Under the Feet of Jesus

Rating:
Summary: Susna's Review
Review: "Under the Feet of Jesus," written by Helena Maria Viramontes is an extraordinary novel. Throughout the book many themes and motifs are expressed. The majority of this book reflects the hardships that minority groups, such as Hispanics, face in the United States. One may find that the theme of, "Under the Feet of Jesus," would be about the belief and faith in God, or a higher religious being. There is also a motif of continuous hope that the characters have.

The story begins in late spring or early summer in sunny California. The reader is told that a station wagon is transporting a Hispanic family of seven to a farm for the duration of the summer. In the family there is Petra, the mother, Perfecto, who is not the father of any of the children but is accepting the responsibility, twin girls Perla and Cuca who are about five years old, Ricky who is approximately seven years of age, Arnulfo who is roughly ten, and the main character of the novel a young woman at the age of thirteen, Estrella. When the family arrives at the farm, they are given a one-room shack to live in and a fire pit for cooking. It is at this time that the reader realizes that this family has had a very rough past and they have been forced to move to a work farm because they have no other option.

Throughout the book the family works in the fields with other families that have also had rough ways of life. The very old workers, all the way down to the children who are the same age as Ricky, slave in fields harvesting crops from dawn until dusk. This harsh way of working and living has forced the children to mature faster. Estrella is having difficulty with her life at this time. As she worked and saw everyone else sweating with pain she had flashbacks of the way life was before their father abandoned them. She was confused, but at the same time she was also beginning to realize some of the truths of reality. She meets this boy who is the same age as she. His name is Alejo. She and Alejo begin to have a friendship, which she has never really experienced before. At the work camp she had had another friend, but it ended because of their differences. Then she and Alejo begin to develop feelings for each other which becomes more than just friendship.

At this point the reader now learns that Petra is pregnant with Perfecto's child. As she is Struggling with that, Perfecto is going through a rough period himself. He is thinking about his life and trying to decide what he should do next. Meanwhile, Alejo and Estrella are having a "puppy love" experience. One day Alejo and his cousin, Gumecindo, were picking peaches in the orchard when a plane above started to spray the trees. Alejo ended up being very sick from the poisonous spray, so his cousin took him to Petra for help. Petra decides to let Alejo stay with them so she can try and bring him back to good health. However, Alejo keeps getting worse and worse. Finally they take him to a hospital twenty miles away and leave him there because they have no money and they need to get back to the farm. By the time that all of this is over, everyone is physically, mentally, and emotionally frustrated. Throughout the entire book everyone kept having hope that something better was going to happen. When they had lost that hope, began to doubt what they knew, and started to fear tomorrow, they turned to God, and began to pray.

"Under the Feet of Jesus," was an astounding novel. It gives the reader a sense of hope in a hopeless environment and it makes the reader doubt what he or she has been given. In a personal opinion one could say that the book ended rather abruptly, because as the reader continues into the novel the climax begins to build. All the while reading, the reader is ready for the climax, he or she is ready for the "explosion" of the book to take place and then the book just ends. In a way, however, that may have very well have been the point the author was trying to make the entire time. Because belief, faith, and hope are themes, the author builds the climax so the reader is waiting for the novel to explode with energy and have a powerful ending. The reader experiences the horrible lives of these people and wants something good to happen for the characters at the end. The reader wants something better for these people. That does not happen. The author wanted readers to have that same sense of loss. Viramontes wanted the reader to need a higher being when lost, as the characters did. The characters turned to God to help them recreate that faith, hope, and belief within them again.

Rating:
Summary: Remembering My Roots
Review: I read this book in my eleventh grade. My English teacher knew that I liked to read, especially from Latino writers so he suggested I read Under the Feet of Jesus. What a great book that is. It's written by Helena Maria Viramontes. She is so detailed in her writing. She vividly decribes sensations and experiences. This story is about a young Mexican girl named Estrella who lives her life traveling with her mom, step dad, and four other siblings. They follow the agrucultural crops. Like in many other families, if you were old enough to carry a sack of cotton you were old enough to work. Estrella and her family moved from place to place working in strawberry fields, cotton fields, etc. Viramontes describes how even though her and her siblings were American born citizens, they still got nervous of seeing the immigration officers who are always looking for those persons without papers. They don't want immigrants living here illegally. It's true what Viramontes emphasizes, they have prejudice feelings toward immigrants who do nothing but work hard to make a better living for themselves. Immigrants are the ones who pick the vegetables they eat at dinner. They despise them. That's not fair because Mexican immigrants, as well as other immigrants, are the ones who make this nation grow. Viramontes describes Estrella's feelings toward her family, her life,this nation's hardships and the experience of her first love. I learned through this novel that this is what my father went through when he first came to this country. He still tells me what it was like to come as a stranger to this country carrying nothing but the clothes on his back and a couple of dollars in his pocket. Although he is now an American made citizen, he never forgets where he came from and what he had to go through to get where he is now. That is what he wants to teach his kids. To never forget where we come from and our Mexican roots. I will forever be grateful for his sacrifices, and my mother's, to have offered my siblings and I a better life and future for us. I recommend this book to everyone, whether you're Mexican or not.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: The book, Under the Feet of Jesus, is a juxtaposition of the beautiful landscape of California and harsh life of a migrant worker. This story focuses on one migrant family who went through much turmoil. The mother, Petra has to live with the fact that her first husband abandoned his family, leaving the family to look for back breaking work in the country side. The father, Perfecto is much older than Petra and is struggling to do as Petra's first husband did, to abandon the family and go back to his hometown. The main character in the story, Estrella is a fourteen year old girl who works long hours under the unforgiving sun, is looked down by her teachers, and learns the meaning of sacrifice and love when she loses her first love, Alejo.

Each character undergoes their own personal battles when they meet Alejo. Alejo is a migrant worker boy who becomes engulfed in poisons by a crop duster as he picks peaches in a field. Estrella's family takes him under their care out of pity. They become strained as they have to both work and nurse Alejo. Nothing that they do can help Alejo, as his conditions diminishes everyday. It is at this time Estrella falls in love with Alejo. Days go by and Alejo becomes critically ill. Estrella is faced with the horrible situation that her family will have to abandon Alejo because they simply cannot take care of him. Out of this struggle, Estrella comes out even stronger, knowing both the joy and pain that comes from love.

The author Vermonters challenges us to look beyond our perceptions of others, especially the lower classes of society. There is so much more to these people then their poverty. They are real people with families and emotions, trying to go by on what little they have. This story illustrates grim life of the immigrant workers and then glorifies them by showing their struggle and triumphs over their problems. These people are able to go beyond what society labels them and their poverty by forging their own identity. Through their sacrifices and their unity in spirit, they can break free of the word poverty and find meaning in themselves.

Rating:
Summary: ^_^
Review: The scorching hot midday sun beats down upon the bare necks of migrant Mexican workers, ready to do back-breaking work for meager wages. One of the characters of the story, Perfecto, observes the scene described in wonderful detail: clouds ready to burst like cotton plants, an old decaying barn nearby, and a silence interrupted only by the wisps of wind that ruffle the peach trees. As he observes these images, reality quickly sinks in: "The silence and the barn and the clouds meant many things. It was always a question of work, and work depended on the harvest, the car running, their health, the conditions of the road, how long the money held out, and the weather, which meant they could depend on nothing" (4). Set in the harsh, poverty-stricken world of the migrant Mexican worker, Under the Feet of Jesus, by Helena Maria Viramontes, is a story about a Latino family in California, trying to get by in a society that turns a cold shoulder to their every woe. As the characters endure hardship upon hardship throughout the book, the author's own ideology manifests itself in their slow loss of faith. Religion is no substitute for gritty human spirit in times such as these. By the end of the novel it seems clear that Perfecto's observation holds partly true: they can depend on nothing but themselves.
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!

Rating:
Summary: ^_^
Review: The scorching hot midday sun beats down upon the bare necks of migrant Mexican workers, ready to do back-breaking work for meager wages. One of the characters of the story, Perfecto, observes the scene described in wonderful detail: clouds ready to burst like cotton plants, an old decaying barn nearby, and a silence interrupted only by the wisps of wind that ruffle the peach trees. As he observes these images, reality quickly sinks in: "The silence and the barn and the clouds meant many things. It was always a question of work, and work depended on the harvest, the car running, their health, the conditions of the road, how long the money held out, and the weather, which meant they could depend on nothing" (4). Set in the harsh, poverty-stricken world of the migrant Mexican worker, Under the Feet of Jesus, by Helena Maria Viramontes, is a story about a Latino family in California, trying to get by in a society that turns a cold shoulder to their every woe. As the characters endure hardship upon hardship throughout the book, the author's own ideology manifests itself in their slow loss of faith. Religion is no substitute for gritty human spirit in times such as these. By the end of the novel it seems clear that Perfecto's observation holds partly true: they can depend on nothing but themselves.
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!

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: This is a short novel, 176 pages. The stories characters, a Chicano migrant family, are very finely crafted. They are very real. Perfecto is probably the most powerfully drawn. He is probably about 73, with a wife about 40 years younger than himself and several stepchildren including thirteen year old Estrella who could be said to be the novel's main character.

Estrella's father abandoned Petra, the mother and her children. Perfecto feels the urge to do just that towards the end of the book during a particularly difficult period. I'd have to say that the description of Perfecto's turmoil is probably a close second in the book to the scene where Estrella explodes in the medical clinic, where her class resentments are taken out on the poor white nurse.

Now, I got the feeling through reading this book that it might have been better edited. The author just might be the greatest confector of similes in the history of humanity though I thought she might have laid them on in the book a bit too heavy. There are streches in the book where the writing is first rate, full of vigor; then other periods when it is less vigorous but still well done. But after I finished the book, I thought to myself that the book could not have been written any other way for better or for worse.

In conclusion, this is a very finely crafted story of a poor migrant family, perhaps very typical, as they engage in back breacking labor for long hours at ten cents an hour under terrible working and living conditions, breathing in pesticides, enriching their bosses and giving us cheap fruit and vegetables.

Rating:
Summary: Degradation and Dreams in Under the Feet of Jesus
Review: Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes is one of the texts that has made the biggest impact on me in my reading experience. It is a novel about a girl, Estrella, who is in the process of becoming a woman. She and her family travel in the United States looking for work and end up laboring in fields all day for little pay. Estrella learns about love as she meets Alejo, who works in the same fields as Estrella's family, and in turn, the readers learn about the turmoil that many Mexicans faced. The family risks being picked up by the Border Patrol (though they are U.S. citizens) as well as being looked down on for their skin color and poverty.
Viramontes does a wonderful job describing the less than savory conditions that Estrella and her family face in their journey through life. Her beautiful, descriptive words leave the readers in a state of agony over the trials that the family encounters. We are disgusted when the characters are treated badly by upper class white people. Later we cheer Estrella on when she fights back, demanding that the nurse give her family the last of their money back if she could not do anything for Alejo, who is getting progressively sicker due to the pesticide that is sprayed on the fields where the family works.
Compared to other texts in the Latino tradition, Under the Feet of Jesus is quite different. Like many other Latino/a writers, Viramontes definitely takes a good look at the social injustice of the conditions that Estrella and her family live with, yet she mixes her cries of injustice with words that paint a beautiful picture of the landscape and leave the readers feeling as if they are experiencing everything along with the characters instead of just reading words on a page. The dream-like language floats in and out of different stories of Estrella's life all the way to the end of the novel, which flows with the rest of the book, leaving its readers wondering what happens to Estrella.

Rating:
Summary: Rotten writing and weak characters make an awful book
Review: While several books provide us with beautiful and harsh truths about other cultures, this novel is not one of them. A chaotically written story that bounces around the life of the central characters, combined with weak character development and far too many adjectives in every sentence, make for quite possibly the worst book I have ever had the misfortune to read. Wholly depressing and utterly incomprehensible, I would steer clear of this and instead pick up a copy of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinback.