In Maria Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus Estrella is a confused, angry girl who is attempting to figure everything out. Estrella is unable to figure anything out without the help of Perfecto Flores, but with his help she is able to create some understanding about the importance of education and becomes less angry. Viramontes uses tone and figurative language to help show Estrella’s growth and development. The beginning of the passage has an angry tone.
The racial inequality leads to a split between Mexicans and other races. Villaseñor empowers women throughout the book. Two strong female characters in the story are Dona Guadalupe, Lupe’s mother, and Dona Margarita, Juan’s mother. Both Dona Guadalupe and Dona Margarita proves themselves as a caregiver and a leader for their family. “Dona Guadalupe put the baby’s little feet in a bowl of warm water,… that he heard from inside the womb” (57).
Estrella was eager to get academic knowledge but unfortunately her teachers were more concerned in her hygiene and her appearance than in giving her the education. “Teachers were more concerned about the dirt under her fingernails.” “They inspected her hair for lice…”
The author says, “ They inspected her head for lice, parting her long hair with ice cream sticks. They scrubbed her fingers with a toothbrush until they were so sore she couldn't hold a pencil properly.” ( lines 20-24). The author reveals Estrella’s experience at school with her teacher and how they were more concerned with her appearance than helping her understand the language and the alphabet. Moreover, the author says, “ Perfecto Flores taught her the names that went with the tools: a claw hammer… lopped pliers like scissors for cutting…
This matters because it will clarify that the love of a mother is irreplaceable and will help change Enrique as a person but can only get that love from his mother.
She does this by being very detailed in her documentation of Enrique’s journey which allows the audience to see the more trivial things that end up building to the extreme situation that Enrique was eventually thrown into. The smaller ordeals that Nazario cites portrays Enrique’s life in a more relatable way in which others can see the positive and negative effects that family relationships can have in the coming of age process. Through this relatability, the audience is able to establish a connection with Enrique’s life which allows Nazario to emphasize how family relationships can have both positive and negative effects on someone during the coming of age period. Nazario makes this connection when she documents Belky stating, “On Mother’s Day, Belky cries quietly, alone in her room. She struggles through the celebrations at school.
Alvarez and her family have a lot of trauma considering there lives in the dominican republic and living under the dictator,through it all alvarez's parents raised a daughter who would share their story in a fashionable matter that told the story how it was.
Enrique always dreamt of being with his mother and he planned of never leaving her side again, but once he found his way to the United States his mother and him were always caught in a serious
She vows to god she will never ask him for anything for her son” (260). This shows us how Lourdes once cared for her son, but now is burdened with him for all of his actions. The point of view shows us how how Enrique once cared for his mother but now his mother is crying because of what Enrique has turned out to be. In conclusion, the POV shows us how different perspectives show us how Enrique ended up because of how he changed. Analyzing how Nazario uses literary devices show us how Enrique has changed throughout the novel.
Enriques mother Lourdes has only one option if she wants her children to have a chance and that is to go to America. Even though she loves Enriques more than the world she leaves. The author writes “She cannot carry his picture. It would melt her resolve. She cannot hug him.
As a child, he is burdened with worry for his mother because she is not near him for many formidable years of his life. He is troubled by a perceived lack of love from his father, grandmother, and many members of his family still residing in Honduras. Enrique experiences the pressures of living within a low economic status when Lourdes is unable to send a sufficient amount of money for his livelihood. In later years, Enrique uses drug use as a coping mechanism and cannot release the stronghold that drugs have in his life so much so that he still uses drugs today. Enrique is also plagued with the increasing violence in his area.
He speaks Spanish like a foreigner and has difficulty reading it, let alone writing it. He had a son at 17 and never went to college. His life reads like the character of a teen drama: teenage dad struggling to make ends meet to support his family. My mom, on the other hand, speaks English with a heavy accent and went back to school in her 30s. The one thing they both have in common is they are both extremely
The cool air swoops in and out behind me as the door slams close. Immediately I feel the pressure of hundreds of eyes glaring at me. I glide my feet down the school hallway, secretly hoping that today will be different. Today I can avoid all the drama and pain. I arrive at my locker and open it, only for it to be shut a second later by the wannabee herself Ms. Amber Jones.
(177)” The teacher wants Rodriguez’s family to stop speaking Spanish when he is home because it might help him feel more comfortable in speaking
Sam then has a parent-teacher conference since Lucy is holding back in class and doesn’t want to advance, as to not leave him behind. When Lucy pretends she does not know how to say a word because she does not want to be smarter than her father, Sam tells her that her reading makes him happy. This exchange illustrates how different Sam and Lucy’s relationship is from the typical father-daughter relationship, instead of him helping her in school work, she has to learn by herself. Sam has a job at Starbucks cleaning tables that he has held for eight years showing that he is capable and hardworking human being. But once Sam finally receives