cause she

addresses the development of the United Farmworkers (UFW) and how “the labor

movement ignited a broader interest in Mexican-American civil rights known as the

Chicano Movement” (973). In her article she discusses the impact of this movement

affected the literature of the time and how migrant farmworkers are utitlized in

Viramontes’s novella.

Helena Maria Viramontes is a feminist writer who discusses the trials and

tribulations of young female Latinas. Specifically in Under the feet of Jesus she

discusses the struggles of Estrella and her family as migrant farmworkers in

California. The novella takes place at a time when the United Farm Workers was not

a prominent union. Viramontes discusses in an interview with Isabel Dulfano that

she wanted to have “Estrella organize and come out and become a tool of the United

Farm Workers.” The Chicano movement and ideals are expressed throughout

Viramontes’s novella. There are many instances of ethnic stereotyping as shown

through the eyes of Estrella. One scene in particular when Estrella is describing her

school life “…reserving the desks in the back of the classroom for the next batch of

migrant children.” (25) That is a clear example of migrant children being treated

differently than any other child. Estrella even goes further to describe her teacher

and how there is a lack of sincerity and being able to control ones thoughts as to not

upset or belittle Estrella. Estrella goes on to say “[Mrs. Horn] asked how come her

mama never gave her a bath. Until then, it had never occurred to Estrella that she

was dirty, that the wet towel wiped on her resistant face each morning, the vigorous

Hart 4

braids her mother neatly weaved were not enough for Mrs. Horn.” (25) This shows

how Estrella is being singled out and judged by her teacher who doesn’t show any

compassion for the hardships that Estrella goes through.

The life of a migrant farmworker does not become easier and there is a

constant desire to become someone who is earning money on his or her own by not

working on a farm. Estrella becomes friends with Alejo, who is also a migrant

worker that works on the same farm as Estrella. Alejo and his cousin one evening

decide to steal fruit to earn extra money however it becomes complicated when a

biplane beings to spray the toxic pesticides over the crops ultimately raining down

on Alejo. With the resources that they have they would not be able to do anything

for Alejo. Estrella and her family had to take him to the hospital. Viramontes uses

this scene to make the reader feel for Alejo even though he was poisoned while

stealing fruit. When Estrella brings Alejo to the hospital the nurse shows no care for

him due to his status as a migrant worker. The nurse was just about to leave when

Alejo arrived which only added to her irritation with the family. The nurse doesn’t

take the time to try and help Alejo and tells the family that “Dr. Martínez isn’t

coming in for another week.” (139) She does a basic check up and gives a poor guess

as to what is wrong with Alejo and then seems very concerned about who is going to

pay. The family did not want to give their last $9.07. The nurse shows some

compassion as instead of charging the full visit charge but only ten dollars of it

because she “knows times are hard these days.” (144) Perfecto wanted Estrella to

ask if anything needed to be fixed as to barter with the nurse but she was more

concerned about having to leave very soon and lock up the clinic. Estrella has a

Hart 5

moment where she makes a connection to the tar pits and was confused to why the

nurse could not make that same connection. Estrella had come to the realization

that “The nurse owed them as much as they owed her.” (148) This is when the

family leaves after giving the money but Estrella comes back with a crowbar to get

the family’s money back. This connection, Fiskio says, is “Estrella connect[ing] the

gas money to the tar pits and thus to the exploitation of workers within the system”

(Fiskio 313)

Another instance of migrant farmworkers being surrounded by dangerous

conditions besides the use of pesticides on the crops is irrigation ditches.

Viramontes describes how Estrella and Maxine would go near the irrigation ditch

and how Estrella has “heard through the grapevine about the water, and knew Big

Mac the Foreman lied about the pesticides not spilling into the ditch; but the water

seemed clear and cool and irresistible on such a hot day.” (32) Fiskio uses this scene

to show the juxtaposition of a clear stream with a polluted ditch. Estrella being the

curious girl that she is asks Maxine, “[y]ou think ‘cause of the water our babies are

gonna come out with no mouth or something?” (33). The fact that certain dangerous

aspects of the farm are not directly told to the farmworkers and that they are put in

harms way without their knowledge shows lack of care of the farm owners. It is as if

the only people with morals and ethics are the migrant workers themselves. This is

clear by Estrella’s family taking care of a sick Alejo who is of no relation to them and

has only worked with them for a short period of time. Petra is the character that

addresses this idea that no one will take care of the migrant workers but each other,

“If we don’t take care of each other, who would take care of us?” (96) With this

Hart 6

statement in mind it shows that the migrant farmworkers understand no one will

care for them other than each other and when one of them is threated that as a

group they need to be there for others like them. This unfortunate and sad idea is a

reason for the beginning of the Chicano movement and the United Farm Workers.

This unity according to Hutchison is “a political call to make the difficulties facing a

whole laboring class socially visible” (974) Hutchison also greatly addresses the

image of the Sun Maid, “the irony of the sun maid is not lost on a young teenaged girl

like Estrella. Real workers do not wear ruby-red lipstick, smiling as they lift heavy

baskets of freshly picked grapes. Instead, they sweat, working to the bring of

exhaustion in the mid-day heat.” (982) This is a possible example besides the fact

that they had no more money after paying the hospital bill that Estrella was

increasingly upset with the nurse. The nurse is introduced to us, “A young woman

emerged holding her purse and car keys…she had on a fresh coat of red lipsticks.”

(137) Connecting the nurse to the Sun Maid creates reason for Estrella’s anger

towards the nurse.

A review of the novella by Taylor Gilbert opens with the following statement,

“Migrant Mexicans shackled to a life of itinerant farm labor form the backdrop for a

summer in the life of young Estrella and her family.” This statement addresses the

fact that many migrant families are constantly moving from place to place with very

little chance of a stable family life. The life of migrant farmworkers is dangerous and

there are not many people who are willing to help them. Viramontes’s novella

addresses these issues through the quick description of Estrella’s teacher and the

teacher’s judgment of Estrella. Through Alejo’s sickness because of pesticides,

Hart 7

through the relationship between Estrella’s family and Alejo who is just another

migrant farmworker and not related to them yet, they still wish to help him and give

their last nine dollars to do so. The lack of resources and sanitary living areas

provided to migrant farmworkers is displayed throughout Viramontes’s novella and

creates a distraught image of migrant farmworker life. The judgment put upon them

by “outsiders” (non-farmworkers) is shown multiple times with the nurse and

Estrella’s teacher. The conditions they live in are very much overlooked and

thankfully for specific movements throughout the 1960s such as the Chicano

Movement and the Unionization of Farm Workers these issues can be addressed.

Viramontes uses her novel not only as a story about a young girl growing up in a

migrant farm working family but also as a platform to address many of the issues

with cheap labors in California.

Hart 8

Works Cited

Fiskio, Janet. "Unsettling Ecocriticism: Rethinking Agrarianism, Place, And Citizenship." American Literature 84.2 (2012): 301-325. Academic Search Complete. Print.

Hutchinson, Sharla. "Recoding Consumer Culture: Ester Hernández, Helena María Viramontes, And The Farmworker Cause." Journal Of Popular Culture 46.5 (2013): 973-990. Print.

McEntyre, Marilyn Chandler. "Sickness In The System: The Health Costs Of The Harvest." Journal Of Medical Humanities 28.2 (2007): 97-104. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.

Taylor, Gilbert. "Under the Feet of Jesus." Booklist 15 Apr. 1995: 1481+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Viramontes, Helena María, and Isabel Dulfano. "Some Thoughts Shared with Helena María Viramontes." Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 30.5 (2001): 647-662. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 285. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.