ENL 158B: "Defining Community: Inclusion and Exclusion in Under the Feet of Jesus"

Jolene Brown

Dr. M. Stratton

ENL 158B

October 17, 2008

Defining Community:

Inclusion and Exclusion in Under the Feet of Jesus

The novel Under the Feet of Jesus, by Helena María Viramontes suggests that the English-speaking American is part of the same community as the characters by presenting the reader with several interconnected interpretations of the phrase “under the feet of Jesus” and by proposing three circumstances of belonging: divine, legal, and literary. The novel is written in such a way to contrast the lives of the characters with that of the average American English-speaker, and the lives of the characters are foreign, in more ways than one, to this type of reader, which leads to the assumption that the characters are illegal immigrants. The occasional switch to the use of Spanish only adds to the isolation, prompting a further feeling of exclusion from the community of the novel, but Viramontes is balancing that exclusion with information that notifies the reader of their inclusion. Examples of these types of inclusion are found in several passages of the novel, and this essay will focus on two of them.

Throughout the novel there is fear of the immigration police, la migra. The reader suspects that, because of this fear, that Estrella and her family are immigrants. Petra, however, tells her daughter:

“Don’t run scared. You stay there and look them in the eye…If they stop you…you tell them the birth certificates are under the feet of Jesus…Tell them que tienes una madre aquí. You are not an orphan, and she pointed a red finger to the earth, Aquí” (Viramontes 63).

This advice to her daughter not only seems contrary to what illegal parents would want for their children, but also has significance in that it implies that Petra believes they are more than just American citizens. The final line she points her finger to the ground and states “Aquí” with a capital A. This is the Spanish word for “here” and the capital letter implies a higher meaning, more than just the land beneath her feet. In fact, just moments before she tells Estrella that the birth certificates located “under the feet of Jesus,” and when you take that line in a metaphorical context, and look at the capitalization of the word aquí, the meaning is more than just Petra teaching her daughter to defend herself. The author is giving a meaning to the community they are a part of, not just a community of the American world, but a divine, earthly community that is located “under the feet of Jesus.”

One hundred pages later the reader discovers that Estrella’s family is, in fact, American citizens when Viramontes tells us:

“Under the doily lay the documents in the manila envelope. She slipped the envelope out gingerly and poured out the contents onto her palm. Black ink feet on the birth certificates…Certificado de Bautismos—five of them; a torn and mended Social Security card; Identification card…her picture looked flat and dull and pale as concrete, but the ID was a great relief” (166)

This is the legal definition of community, a status reserved for those who have papers, licenses, and proof, which Estrella’s mother keeps under the feet of a small Jesus statue. The metaphor that we believe Petra to be referencing earlier is, in fact, truth, there is proof “under the feet of Jesus.” This information can be shocking twist to the skeptical reader, who might, until this point, believe that Petra is teaching the children to lie about their documentation. Any doubts about their citizenship are dispelled and the reader suddenly realizes that these people are American citizens, too, with hardships, trials and problems that the average American does not always have to face.

The last definition of community that should be mentioned is the literary definition. It is important to remember that this book, Under the Feet of Jesus, is also paper, much like the papers that symbolize citizenship. The papers that make up this book are under the feet of Jesus, both metaphorically, in the way same way that Estrella and her family is, but also physically, as the title graces the cover of the novel itself. The community that the author creates within this book is as real as any community that suffers through these same circumstances, and the reader belongs to this community by being included in reading it. In this abstract sense, the reader becomes as much a part of the literary world, as Estrella becomes part of our material world. In our world her status lacks much that others take for granted: “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).

Viramontes subtly suggests several definitions of the word community and uses those definitions to include the reader in the community of the novel. The first definition is one of divine community, where all the beings of earth belong to one earthly community, American or not. The second definition is one of legality, and the English-speaking American reader can relate to this community, but also realizes the characters in the novel—assumed not to be citizens—are a part of their same American community. The third category is one of literature, whereby the novel itself is a community of characters and the reader is included into the community by reading. All of these definitions help to the reader to understand the interconnectedness of all communities, American or not, and the importance of communities relying upon each other for support. It is Estrella’s community that feed other families through their labor in the fields. Yet Estrella’s family lives on the edge of poverty and hunger and despite all their hard work are put on the outskirts of American society instead of embraced for the work they do. The English-speaking American realizes that this is a family with the same citizenship status as their own, and the reader is not the outsider they believed themselves to be. After all, we are all part of one big community located, as the novel suggests, under the feet of Jesus.