SOCIAL CRITICISMS AS REFLECTED THROUGH CHARACTERS’ LIFE EXPERIENCES IN VIRAMONTES’ UNDER THE FEET OF JESUS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
BERBUDI YUDOSUNU CANDRAJIWA
Student Number: 024214008
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009
ii
iii
iv To my family
my mom Nunuk Supriyati,
my dad Yudi Mulya, my brother Hapsoro Widi Wibowo,
my sister Philia Sampaguita.
In the Memory of my late father Soebijanto Wirojoedo
v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to say thank you to someone over there who is always waiting for me in my search of faith. Mr. Jesus. I owe Him a lot and I would like to know
Him better.
I owe an enormous debt to Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum, for her outrageous counsel, encouragement, prayer, patience, and much more in guiding my in my thesis.
My deep gratitude is for my family, my mom Nunuk Supriyati, my late father Soebijanto Wirojoedo, my dad Yudi Mulya, my brother Hapsoro Widi
Wibowo, my sister Philia Sampaguita and my little hairy brother Bule, and all my relatives, thanks for being one.
My sincere gratitude is for my beloved Mira, for being someone special in my life. Thanks for the encouragement, prayer and love that motivate me in finishing this thesis.
My second family, Te’ Puji, Eyang Bantar, Mogi, thanks for the valuable support.
My friends, Galang Wijaya, Jati ‘Kocak’, Andika ‘Jaran’, Tiara Dewi,
Dyah Putri ‘Tiwik’, Gideon Widyatmoko, Budi Utomo, Ari ‘Inyong’, Dimas
Jantri, Teguh Sujarwadi, Putu Jodi, Pius Agung ‘Badu’, Adi Ariep, Yudha
‘Cumi’, lilik, q-zer, Widi Martiningsih, Wahyu Ginting, Yabes Elia, Sugeng
Utomo, Ditto, Frida, Bigar Sanyata, Nikodemus, Wahmuji, Anna Elfira, Tyas P
Pamungkas, Prita, and all the names I have not mentioned here, that have shared
vi great story, thought, and moments with me, thanks guys for the bitter-sweet story we made.
Last but not least, I would like to give my gratitude for Mbak Nik, the lecturers, and staffs of Fakultas Sastra Sanata Dharma University.
Berbudi Yudosunu Candrajiwa
vii TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE…………………………………………………………….. i APPROVAL PAGE………………..…..………………………..……….. ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE……………………………………….…..……… iii LEMBAR PERNYATAAN……………………………………………… iv DEDICATION PAGE……………………………………………..…….. v ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS…………….………………………..….…… vi TABLE OF CONTENTS…...... viii ABSTRACT………………………………………………….……….….. ix ABSTRAK………………………………………………………..……… x
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION…………………………….………… 1 A. Background of the Study…………………………………....… 1 B. Problem Formulation……………………………………....…. 4 C. Objectives of the Study………………………………………... 4 D. Definition of Terms………………………………….….…..… 5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW……………….…...……… 7 A. Review of Related Studies……………………………….…… 7 B. Review of Related Theories…………………………...... ……. 8 1. Theory of Characterization………………….….…………. 8 2. The Relation between Literature and Society………..…… 10 3. Theory of Class…………………………….…..……....…. 11 4. Theory of Race Discrimination………………...…….….... 13 5. Review of Chicanos’ Experience in California in 1900s.… 15 C. Theoretical Framework…………………………….…..……… 22
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY……………………….….………... 24 A. Object of the Study……………………………………………. 24 B. Approach of the Study………………………………………… 25 C. Method of the Study…………………………………….…….. 26
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS………………………………………...…… 28 A. The Chicanos’ Experience in California in the 1900s presented through the Characters Life Experiences in Under the Feet of Jesus………………………………………………………….. 28 B. The Social Criticism on the American Labor System Presented through Characters’ Life Experience...……………….……….. 44 1. Capitalist Exploitation toward Chicano Farm Workers…… 44 2. Race Discrimination………………………..………….…… 58
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION…….………….………………………... 64
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………….……..……… 68
viii
ABSTRACT
BERBUDI YUDOSUNU CANDRAJIWA. Social Criticisms as Reflected through Characters’ Life Experiences in Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.
This undergraduate thesis analyzes one of Helena Maria Viramontes’ novels entitled Under the Feet of Jesus. The writer focuses the discussion on the social criticisms as reflected through characters’ life experiences. The thesis discuses the Chicanos’ experiences in California in the 1900s. This undergraduate thesis analyzes two main problems. The first problem deals with the representation the Chicano experiences in California in the 1900s through the main characters’ life experience. The second one deals with the social criticisms that are reflected through the characters’ life experiences in the novel. To conduct this study, sociocultural-historical approach was employed. This thesis applied a library research to collect data from books and internet resources. Theories of characterization, representation, class, race discrimination, and the review on the historical background of Chicanos’ experience in California in 1900s are used to analyze the problems. The result of this study shows that Chicano farm workers in California in 1900s experience the poverty, exploitation from the capitalist, and race discrimination. They live in poverty and also deal with poor housing, child laboring problem, problem in education and problem in health care. Viramontes criticizes the capitalist’s exploitation which forces the labor to work in inhumane conditions; pays them with low wage and gives them fewer facilities. Moreover, she also criticizes the American society that puts the farmworkers under racial discrimination because they are considered to have lower status of race.
ix
ABSTRAK
BERBUDI YUDOSUNU CANDRAJIWA. Social Criticisms as Reflected through Characters’ Life Experiences in Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2008.
Skripsi ini menganalisa salah satu novel karya Helena Maria Viramontes yang berjudul Under the Feet of Jesus. Penulis menitikberatkan pembahasan pada kritik sosial yang direfleksikan melalui pengalaman hidup karakter-karakter di dalam novel tersebut. Skripsi ini membahas pengalaman hidup kaum Chicano di Kalifornia pada tahun 1900an. Skripsi ini menganalisa dua permasalahan utama. Permasalahan pertama berkaitan dengan representasi dari pengalaman hidup kaum Chicano di Kalifornia pada tahun 1900an. Permasalahan kedua berkaitan dengan kritik sosial yang direfleksikan melalui pengalaman hidup karakter-karakter didalam novel. Dalam proses analisa, penulis menggunakan pendekatan sosial budaya dan sejarah. Skripsi ini menggunakan metode kepustakaan untuk mengumpulkan data- data yang dibutuhkan dari pelbagai buku dan sumber on-line. Dalam menganalisa novel ini, penulis menggunakan teori perwatakan, representasi, kelas, diskriminasi ras, dan gambaran keadaan kaum Chicano di Kalifornia pada tahun 1900an. Hasil analisa menunjukkan bahwa kaum Chicano di Kalifornia pada tahun 1900an mengalami kemiskinan, eksploitasi dari kaum kapitalis, dan diskriminasi ras. Mereka hidup dalam kemiskinan dan harus tinggal di pemukiman kumuh. Mereka juga harus menghadapi masalah buruh anak-anak, masalah pendidikan, dan masalah kesehatan. Viramontes mengkritik eksploitasi kaum kapitalis yang membuat para buruh bekerja pada kondisi yang sangat buruk dan membayar gaji rendah kepada mereka serta tidak memberikan fasilitas yang memadai. Lebih lagi, Viramontes mengkritik masyarakat Amerika yang membuat mereka mengalami diskriminasi ras karena mereka dianggap datang dari ras yang lebih rendah.
x CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
“Literature is a social institution, using its medium language, a social creation” as Rene Wellek and Austin Warren state in their books Theory of
Literature (1956:94). Graham Little says in Approach of Literature that literature functions “as a representation of the situation and the thoughts happening in a certain setting time and place,” (1963:1). Literature produces a path for us to understand about the social happenings, to be specific, about how people are being treated and how they deal with problem that they face under socio- economic roof.
Another benefit of literature, according to Georg Lukacs, is that literature has a great social power to “depicts the human being directly and with the full richness of his inward and outward life […] is able to portray the contradictions, struggles and conflicts of social life in the same way as they appear in the mind and life of actual human beings,” (Lukacs, 1980:143). From literature, we can obtain not only pleasure but also many great findings concerning the human struggle in getting a mere life. The study of a culture that struggle under oppression can be a good lesson for the reader to be more critical and able to appreciate life. Authors often bring their own culture into novel to be a consideration for the readers to make a better life
1 2
One of the authors, who succeeded in delivering the reality of her culture face, is Maria Helena Viramontes. She is one of the key authors of the Chicano
Literature. She was born in East Los Angeles, California, on February 26, 1954.
She attended Immaculate Heart College, majoring in English Literature, and received her B.A. in 1975. It was in the college that she began writing, first poetry and then fiction. She won a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1989 and received the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature in 1995 (http:// instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/engl206/virbio.htm). She concerns in the development of her people and most likely to write about place where she comes.
Her works mostly tell about the struggle of Chicano that experiencing many unfortunate things in achieving life. Her works, The Moths & Other Stories
(1985), Under the Feet of Jesus (1995), Their Dogs Came With Them (2007) are the reflection of her social criticism.
The writer is interested in one of Viramontes’ works Under The Feet of
Jesus. This is a novel which was born under the condition of the struggle of
Chicano movements in seeking for justice. The characters in the story are dealing with the hard life as grape pickers. They live in poverty with poor housing and money shortage. Moreover, the surrounding also becomes a threat. The danger of pesticide poisoning threatens them at the neighborhood. The high temperature and also the wind of dust have to be dealt every day when they are working in the orchard. Living as a poor farm worker leads to problems of health care and education. As Chicano, a problem also arises when they have to make an interaction with the Whites. 3
When readers read Under the Feet of Jesus they can feel the thick atmosphere of the life of a Mexican-American migrant in California, “but soon becomes an indictment of corporate agriculture in California and its practices of child labor and pesticide poisoning.”, says Yolanda Alaniz, a writer on the
Chicano movement and women's rights
(http://cemaweb.library.ucsb.edu/viramontes_helena.html). The reality that they have to face in dealing with problems living as labor is brought with fluency, as if we are present among them. The story is presented through a young girl point of view, Estrella. Her family, which moved to a new place to seek a better opportunity, consists of her mother Petra, her two twin sisters Cuca and Perla, her brothers Ricky and Arnulfo, and Perfecto Flores, a friend of her mother. The family has to face the harsh life of migrant and working as a labor along with the
Piscadores, Mexican Labor.
Living as grape pickers, the Chicanos have less access to sources and development. Poverty has become a common matter for them; they have no opportunities to change for a better condition. They only know how to work as fruit pickers under the exploitation of the landowner. Moreover, health problem also arises and they have no security guarantee for their safety when working.
Their children also have problem of being dropped out from school. Viramontes presents the harsh life of the Chicanos in California as a bridge to describe what actually her culture is facing.
4
B. Problems Formulation
To have a vivid analysis, the writer formulates the problems as follow:
1. How do the main characters’ life experiences, in the novel Under the
Feet of Jesus, represent the Chicano experience in California in the
1900s?
2. What are the social criticisms presented through the characters’ life
experiences in Under the Feet of Jesus?
C. Objectives of the Study
Considering the problems stated in the previous part, the writer focuses on two objectives of the study. Primarily, this thesis will analyze all the experiences of the three prominent characters in the novel. Then the writer will compare the characterization of these characters to the characteristics of the Chicano experience in 1900s California. This step is taken to answer how the characters in the novel represent the society experiences in that era. The second is to reveal what are the social criticisms are in the novel that the author wants to deliver to the reader. In this study, the writer will analyze the representation found in the characterization of these prominent characters’ life experiences in Under the Feet of Jesus as the representation of the Chicano's experience in California in 1900s.
The social condition of Chicano presented in the novel will reveal Viramontes’ social criticism toward America.
5
D. Definition of Terms
To help understand the thesis, it is better for the reader to comprehend some terms below.
1. Chicana/ Chicano
Chicana refers to women of Mexican descent born and/or raised in the
United States. The term Chicana (and Chicano) came into popular usage during the Chicano movimiento of the 1960s and 70s as Mexican-American activists sought to define a cultural and political identity for themselves. Some believe that the term derives from the indigenous Mexica (Meh-sheik-a) tribes of
Mesoamerica; others point out that the term was used as a derogatory reference to
Mexican-Americans in the Southwest U.S. for many years, until it was reappropriated by activists (http://www.chicanas.com/whowhat.html#Who).
2. Criticism
Criticism in Webster New Twentieth Century Dictionary of English
Language is “the act of making judgments; analysis of qualities and evaluation of comparative worth; especially the definition and judgments of literary artistic work” (Webster, 1974: 432). Criticism, according to Baldick, is a discussion or study in understanding literature in its relation to history, politic, social class, linguistics, psychology, etc (Baldick, 1991:48). Abrams states that most literary historians and critics have taken some account on their writings about “the relation of individual authors to the circumstances of the social and cultural era in which they live and write, as well as the relation of a literary work to the segment 6
of the society that is fiction represents or to which the work is addressed,”
(Abrams, 1981:178).
3. Capitalism
From The Encyclopedia Americana: International Edition, it is found that the definition of Capitalism is “ the type of economy in which capital is privately owned and maybe freely used by the owners as they wish in attempting to make profits from their economic enterprises,” (1978: 559). Capitalist class owns the means of production. The power of the ruling (capitalist) class is to exploit and to oppress the subject class derived from their ownership and control the means of productions. The various institution of the society, such as the legal and political system is instruments of ruling class domination and serve further to their interests
(Haralambos, 1996:37).
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Under the Feet of Jesus is set in a beautiful land of California. This
California is not the legendary destination of blissful contemplation, but rather the landscape one drives over and hikes across to get to the next job. When
Viramontes describes Estrella's family trying to cross a highway, the immediacy of the narrative moment is striking, and the images of their hard labor are extraordinary. Viramontes has dedicated this novel to her parents, who met each others while picking cotton, and to the memory of Cesar Chavez, leader of the
United Farm Workers (http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/engl206/virbio.htm).
Infused with the beauty of the California landscape and shifting splendors of the passing seasons juxtaposed with the bleakness of poverty, this vividly imagined novel, so observant and full of wisdom, is worthy of the people it celebrates and whose story it tells so magnificently. The simple lyrical beauty of
Viramontes's prose, her haunting use of image and metaphor, and the urgency of her themes all announce Under the Feet of Jesus as a landmark work of American fiction (http://www.harrygamboajr.com/csun/text/098/098bk2.html).
“Finding the Metaphorical Key Under the Feet of Jesus,“ written by
Norma Helsper, State University of New York College at Cortland, prepared for delivery at the 2001 meeting of the Latin American Studies Association,
Washington, DC, September 6-8, 2001, is found as a related study to the thesis.
7 8
This study is mainly about the style of Viramontes using metaphor in Under the
Feet of Jesus and the relation between the symbol and also in the reality.
“Ethnic, Feminist, Universal?: Helena Maria Viramontes’s Under The
Feet of Jesus” by Michael Nieto Garcia, an article in Phenomena: Journal of
Language and Literature vol. 7- No.3 February 2004 discusses about the ethnic- feminist character of the novel and the question of the universality of Chicana literature. This essay concludes that Chicana Literature is universal and it has the regard to be counted as one of the best literature in the world.
Different from the early discussion that has been made to the novel, this thesis wants to reveal what are the social criticisms that the author wants to deliver to the reader. As far as the writer is concerned this topic has not been taken as a research yet.
B. Review of Related Theories
The theories that the writer would use in this thesis are stated above:
1. Theories of Characterization
M. H. Abrams in his book, A Glossary of Literary Terms, points out
that characters are the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who
are interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral and disposition
qualities that are expressed in what they say-- the dialogue-- and by what they
do--the actions. (1981: 20). It means that characters in a story show moral and
natural qualities of mind through the dialogue and the action of the characters
in the story. Based on the importance, characters are categorized into: 9
a. Main or Major Character
A major character is usually the centre of the story. He or she is the most important character in the story. Usually, the acts of the story are focused on this character from the beginning up to the ending parts. The core of the story is highlighted through this characters experience. b. Minor character
Minor characters appear in a certain setting, just necessarily to become the background for the major characters. Their roles are less important than the major character because they are not fully developed characters and their roles in a story are just to support the development of the major character
(Abrams, 1981:20).
Characterization refers to “the representation of person in narrative or dramative works” (Baldick, 1991: 34). According to Perrine, (1974:68-69), characterization can be presented in two ways: a. Direct Presentation
The author who chooses direct presentation simply tells the readers about the qualities of the characters in exposition or analysis or has someone else in the story to tell the readers what they are like. b. Indirect Presentation.
In indirect presentation, the author shows the readers the characters on actions and lets the readers infer what they are like from what they think, they say, or do. 10
In Approach to Literature, Little (1981:93) explains that a character can be studied, first, from his or her basic characteristics that can be seen from the physical condition of the character; the social relationship in the work whether their personal relationship with other characters or the wider social relationship due to his or her social class or occupation; and the mental qualities, which are the ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. The second is his or her appearance from various points of view that includes how the characters sees himself or herself, how various other characters see him or her, and how s /he develops, or fail to develops, during the course of the story. The third is his or her place in the work that includes the treatment of the author
(portrayed descriptively or dramatically), his or her place in the story (major or minor character), and his or her relation to the theme.
2. The Relation between Literature and Society
Literature is a social institution that uses language, one of the social creations, as its medium. Literary tools such as symbols used in the literary works represent social conventions and norms that are used in the society. The object of the literature, the world and the people, are the imitation of social reality. Therefore, literature with its medium devices and objects is the representation of life itself (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 94).
Literature has social function. An author himself is a member of society who has particular social conditions. The author gets some level of social acknowledgement and appreciation, and then presents his work to the 11
reader because indeed literature has a close relationship with particular social issues. Therefore many problems that discussed studies on social reality in the literary work are social questions, for example economic, sociocultural, and political problems (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 94).
The relation between literature and society is that literature is an expression of society (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 94). Also, literary work can play its role as a document that record social realities, happening in society, which is artistically portrayed by authors (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 102).
The author expresses the truth, historical truth and social truth that happen in the exact world through literary world.
3. Theory of Class
In virtually all societies, argued Marx, there have been two major social groups: a ruling class and a subject class. In capitalist era, there are two main classes: the bourgeoisie, or capitalist class, which own the means of production, and the proletariat, or working class, whose members only own their labor power which they hire out in return for wages. The power of the ruling class is to exploit and to oppress the subject class derived from their ownership and control the means of productions. The various institution of the society, such as the legal and political system are instruments of ruling class domination and serve further to their interests (Haralambos, 1996:37).
The bourgeoisie and proletariat are dependent one another. The wage laborers must sell their laborers power in order to survive since they do not 12
own a part of the means of production and lack the means to produce the goods independently. They depend, therefore, for their livelihood on the capitalist and the wages offered. The capitalist as the non-producers depend on the labor power wage since, without it, there would be no production.
However the dependency of the two classes is not an equal relationship.
Instead, it is a relationship of the exploiter and exploited, oppressor and oppressed (Haralambos, 1996: 38).
Marx argues that a social group only fully becomes a class when it becomes a class for itself. At this stage, the members of a social group have class consciousness and class solidarity. Class consciousness means that the class is fully aware of the true situation, by realization of the nature of exploitation. Member of a class develop a common identity, recognize their share interest, and unite, to produce class solidarity. The final stage of class consciousness and class solidarity is reached when the members, realized only by collective action, can overthrow the ruling class, and takes positive steps to do so. Particular collective behavior, for example strike, often occurs as the protest of the workers due to wages, redundancies and working conditions
(Haralambos, 1996: 40).
In California, regarding the relationship between Chicano and Whites, the society is divided in two classes. Upper and lower, this class is race based.
The Whites is having the position in the upper and the Mexican or Chicano is positioned in the lower. Kitano said that all Mexican, whether they are the land-owning “pure” Spanish or “half-breed” laborers were perceived by the 13
Whites as inferior. By 1900 they were already a subordinated population, having lost title to their land because they could not supply proof of ownership. The Whites settlers made no distinction between the original
Mexican inhabitants—the “old timers”—and the immigrant newcomers; they all were consigned to the same low status (Kitano, 1985:158). He also said that, before the American invasion, the upper class was reserved for the
Spanish, when the United States acquired the territories, most retained this status, the “half-breeds” (mestizos) and the native Indians filling the lower class (Kitano, 1985:173).
4. Theory of Race Discrimination
According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary racism is a belief that such race determines the abilities and the superiority of human being, and an action that follows this belief, or racial prejudice, or discrimination (1995:192). In the International Encyclopedia of Ethics discrimination means differential treatment based on physical and social affiliation (Roth, 1995:156).
For Mexicans, as well as for most ethnic minorities, poverty compounds the prejudice and discrimination is already present because of race and nationality (Kitano, 1985:169). They are generally of mixed Indian and
Spanish ancestry, so that, in addition to the ethnic, cultural, and linguistic discrimination faced by most immigrants, they are also victims of racial discrimination (Kitano, 1985: 168). Both poverty and race become the 14
problem of Mexican because their position is in the lower state of poverty that deals with discrimination. Their race is also considered lower than the Whites that cause the Mexican to have discrimination.
The discrimination also happens in school where the Chicano children study. They undergo discrimination from the Whites. The ethnic community blames the irrelevance of the school curriculum and Anglo teachers’ prejudiced, stereotyped responses to Mexican students are often arbitrarily advised to take non academic courses; sometimes they are placed in classes for the mentally retarded (Kitano, 1985: 179). This kind of discrimination is happening because of a reason that the Mexicans come from lower community and also have bad effect toward the white student. School district board minutes show that segregation was also intended to protect the interests of white students and shield them from contact with Mexicans who were perceived as “dirty, lawless…stupid and lazy.” According to one teacher in
California, the separation of Mexicans was necessary because: “the Mexican is a menace to the health and morals of the rest of the community
(http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/center/events/mendez_052104/052104_mendez. pdf).”
5. Review on Chicanos’ Experiences in California in 1900s
In the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, the Mexican government was unable to improve the lives of its citizens. By the late 1930s, the crop fields in Mexico were harvesting smaller and smaller bounties, and 15
employment became scarce. The Mexican peasant needed to look elsewhere for survival. World War I also stoked the fire of Mexican immigration since
Mexican workers performed well in the industry and service fields, working in trades such as machinists, mechanics, painters and plumbers. These years were ripened with employment opportunities for Mexicans because much of the
U.S. labor force was overseas fighting the war. Agencies in Mexico recruited for the railway and agriculture industries in the United States
(http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/3_2.html). United States needs worker for their land and the Chicanos are becoming the sought ones because the fact that The Mexican were experienced in farming, ranching, and mining…Mexican labor were also easier to organize into work gangs because of their familiarity to (padrone-peon) master servant system. Thus the Anglo employer had an efficient way of dealing with the labor force (Kitano, 1985:
159). Mexican and Mexican American migrant farm workers expected conditions like those pictured above as they sought farm work in California and other states in the early 1900s. At that time, the Mexican Revolution and the series of Mexican civil wars that followed pushed many Mexicans to flee to the United States. Many U.S. farm owners recruited Mexicans and Mexican
Americans because they believed that these desperate workers would tolerate living conditions that workers of other races would not. Mexican and Mexican
American workers often earned more in the United States than they could in
Mexico's civil war economy, although California farmers paid Mexican and
Mexican American workers significantly less than white American workers. 16
By the 1920s, at least three quarters of California's 200,000 farm workers were
Mexican or Mexican American (http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/3_2
.html).
The Mexican work force was critical in developing the economy and prosperity of the United States. The Mexican workers in numerous accounts were regarded as strong and efficient. As well, they were willing to work for low wages, in working conditions that were questionably humane. Another measure of control was imposed on the Mexican immigrant workers during the depression: visas were denied to all Mexicans who failed to prove they had secure employment in the United States. The Mexicans who were deported under this act were warned that, if they came back to the United States, they would be considered outlaws
(http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/timeline/17.html).
As the Great Depression took a toll on California's economy during the
1930s, however, Mexicans and Mexican Americans became targets for discrimination and removal. White government officials claimed that Mexican immigrants made up the majority of the California unemployed. White trade unions claimed that Mexican immigrants were taking jobs that should go to white men. In reality, a new supply of white refugees desperate for jobs were flooding California from the Midwest, making up the majority of the unemployed (http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/3_2.html). Because these workers were forced to settle into communities that did not want them and in 17
communities that were promised the Mexicans were only staying temporarily,
Mexicans were segregated, victimized, and resented by the surrounding
Whites population (http://amath.colorado.edu/carnegie/lit/lynch/migrant.html).
As this rapid shift of Mexico's working population occurred, the first labor agreement between the United States and Mexico was formed. Mexico required that U.S. farm owners provide legal contracts for all Mexican workers guaranteeing conditions such as wages and work schedules. The U.S. government, in turn, enforced the border between the United States and
Mexico, checking that all Mexican immigrants had the proper work contract so they would not be exploited
(http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/3_2.html).
From 1962 to 1965, Cesar Chavez and a small group of organizers traveled up and down California’s agricultural valleys, talking to people, holding house meetings, helping with problems, and inviting farm workers to join their new organization. They did not call the National Farm workers
Association (NFWA) a labor union because people had such bad memories of lost strikes and unfulfilled promises. It was a slow and tedious process
(http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/cesarchavez1.html).
There are some problems that occurred in the life of the Chicanos in
California in 1900s. Unfortunately, their migration is not the answer to their problem. In the new land they also face problems such poverty, pesticide danger, and child laboring. 18
a. Poverty
As can be inferred from the occupational picture, the most pressing problem for Mexican families is poverty. They are consistently at the bottom of the economic ladder, and as a population they remain greatly overrepresented in the lowest income categories (Kitano, 1985:169).
The relationship between poverty and other variables is well documented. Generally, the poor receive the worst in healthcare, housing, and education; they are regarded with disfavor by the police, teachers and the representatives of the dominant culture; and there is a high correlation between poverty and crime, delinquency, drug usage, and mental illness. For
Mexicans, as well as for most ethnic minorities, poverty compounds the prejudice and discrimination already present because of race and nationality
(Kitano, 1985:169). They have to live in a house that almost can be called a shack. The walls and roofs of the shack are patched together from different materials, reminiscent of the quote above. Migrant farm workers of all races lived in temporary camps like this as they moved from farm to farm to follow the seasonal work.
At the same time that wages were dropping due to the new white refugee labor, established Mexican and Mexican American farm workers had become a threat by banding together, often with other non-whites, and organizing strikes to protest lowered wages and worsening living conditions.
Agriculture in the United States was crippled due to the ongoing Dust Bowl 19
drought in the Midwest, while California was relatively untouched - the farm owners had a chance to profit immensely from the supply of cheap labor, but not if these protests succeeded
(http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/3_2.html). b. Pesticides Danger
A study on California farmworkers shows a stunning result of the pesticide exposure. This study is an environmental (rather than occupational) study, so the exposed population was likely to have experienced lower-level exposures than workers would. The researchers identified other risk factors in the mothers and statistically screened them out. Another strength of the study was the researchers’ ability to narrow in on the period of organogenesis (the third through eighth week of pregnancy) for each of the babies, when fetal development is most sensitive to birth defects from environmental factors. The authors found that “in ten agricultural counties of California, proximity to commercial pesticide applications was associated with an elevated risk of fetal death due to congenital anomalies…the largest risks for fetal death due to congenital anomalies were from pesticide exposure during the 3rd-8th weeks of pregnancy.” In other words, mothers who live near agricultural spray sites are at elevated risk for birth defects, especially during the 3rd – 8th weeks of their pregnancies (http://www.beyondpesticides.org/documents/Evidence_
May06.pdf).
20
Most of these farm labor families live in old, sub-standard housing in close proximity to pesticide applications. One of the families in our pilot study lives approximately twenty feet from strawberry and lettuce fields where pesticides are applied, in a trailer with holes in the walls and no screens on the windows. Such housing conditions allow for greater penetration of airborne pesticides, which settle on surfaces contacted by children (e.g., carpets, floors, clothing, food). The crowded conditions of the houses (e.g., eleven people living in five rooms) may also lead to greater potential for contact with pesticides (http://ccsre.stanford.edu/pdfs/wps49.pdf).
c. Child Labor
The Chicanos children experience working as their elder. They start school later in life and remain in school in shorter time than the general
U.S. population. Moreover, in their working place and also neighborhood they have some problems that they have to deal with.
Child farm workers work stooped over, using knives and other dangerous tools in scorching temperatures for long hours. Twelve to fourteen- hour days are not uncommon during peak harvesting seasons. Yet, despite the rigors of their labor, they are exempted in most cases from receiving minimum wage and overtime compensation. Many are exposed to pesticides and other toxic chemicals, affecting their growth and development. Agriculture has one of the highest rates of injury and death of all occupations in the United States.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s June 2000 report, for example, noted that
“[t]he characteristics of youth job fatalities in agriculture are quite distinctive 21
in a number of ways. In agriculture, [deaths] are more likely to occur among the youngest workers. About three-quarters of all deaths to young workers under the age of 15 occurred in agriculture.” The same report also noted that
“the risk of a fatality (per hour worked) in an agricultural wage and salary job is over 4 times as great as the average risk for all working youth.”
(www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USHRN37.doc).
Children laboring in the agricultural industry face uphill battles in academic achievement. Migrant laborers move around the country looking for jobs, depending on crops and seasons. A study of migrant students for the
Michigan Department of Education, for example, found that at average, farm workers move from one residence to another around six times per year, each time taking their children with them. Each move interrupts children’s academic instruction and other related school activities such as building and maintaining meaningful relationships with their peers and teachers. Some children of farm workers start school much later than their peers while others leave school earlier as they and their parents move to find a new place to work. Furthermore, child workers endure long hours in extreme conditions.
Consequently, they often arrive in class tired, sleepy and unprepared. At times, they also arrive in ill health. As a result, they experience a high level of interruption in instruction and often are not able to maintain meaningful relationship with peers and build important social networks
(www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USHRN37.doc). 22
The standard age for working children in most sectors of the economy
is set at 16 whereas the minimum age for agriculture at 14 years of age.
Furthermore, loopholes and exceptions allow younger children to work on
farms with fewer restrictions. Children as young as 12 and 13 may legally
work in a farm performing non-hazardous jobs. In other industries, the age
limit is set at 14. Furthermore, a 14 year-old child may only work up to 18
hours per week in a retail industry during school, while a child of the same age
may work in unlimited hours, harvesting crops so long as the work is not
performed during school hours. In most industries, a child may not begin
work before 7 a.m. while a child working on farms may start at any hour.
Some farm workers begin as early as 4 a.m.
(www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USHRN37.doc).
C. Theoretical Framework
Some theories that the writer mentioned before were used for helping the writer answers the problems formulated in Chapter I. The theory of character and characterization is to analysis the characters’ experiences that are going to be analyzed furthermore. Here the writer will analyze the prominent characters and their experiences. Then, the writer will match the characteristic of the Chicano’s life in California in 1900s with the characterization of the characters’ life experiences.
A theory that explores the relationship between literature and society is applied in order to discover the relation between the literary works and the society 23
of the works. This theory is important in this thesis since this thesis is dealing with the real condition of Chicano experiences in California on 1900s. Besides, the review of the Chicanos Experiences in California in 1900s will be very important in this thesis. The review will be used to understand the reality happening in the society, and also to prove quality the characters in the novel as the representation of Chicanos’ experiences in California on 1900s. In the analysis, theory on class will be used to explain the class position of the Chicanos in the society. This position affects the condition of the Chicanos. Theory on racial discrimination is used to understand the racial discrimination that happens in the society of Chicano in California on 1900s.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study is a novel entitled Under the Feet of Jesus
(1995). This work was written by Helena Maria Viramontes. This book was
Viramontes’ first novel. Before this, her work was The Moth and Other Stories which is an anthology of short stories. She conferred the story of Chicano through this and successfully brought the life of Chicanos to the world.
The edition used in this thesis is the first edition. The novel was published by Penguin Books in United States in the city of New York in 1995.
Under the Feet of Jesus consists of 188 pages, three pages consist of some comments from readers and reviewers which contain of regard and compliment for the novel. Some are authors and others are publisher and newspaper. The next pages were from publisher and also dedication page. Under the Feet of Jesus is dedicated to César Cháves, the most important Latino leader in U.S. history and also the leader of United Farmworkers Union (UFW). The rest is the story, which is divided into 5 chapters.
Under the Feet of Jesus is generally a story about life of migrant farm workers who move to California. Estrella is in the center of the story, a daughter just coming into adulthood. Around her revolves Petra, the mother, who tries to hold her family together in the hopeless poverty in which they live; Perfecto, the man who accompanied the family, whose dreams, at his older age, lead him
24 25
backwards into times of strength and beauty; and Alejo, a young man who wakens
Estrella to first love. This is the story of people who work from the age of four, from daylight to dusk, in the broiling summer sun, and who are exposed to deadly pesticides and early death. In the title is mentioned Jesus. It does not mean that this book is a religious book. Jesus here has the role to stand guard over the family's birth certificates, and to provide the fragile lifeline to whatever tiny feeling of safety these people can find. The title Under the Feet of Jesus was given by the author, based on the personal experience. She said "That's what my mother used to do. My mother used to slip all the important papers under the feet of Jesus. She has an altar at home (Heredia, 2000: 34).”
B. Approach of the Study
In this study the writer employed the sociocultural-historical approach.
This approach insisted that the only way to locate the real work is in literature reference to the civilization that produced it. This approach believes that a literary work does not produce a vacuum. It also says that literature embodies ideas significant to the culture that produce it. It can be seen that, to understand the ideas conveyed by the author, an analyst has to understand the social background from which the idea is produced in the novel (Rohberger and Woods, 1979: 9). An author must be influenced by his/her backgrounds such as birth, family education, environment; the backgrounds will affect the kind of work he writes. 26
The writer used sociocultural-historical approach because this is the most suitable approach to understand the social, cultural and historical background of the work.
C. Method of the Study
The method of the study used in this thesis was library research. It is a research in which the writer gathers data from various source and reference, either from library or Internet. The data consisted of two, primary and secondary data.
The primary datum of the study was Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus. The secondary data were the books of approaches and theories. The socio historical approach was taken from Reading and Writing About Literature by Marry
Rohberger, and Samuel H. Woods, Jr. The theories used in the analysis were theories of character and characterization from A Glossary of Literary Terms by
M. H. Abrams, the theory of relation between literature and society was taken from Rene Wellek and Austin Warren’s Theory of Literature, Theory of class is taken from Sociology: Themes and Perspectives written by Michael Haralambos and friends, the theory on race discrimination was taken from Merriam Webster’s
Collegiate Dictionary and a book entitled Race Relation by Harry L. Kitano, and the last was the review of Chicano historical background that is retrieved from www.museumca.org and www.pbs.org.
There were some steps conducted in finishing the thesis that the writer had done. The first step done was reading the novel cautiously to find the most interesting topic to analyze, and to be formed as problems formulation. Then, the 27
writer collected reviews and comments on the novel. The next step was finding the references related to the topic chosen such as the theory of character, characterization, relation between literature and society, theory of class, and theory of discrimination. These theories would be useful in finding the answers of the problems formulation and would be applied to the analysis. The next step was analyzing the novel based on problem formulation and the theories that are collected. The writer would divide the analysis in to two sub title, characterization and character’s life experience and the representation of it that will be analyzed as the author’s criticism. Then, the findings will be analyzed to understand the social criticism that the author intends to propose. After finishing all the steps, the last thing to do was drawing the conclusion of the analysis.
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the writer will answer the problems formulatied in previous chapter II. The analysis will be conducted in two subchapters. The first, the analysis will be focused on the characterization of three prominent characters,
Estrella, Petra, and Alejo and their life experiences. The findings will be compared with the actual condition of Chicanos in California in 1900s. In this part, the writer will find out the three characters’ life experiences which particularly reflect the Chicanos experiences in California in 1900s. This will be the evidence of the quality of the prominent characters and their life experiences as a representation of Chicanos in that era. The second part will find out the social criticisms that are presented through the characterization and life experiences of characters in the story.
A. The Chicanos’ Experience in California in the 1900s Presented through
the Characters Life Experiences in Under the Feet of Jesus.
The following analysis will give the description of three main characters in the story, namely Estrella, Petra, and Alejo, as the figures that will be discussed.
These three characters are chosen because they are considered to be the most suitable representation of the Chicanos. Their life experiences and characteristics will be analyzed as the representation of the Chicanos’ experiences in California in 1900s.
28 29
In California, regarding the relationship between Chicano and the Whites, the society is divided in two classes. Upper and lower, this class is race based. The
Whites are having the position in the upper and the Mexican or Chicano are positioned in the lower. Kitano said that all Mexican, whether they are the land- owning “pure” Spanish or “half-breed” laborers were perceived by the Whites as inferior. By 1900 they were already a subordinated population, having lost title to their land because they could not supply proof of ownership. The Whites settlers made no distinction between the original Mexican inhabitants—the “old timers”— and the immigrant newcomers; the all were consigned to the same low status
(1985:158). He also said that before the American invasion, the upper class was reserved for the Spanish. When the United States acquired the territories, most retained this status, while the “half-breeds” (mestizos) and the native Indians filling the lower class (1985:173). The Chicanos are not only positioned lower than the Whites in case of race-based society, but also retain the position of the lower class society in the working field. They are “half breed” working class obliged to work for the Whites.
According to Marx a class is determined by its relationship to the means of production. By this what is meant is that the existence of class is determined by its ownership or non-ownership of the means of production: raw materials, factories, and land (Giddens, 1971:15). He identified classes as the capitalist (bourgeois), who own the means of production and the control of the jobs, and the worker
(proletariat), who survives by selling their labor power to capitalist. In this case, the means of production is privately owned and the capitalist is in position to 30
exploit workers (Johnson, 1986: 315-317). Their status as labor and “half breed” make them undergo the exploitation. When the workers realize their true situation, in which they are exploited by the capitalist, they create collective actions to struggle against the capitalist’s law and order. To maintain their domination, the capitalist uses various institutions in the society—legal and political system
(Haralambos, 1996: 37).
Mexicans become the finest choice for the capitalist to be the labor because the Mexicans are willing to work in low wage and they have the experience in some fields. In California, “California farmers paid Mexican and
Mexican American workers significantly less than white American workers,”
(http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/3_2.html). Beside that “The Mexican was experienced in farming, ranching, and mining,” (Kitano, 1985: 159). In addition,
Mexican labors were also easier to organize into work gangs because of their
(padrone-peon) master servant system. Thus the Anglo employer had an efficient way of dealing with the labor force (1985: 159).
The Mexicans, later called Chicanos in Under the Feet of Jesus are grape fruit labors who have problems in their own family and in their working ground, the orchard. The representation of the grape fruit labors is the example of the exploitation of the capitalist toward the labor. In the story, the capitalist is represented with pronoun “they” which refers to the land owner or the farm owner(Viramontes, 1995: 45). The land owner is the employer who controls these labors. The labors do not have power over their job. In domestic area, the poverty 31
that they experience causes their children to be the victims. The Chicanos children quit from school to be labors to help their family financial problem.
Estrella represents a Chicano grape fruit labor who works in the grape orchard. She is a 13 years old girl who broke out from her school to follow her family to work in the grape fruit (Viramontes, 1995: 14, 50). Retrieved from haas.stanford.edu/files/Rivas%20thesis%20partial.pdf, there is condition that migrant labors move around the country looking for work, depending on crops and seasons. A study of migrant students for the Michigan Department of
Education, for example, found that at the average, farm workers move from one residence to another around six times per year, each time taking their children with them. This condition makes Estrella quits from school and starts to work in that early age. Many of Chicano children are experiencing the same condition with Estrella. From www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/
USHRN37.doc, it is found that each move interrupts children’s academic instruction and other related school activities such as building and maintaining meaningful relationships with their peers and teachers. Some children of farm workers start school much later than their peers while others leave school earlier as they and their parents move to find a new place to work
Although Estrella has worked as a labor in the orchard, it is still not enough to fulfill her family basic needs. Working as a labor in the grape fruit does not give her a better condition. Her family lives in a small house that is surely not enough for her and the rest of the family.
The family has to sleep together in one room because there are no spaces enough for them in the house. She headed for the room where the children 32
slept, where she would snuggle between the warm bodies of the twins (Viramontes, 1995:41).
The illustration depicts the house situation with which she has to deal when she wants to sleep. She has to be in one room with the rest of the family, her mother,
Perfecto, her twin sisters and her two brothers.
The environment also becomes a threat for her and the rest of the family.
The family uses the water from a river that flow near their neighborhood for cooking, taking bath, washing their clothes, and doing the other daily activities.
The primary water source that they use for daily needs is dangerous. Estrella knows this fact when accidentally heard it from the foreman.
Estrella 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 hot day (Viramontes, 1995:32).
The illustration shows that the primary water source is intoxicated with pesticides.
She actually knows that and has become afraid to use the water. She is afraid to jump into the water and swim when her friend asks her. She also thinks that it will be dangerous to her body. As retrieved from http://ccsre.stanford.edu/pdfs/wps49.pdf, it is found that “there are numerous opportunities for contact to pesticides through all three exposure pathways. Most of these farm labor families live in old, sub-standard housing in close proximity to pesticide applications.” The Chicano farm workers live in the house that is near to orchard and the chance to be exposed by the pesticide. One of the ways through which the pesticide could contaminate them is the water source. 33
The water that she has to drink every day is dangerous and not favorable to drink. She could see the inside of her water bottle when she held it up to measure its content. “The water was tepid with particles floating like pieces of exploded stars in space and she drank in deep gulps, long and hard,” (Viramontes, 1995:52).
This condition is very dangerous for her but it is the condition that she has to face.
The river is the primary water source and there is no other source that she could use. This poor condition is the result of the landowner carelessness for the labors’ welfare. The landowner only thinks about the profit he/she will get. The landowner uses the foreman to manage a lie so that there will be no protest over the pesticide intoxication through the water.
Another unfavorable condition she has to face is a dangerous condition in the orchard. She and the other workers work from morning until the afternoon under the piercing sun and dusty field.
She retied her bandana across her nose and securely fastened it with large black bobby pins which weighed it down to protect her lungs on days like today when the fields were becoming dust-swept (Viramontes, 1995:55).
The illustration shows that she and other piscadores, the term that is used for calling Chicano labors, have to use bandana to cover their mouth so that the dust will not get into their lungs and cause another problem. Moreover, the sun is very hot, “a white sun so mighty”; it can toast the green grapes vines to black raisin
(Viramontes, 1995:50). This condition is very dangerous, because it could result in death. “Child farm workers work stooped over, using knives and other dangerous tools in scorching temperatures for long hours…in agriculture, deaths are more likely to occur among the youngest workers,” 34
(www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USHRN37.doc). The state of the place where the Chicano farm workers work is very dangerous. The temperature is very high, and the dust could also harm their lungs. Moreover, the
Chicano children also have to use knife to cut the branches, this knife could be dangerous to the children when they use it inappropriately. (Viramontes, 1995: 50,
55)
On that torching condition, Estrella deals with heavy and exhausted activities. She has to carry the heavy baskets of grapes which resisted her muscles, pulling their magnetic weight back to earth. She has to pour the basket of grapes inside the frame gently and spread the bunches evenly on top of the newsprint paper. After that she has to remove the frame, straighten her creaking knees, the bend of her back, set down another sheet of newsprint paper, reset the frame, and then return to the pisca again with empty basket, row after row, sun after sun
(Viramontes, 1995: 50). This kind of laboring is the work she deals with everyday just for being lucky to bring some money home for her family. The landowner does not provide any facilities that could support the labors. The labors have to bring their home made lunch for themselves. She sometimes brings taco that her mother makes for her before she works, but when there is nothing in the house to be brought she usually only brings fruit for her lunch.
When her close friend, Alejo, is sick and has to be brought to the clinic, the nurse does not give Alejo proper treatment and also judges them because of their poverty. Estrella is angry because of the unfair treatment and threats the 35
nurse to give their money back. The money is the last they have and will be used to buy gasoline to take Alejo to the hospital (Viramontes, 1995:137-150).
She did not feel like herself holding the money. She felt like two Estrellas. One was silent phantom who obediently marked a circle with a stick around the bungalow as the mother had requested, while the other held the crowbar and the money. The money felt wet and ugly and sweaty like the swamp between her legs. (Viramontes, 1995:150)
She realizes that she has given her last money but her friend does not get a good treatment. This condition forces her to take the money back. The illustration shows Estrella feeling’s of discomfort and her reaction toward the injustice.
This unfair condition for the grape field labor is felt by all the labors. The dissatisfaction leads to a protest. In the story, a clue that shows the protest is an invitation to a movement against the Chicano condition through leaflets. “The driver passed water in paper cups and when the foreman left, a few passed out white leaflets with black eagles on them. Estrella received one, folded it in half carefully and placed it in her back pocket for later reading” (Viramontes,
1995:84). The illustration mentions about the black eagle logo. The black eagle logo actually is the logo of United Farm Worker (UFW). An organization led by
Cesar Chaves which at first brought a protest for the unfair condition, but then concentrated on educating the public on the dangers of pesticides, both to consumers and farmworkers. The farmworkers built a network of radio stations, and created low cost housing for farmworkers
(http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/cesarchavez1.html). This organization leads the farm worker to unite and struggle for their right to get better condition at work. 36
Before working in the orchard, Estrella studies in school. She experiences bad treatments from the teacher. In class, the teacher never gives her responses she needs but cares more to her fingers and hairs. The teacher does not teach her as she does to the other white student. She never gets proper education and is rarely able to catch up the lesson.
The teachers in the schools did the same, never giving her the information she wanted. Estrella would ask over and over, so what is this, and point to the diagonal lines written in the chalk on the black board with the dirty fingers. The scripts A’s had the curlicue of a pry bar, a hammerhead split like a V. The small i’s resembled nails. So tell me. But some of the teachers were more concerned about the dirt under her fingernails. …they scrubbed her fingers with a toothbrush until they were so sore she couldn’t hold a pencil. (Viramontes, 1995:24)
The illustration shows that it is hard for her to follow the lesson because she is more accustomed to the shape of her tools of trade rather than English alphabets.
Her teacher does not help her and makes the condition worsened. She gets treatment from the teacher that makes her more difficult to study. The teacher brushes her fingers so hard that makes her fingers feel hurt and cannot hold a pencil, then, to write is not a possible thing to do. This racial discrimination is also experienced by other migrant children. They are “reserving the desks in the back room,” (Viramontes, 1995:25). She and other migrant friends experience unfair treatments at school. They are separated from the white students and also placed in the back of the class room, making them difficult to study. Another experience at school is coming from a white teacher named Mrs. Horn. Her experience below shows what her teacher does to her.
She remembered who had the face like crumpled Kleenex and a nose like a hook–she did not imagine this—asked how come her mama never gave her bath. Until then, it had never occurred to Estrella that she was dirty, that 37
the wet towel wiped on her resistant face each morning, the vigorous brushing and tight braids her mother nearly weaved were not enough for Mr. Horn. And for the first time, Estrella realized that words could become as excruciating as rusted nails piercing the heels of her bare feet. (Viramontes, 1995:25)
To Mrs. Horn, her appearance is never considered neat enough; although she has tried to make herself neat. Her mother does the brushing every morning and her tight braid is not enough for the white teacher and always becomes a problem.
Although she has wiped her face every morning, it still becomes problem for her teacher. She feels that it upsets her because she has tried to clean herself and to be neat every time she goes to school, but it seems that every attempt is worthless.
Another unpleasant experience of Estrella is being chased by the border patrol. When she goes home from the fruit field and takes some rest in the some hill near the wire mesh which separates the labor camp and the Whites neighborhood, she meets the border patrol which points their spotlight to her. She is scared because her mother once said that the border patrol often catches pisca and did not return them to their families.
The border patrol, she thought, and she tried to remember which side she was on and which side of the wire mesh she was safe in.…Estrella fisted her knife and ran, her shadow fading into the approaching night. (Viramontes, 1995:59) …. She opened the tool chest, her breathing hard, and rummaged though Perfecto’s tools until she found a thick pry bar. — Put that away — Someone’s trying to get me — It’s La Migra. Everybody’s feeling it, the mother explained. (Viramontes, 1995:61)
The illustration shows that Estrella takes a pry bar to defend herself. The reason is only she is afraid of the border patrols who often take some people because of 38
their incomplete personal document. In fact, her mother has convinced her that she has her birth certificates (Viramontes, 1995:63). This experience shows that the Chicanos feel insecure because the border patrol chases after them. The
Chicanos have to complete their documents so that they will not be arrested.
Another character that becomes the representation of the Chicano is Petra;
Estrella’s mother. She raises her children alone after her husband left her
(Viramontes, 1995: 23). Petra, once, was also a labor worker back in the time when she was young and strong. Now she has a varicose that often makes her difficult to take steps (Viramontes, 1995: 9, 52). She no longer could work in the orchard and then her daughter has to replace them to work in the orchard as a labor. She knows that working in the orchard means working with a low wage.
“For the pay we get, they’re lucky we don’t burn the orchards down. This comes from the mother,” (Viramontes, 1995: 45). This dialog shows that the wage the labor receives is very low. She is so angry with the situation. This problem is also experienced by the Chicanos. They also are being paid in the lowest wage. As retrieved from http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/3_2.html, it is understood that “The law is very unfastened. California was relatively untouched - the farm owners had a chance to profit immensely from the supply of cheap labor.” Petra is angry because the wage is not equal to the hard work. The land owner has the authority to give low wage to the labors without concerning their welfare. In the novel, the landowner or the capitalist is presented in the story with pronoun
“they”. The result is the labor life in poverty. The illustration below shows that
Petra cannot afford to buy their basic need. 39
—Making a garlic soup? He asked in a tone which, if one were cynical, could be taken as sarcasm. —I’ll sell you a pot, Petra replied —For some eggs, Estrella added —I don’t have any, he said. —I didn’t think so, Petra said, handing a bag to Estrella (Viramontes, 1995: 113).
Petra intends to buy some eggs for her children and offers to barter a pot of garlic soup. The store owner refuses her offering by saying that he does not have a stock of eggs. But Petra knows the truth; the store owner does not give the eggs because he knows that Petra does not have any money. Therefore, she usually pays her groceries with services.
In the empty sack, the mother poured six tin cups of pinto beans from a ten- pound sack that Perfecto had managed to get out of the store owner after snaking the man’s backroom toilet until it flushed. (44-45)
Here the illustration depicts the barter for goods and services. Perfecto is a friend of Petra who also lives with her in the family. Often his skills in fixing things are used to pay the groceries. This shows that the family deals with poor condition.
They live in poverty so that they find trouble in fulfilling their basic needs.
As Kitano stated in his book Race Relation the most pressing problem for Mexican families is poverty. They are consistently at the bottom of the economic ladder, and as a population they remain greatly overrepresented in the lowest income categories. The relationship between poverty and other variables is well documented. Generally, the poor receive the worst in healthcare, housing, and education (1985:169).
The poverty they experience leads them to suffer more. Because of the state of their poverty, the Chicano cannot access healthcare since they cannot pay the bill.
The inappropriate housing also becomes a problem because they cannot afford to pay a high cost rent for better housing. In education, they have to accept the 40
different treatment which makes them (their children) cannot study appropriately.
The land owner does not provide any facilities that could help the labor to improve their life.
—If we don’t take care of each other, who would take care of us? Petra asked. We have to look out for our own (Viramontes, 1995:96).
From her dialog it could be clearly seen that the labors have to take care of them selves. The land owner does not provide any health care facilities, even though the environment where the labors live is dangerous. Pesticide poisoning threaten their health.
Petra thought of the lima bean in her, the bean floating in the night of her belly . . . Would the child be born without a mouth, would the poisons of the fields harden in its tiny little veins? (Viramontes, 1995:125).
Petra feels afraid because the poison might hurt her unborn baby. She thinks that her baby will be born without a mouth. This terrifying feeling that Petra feels is actually reasonable. There is a research retrieved from http://www.beyondpesticides.org/documents/Evidence_May06.pdf stated that
“mothers who live near agricultural spray sites are at elevated risk for birth defects, especially during the 3rd – 8th weeks of their pregnancies.”
Petra always keeps important things under the feet of a statue of Jesus, for instance the birth certificates and other important documents.
If they stop you, if they try to pull you into the green vans, you tell them the birth certificates are under the feet of Jesus, just tell them (Viramontes, 1995:63).
41
Petra puts Estrella’s Birth Certificates under the Feet of Jesus because she feels that it is the safest place at her home. The birth certificates become very important because there is La Migra or the Border Patrol that always runs after labors who cannot show their complete documents. Stated by Kitano, there are no exact figures provided on the current number of undocumented Mexican in the United
States (1985:166). Because this La Migra often runs after and captures labors to be interrogated for the completion of their document, it becomes another threat to the other labors. Even labors with complete document are often afraid of the
Border Patrol. The Chicanos have insecure feeling that they will be arrested by the authority.
Another character in the story, who represents the Chicano farm worker, is
Alejo. He is sixteen year old boy who also works as a labor in the same orchard as
Estrella. He, later, becomes Estrella’s close friend. He lives in the labor camp only with his cousin, Gumecindo. He comes from Texas and his dream has led him to the labor camp. He gets the information about the labor work from the newspaper.
He thinks it is the way to gain money and reach his dream. He intends to enter school after he gets some money from working as a grape picker in the orchard.
By using the money he gets, he plans to go to school and takes major in Geology because he really loves stone and its history.
Her grandmother had reassured him, this field work was not forever. And every time he awoke to the pisca, he thought only of his last day here and his first day in high school. He planned to buy a pencil sharpener and a Bobcat book-cover; and a planned to major in geology after graduating. He loved stones and the history of stones because he believed himself to be a solid mass of boulder thrust out of the earth and not some particle lost in infinite and cosmic space. With a simple touch of a hand and a hungry 42
wonder of his connection to it all, he not only became a part of the earth history, but would exist as the boulders did, for eternity. (1995:52)
Unfortunately his dream has been swept away, since he lives in poverty like the other farm workers. His dream to be a geologist ends here. He works in the orchard to be a grape picker. Alejo’s dream is almost similar to the other workers.
They want to find better opportunities in the United States to improve their life.
This is the reason of Chicanos migration to California. After the Mexican
Revolution in 1910, the Mexican government was unable to improve the lives of its citizens. By the late 1930s, the crop fields in Mexico were harvesting smaller and smaller bounties, and employment became scarce. The Mexican people needed to look elsewhere for survival. Agencies in Mexico recruited for the agriculture and railway industries in the United States
(http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/timeline/17.html).
The hope of having better opportunities fades away because of the exploitation of the farm owner. The low wage and less facility for the labors become the reasons that the labors could not fulfill their dream. Alejo feels that he cannot fulfill his needs, let alone his dream. He reacts toward the low wage by stealing. He and his cousin steal peach in the orchard and sell it in the market.
They labored before sunset, right after work, when others would not see them
(Viramontes, 1995:5). The reason why Alejo steals is because the wage is too low for him whereas he still has to send some of his money to her old grand ma in
Texas. Kitano says that “there is a high correlation between poverty and crime” 43
(Kitano, 1985:169). The crime that Alejo manages to do is the result of his poverty.
As stated previously, generally “the poor receive the worst in healthcare, housing, and education (Kitano, 1985:169).” Alejo is almost dead because of the less facility that the land owner provides for the welfare of the workers. When he is sick because of the pesticide struck in the orchard, and there is no health care institution nearby, he only stays in Estrella’s house. Petra tries to cure him with custom treatment (Viramontes, 1995: 98-100). After a few moments Alejo’s condition is worsen. The family decides to bring him to the doctor. They arrive at the local clinic and find there is no doctor. There is only a “white” nurse who does not properly take care of Alejo. She does not give accurate diagnoses and tells them to bring Alejo to the hospital (Viramontes, 1995:142-149).
—I think the boy’s got dysentery. But I’m not a doctor, and I got no lab for sampling. You gonna have to get him to the main hospital in Corazόn. He’s got all the sign of dehydration. …. —Hon you gotta understand. I gotta pick up my child in Daisyfield by six the nurse checked her watch a third time, a pile of keys in her hand. (1995:142-149)
The illustration shows that the nurse does not concern with Alejo sickness.
Instead, she cares more about picking her children up. As a medical expert the nurse should not do this because it is her responsibility to take care of a patient.
This condition happens because the nurse underestimates them due to their poverty, and she regards them lower than her.
The above explanation shows that the Chicanos deal with poverty and injustice treatments. Working as labors, they live in poverty with bad housing and 44
risky environment. Moreover the landowner also gives less access to the
healthcare even though the condition in the orchard is very dangerous.
Furthermore, The Chicano children also become the victim of the situation. They
have to quit from school to help their parents working in the orchard. From the
elaboration presented above, it is logical to say that the three characters represent
the Chicano who experience harsh life as farm workers.
B. The Social Criticism Presented through the Characters’ Life Experiences.
In Under the Feet of Jesus, Viramontes brings the life of Chicano farm
workers. Through the experiences of Estrella, Petra, and Alejo living as poor and
discriminated farm workers, she criticizes the capitalist, or the Whites, who make
Chicanos experience exploitation resulting in poverty. In their interaction with the
Whites, they undergo race discrimination.
1. Capitalist Exploitation toward Chicano Farm Workers
The capitalist in the novel is presented with the pronoun “they” and refers
to the land owner, who owns the means of production. Often the capitalist appears
in the form of the foreman. The foreman is a guard that works for the capitalist,
managing and controls labors. The exploitation of the capitalist occurs in the sense
of that the capitalist uses the labor service and does not give the proper wage. This
condition makes the Chicanos deal with poverty.
Kitano says in his book Race and Relations that, as can be seen from the
occupational picture, the most critical problem for Mexican families is poverty.
“They are consistently at the bottom of the economic ladder, and as a population 45
they remain greatly overrepresented in the lowest income categories,” (1985:169).
The cause of the poverty of the Chicano society starts from the economic condition in Mexico. As retrieved from http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/
3_2.html, “in 1910, the crop fields in Mexico were harvesting smaller and smaller bounties, and employment became scarce.” Mexico government cannot provide sufficient working field in consequences of the Mexican Revolution and this situation made the Chicano unable to improve their lives. Chicano has to manage to find jobs outside Mexico.
United States needs worker for their land and the Chicano is becoming the wanted by the American landowner because of the fact that “The Mexican were experienced in farming, ranching, and mining…Mexican labors were also easier to organize into work gangs because of their (padrone-peon) master servant system,” (Kitano, 1985: 159). So, the landowners have a lot of advantages in dealing with the Chicanos as their labors. They can easily organize the Chicanos as farm workers. Moreover, the land owner has another advantage that the
Chicano work force is important in developing the economy and prosperity of the
United States. The Chicano can work under any situation improper for working and are willing to take low wage. “The Mexican workers in numerous accounts were regarded as strong and efficient. As well, they were willing to work for low wages, in working conditions that were questionably humane,”
(http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/timeline/17.html). Because of the characteristics of the Chicanos, the capitalist easily exploit them for their own profit. The Chicanos labor power is paid back with low wage, causing them to 46
remain poor. This condition is potential for the capitalist exploitation. “Marx appears to blame the capitalists’ exploitation in the sense that worker are said to be cheated through underpayment for their services,” (Encyclopedia Britannica,
1970: 843).
Viramontes shows, in the story, that the land owner pays Estrella and Petra with low wage which makes them live in poverty. As the result, they cannot afford a good housing and adequate food. The food that they eat is paid with their service or bartered with some of their belongings. This happens also to Alejo. He receives low wage which causes his poverty. He reacts to his condition by stealing fruit. The stolen fruits, then, are sold to earn some more money. As retrieved from http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/3_2.html, it is found that “California farmers paid Mexican and Mexican American workers significantly less than white American workers.” This different treatment in giving wage is caused by the capitalist. The capitalist is free to set different wages for Chicanos workers.
The California landowner or the capitalist concerns only to their profit and does not concern with the welfare of the Chicano farm workers. Estrella, Petra, and Alejo deal with problems that come because of the state of poverty they undergo. Kitano stated that the relationship between poverty and other variables is well documented. “Generally, the poor receive the worst in healthcare, housing, and education; they are regarded with disfavor by the police, teachers and the representatives of the dominant culture,” (Kitano, 1985:169). Viramontes criticizes the exploitation of the capitalist occurs in the sense that the capitalist 47
makes use of the labor service and without giving a proper payback, such as proper wage, and basic facilities, such as housing and health institution.
Chicanos farm workers meet problems such as they have to live in a house that is not appropriate for living with unhealthy surrounding. As the result of their poverty, Chicano children quit from school and work in the orchard. They also realize that it is hard to get medical treatment from the doctor when they are sick.
These three problems will be explained in the next sub chapters. a. Poor Housing and Dangerous Environment
Viramontes shows Estrella and her family’s experience to criticize the exploitation of the capitalist. In the story Estrella and her family live in a house that is so small and is not preferable for living. Estrella’s family consists of seven people and they have to sleep together in a room. This condition is also experienced by the Chicano farm workers in California. The Californian Chicano families usually consist of large number of people. They live in a small house that made from patched materials. As retrieved from http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/3_2.html, the depiction of the Chicano farm workers house is “the walls and roofs of the shack are patched together from different materials.” This kind of house is inhabited by ten or more members of the family. This large amount of people has to live in a small house because the capitalist does not facilitate them with the proper ones.
Estrella and her mom, Petra, together with the family, also deal with the dangerous condition of the neighborhood. The dangerous condition may endanger their lives. Their neighborhood is endangered by pesticide poisoning. Their 48
surrounding is intoxicated because the process of spreading the pesticide to the orchard is by plane. “The biplane circled, banking steeply over the trees and then released the shower of the white pesticide,” (Viramontes, 1995: 76). This pesticide shower spread not only to the orchard but also to the place where the labor lived. The primary water source, that they use to do daily activity such as to bath, to cook and to rinse, is intoxicated with the pesticide. Estrella and her mother are aware of the pesticide poisoning. They are afraid that the pesticide poisoning will affect their body. Estrella knows the fact about pesticide intoxication when she overheard the foreman’s conversation. Her mother, Petra is afraid that the poison that comes from pesticide is going to affect her unborn baby.
As retrieved from http://ccsre.stanford.edu/pdfs/wps49.pdf, it is found that “Most of these farm labor families live in old, sub-standard housing in close proximity to pesticide applications.” The fact that they live in the environment that is close to the orchard make them have to be aware of the pesticide poisoning. The spray from the plane might otherwise reach their neighborhood and threatens their life too.
Estrella’s house is too small for seven people. She lives there with her mother, Petra, her twin sisters, Perla and Cuca, her brothers, Ricky and Arnulfo, and also a friend of her mother, Perfecto Flores. All of these people live in a small house that make them have to sleep in a room altogether. The Chicanos who live in California are also dealing with the same situation as Estrella’s family’s. The research that is found in http://ccsre.stanford.edu/pdfs/wps49.pdf shows that “the crowded conditions of the houses (e.g., eleven people living in five rooms) may 49
also lead to greater potential for contact with pesticides.” This condition is also another cause of the pesticide poisoning. A large number of member in the family are living together in one small house close to the exposure area. It is very possible for all of them to get pesticide exposure because they live, consume, bath, and do daily activities in the same area.
This contact to the pesticide frightens Petra. She is afraid that her unborn baby will get no mouth. This kind of anxiety is actually reasonable because like the evidence that is found in a research, which is retrieved from http://www.beyondpesticides.org/documents/Evidence_May06.pdf, shows that the period of organogenesis (the third through eighth week of pregnancy) for each of the 73 babies, when fetal development is most sensitive to birth defects from environmental factors. The authors found that “in ten agricultural counties of
California, proximity to commercial pesticide applications was associated with an elevated risk of fetal death due to congenital anomalies…the largest risks for fetal death due to congenital anomalies were from pesticide exposure during the 3rd-
8th weeks of pregnancy.”
Estrella’s and Petra’s experiences also become the Chicano farm worker’s problems in California in 1900s. The problem of poor housing and also dangerous environment cause by the pesticide poisoning will not arise when they have facilitation from the owner of the orchard. As the employer the owner should concerns more to the worker and not only to the profit. This exploitation of the farm owner causes Chicano worker has to endanger their life working in the orchard. 50
b. Child Laboring and Problem of Education
Estrella, in her early age, has to follow her family to work in the grape orchard as a labor and left her school. Actually before she moves to the labor camps she has already studied in school (Viramontes, 1995:24). Nevertheless, because of the poverty her family undergoes she has to follow her family and leaving her school and friends.
She remembered the moving, all night packing with trash bags left behind, to a cheaper rent they couldn’t afford, to Estrella’s godmother’s apartment, to some friends, finally to the labor camps again (Viramontes, 1995:14).
From the illustration, it could be seen that Estrella moves from one place to another which is cheaper to rent. This condition forces her to quit school. Before she is able to adapt with the situation in school, she has already had to move.
“Each move interrupts children’s academic instruction and other related school activities such as building and maintaining meaningful relationships with their peers and teachers (www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USH
RN37.doc).” The process of moving from a place to another is the cause of the
Chicano children not to have a proper formal education. In school they have to make an interaction with the teacher and also other students to make a good relationship which could support their process of study. This relationship will never occur because they have to move to another school before they could have built one, and they have to start it over and over again.
This fact threatens the children’s future, because education is believed to be the bridge to the better future. The poor condition of the Chicano force them to 51
follow the crop season and make their children formal educational process halted.
The unstable housing is affecting their children educational process.
Children laboring in the agricultural industry face uphill battles in academic achievement. Migrant laborers move around the country looking for work depending on crops and seasons. A study of migrant students for the Michigan Department of Education, for example, found that on average, farm workers move from one residence to another around six times per year, each time taking their children with them (www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USHRN37.doc).
In the process of moving from one place to another the children are unable to get their education respectively. But there is another problem that arises. This is the limited access to the English language. As retrieved from www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USHRN37.doc there is another problem that also become problem in education, that is the majority of adult farm workers have limited proficiency in English. Consequently, these children face immense challenges in U.S. schools where bilingual instruction is rare and English is currently the primary medium of instruction. The result of these combined factors is that many youth not only fall behind academically, but also drop out of school altogether. This problem occurs because of the fact that adult Chicanos do not use proper English as the main language for conversation.
They came from Spanish breed so they use Spanish language for their daily conversation, then it must be difficult to teach their children English language.
This condition makes an impediment to the Chicano children’s process of education at school. When they studying at school with the Anglo teachers they are hardly could follow the lesson, because the lesson at school is taught in
English. Therefore the education of the Chicano children is very poor. Moreover, 52
as mentioned above that the following action is that Chicano children have to quit from school and work as a labor to help her family financial problem. Both of these reasons are the cause that they do not have a proper education.
Estrella in her 13th has already worked in the grape orchard as a labor. She works there to help her family financial problem because her mother has already had a varicose on her leg. This condition forces her mother to stay at home. Her mother cannot work in the orchard to make some money for her family therefore
Estrella replaces her part in the family as the family backbone. This condition is also experienced by most of Chicano children in California. They are facing the same problem that forces them to work in the orchard as a labor. A research showed that in 1994, “a study showed that 60% of migrant students drop-out of school (down from 90% in the 1970s). By the time a migrant child is 12 years old, he/she may be working in the fields between 16-18 hours per week
(http://www.ciw-online.org/fwfactsheet.pdf).”
The 13 years old Estrella is the representation of the child laboring practice in California. The capitalist employs children under age which is under the protection of the law. Like 13 years old Estrella which suppose to be protected by the law, but happens working in the orchard with no protection. “The standard age for working children in most sectors of the economy is set at 16 whereas the minimum age for agriculture at 14 years of age (www2.ohchr.org/English
/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USHRN37.doc).” Estrella and the other Chicano
Children are actually not prohibited to work in the orchard. Nevertheless, loopholes and exceptions allow younger children to work on farms with fewer 53
restrictions. Children as young as 12 and 13 may legally work on a farm performing non-hazardous jobs. The fact is different; these children are working in a dangerous working condition that could be harmful for their health and growth. “Children working in the agricultural industry do not benefit from this protection the same degree as children working in other sectors, resulting in a much lower level of protection for poor children of color (www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USHRN37.doc).” This happens because these children who are coming from colored people, working in the fruit field. Both of these conditions make them have to deal with danger in the workplace. As a worker in agriculture field, they are allowed to work under the age restrictions, and being members of Chicano they have less protection in the working place. c. Problem in Healthcare
The dangerous surrounding and pesticide exposure endanger the Chicano worker. They live in a circumstances that make them should be extra careful.
Their body is their tool for working, it means when they get sick they cannot go to work. That means they cannot earn some money for continuing their life.
Nevertheless, the land owner does not provide them the health care facilities.
At present Mexican American are very reluctant to use the larger community services available to them. The number of Mexican patient at health, psychiatric, and counseling clinics is so low that they are often referred to as the “hard to reach.” They tend to visit hospitals, child- guidance, clinics, family service, and psychiatric facilities only at last resort (Kitano, 1985: 171).
54
The Chicanos rarely attend the health institution when they get sick. They do not have money to afford the hospital cost and also their neighborhood is far away from the health institution, because it is located far in the town. Like Alejo experience when he gets sick. He gets the illness because he is in the orchard when the biplane sprayed the pesticide. For a moment he is having treatment in
Estrella’s house. Petra, the mother, tries to cure him with custom medicine; Petra tries to cure his illness with eggs. But then Estrella has to bring Alejo to the clinic far in the city because the illness worsens. But the nurse, in the clinic, gives Alejo an improper treatment because they come from low and poor class society. They have to bring Alejo to the hospital because the nurse does not give any difference to Alejo. They finally reach the Hospital and leave Alejo there because they cannot pay the hospital cost.
Kitano stated in his book that it could be understood that this matter is actually caused by two things. The first is the unwillingness of the Chicano go to the hospital or other medical institution. This thing is because they believe that
“treatment by complete stranger does not appeal to them as a way of handling stress and sickness” the second is because of the basic reason that they are poor and the cost of hospital is too high for them so they cannot afford it. In addition, the distance of the institution is also far from the place where they live
(1985:173). This condition make the Chicano cannot have the access to health care.
The Chicano have problem in accessing healthcare because of few reasons.
The first is because they are poor so they cannot afford the hospital or other health 55
institutions, mostly expensive cost. Second it is because there is no nearby healthcare facilitation provided by the landowner. The location of the health institutions is distinct from the workplace. They have to travel a long distance to the town to get some expensive treatment. This means they have to pay for extra money to get there. The last reason is they are still having custom belief that prevents them to go to the health institutions. d. Exploitation in the Workplace
. The land owner is not concerning to the labor welfare. They only think about their profit and not to the labor safety. The Chicanos work in the orchard as a grape picker, in working conditions that were questionably humane. They work in a condition that is very torturing in long hours. The depiction of the work they have to do and the situation of their workplace can be understood from the illustration below.
The sun was white and it made Estrella’s eyes sting like an onion, and the baskets of grapes resisted her muscles, pulling their magnetic weight back to earth. The woman with the red bonnet did not know this her knees did not sink in the hot white soil, and she did not know how to pour the basket of grapes inside the frame gently and spread the bunches evenly on top of the newsprint paper. She did not remove the frame, straighten her creaking knees, the bend of her back, set down another sheet of newsprint paper, reset the frame, then return to the pisca again with empty basket, row after row, sun after sun. The woman’s bonnet would be as useless as Estrella’s own straw hat under a white sun so mighty, it toasted the green grapes vines to black raisins (Viramontes, 1995:50).
The illustration shows that the condition where the Chicanos activity is very heavy and dangerous for their health. They have to work in long hours monotonously every day picking grape to be dried as a raisin. Their working place is also very hot and dusty. Staying in such heat could endanger their health, and 56
also the dust can be a threat for their lungs. As retrieved from www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/usa/USHRN37.doc, it stated that
Child and (adult) farm workers work stooped over, using knives and other dangerous tools in scorching temperatures for long hours. Twelve to fourteen-hour days are not uncommon during peak harvesting seasons. Yet, despite the rigors of their labor, they are exempted in most cases from receiving minimum wage and overtime compensation. Many are exposed to pesticides and other toxic chemicals, affecting their growth and development.
The condition in the orchard may causes danger to the Chicanos farm workers health. Their children use knives and carrying heavy basket full of grape on their back. Moreover, the danger of pesticide exposure may cause abnormality to their body. Viramontes shows Estrella’s activity in the orchard to prove that the capitalist exploitation tortures the Chicanos. They exploit the Chicanos for their service without concerning to the labor welfare.
These kinds of condition have to be taken by the Chicano. It made the
Chicanos suffer and finally realize that their position is very weak as farm worker.
The capitalist can exploit them and makes them suffer. The relationship between the land owner and the farm worker is actually very close, they need one at each other. The land owner needs the farm worker to cultivate the land for them. The farm worker needs the payment they get from the land owner. Marx said that the relationship is unequal. He stated like this “However the dependency of the two classes is not an equal relationship. Instead, it is a relationship of the exploiter and exploited, oppressor and oppressed” (Haralambos, 1996: 38). The capitalist here, presented as the landowner, become the exploiter and exploits their labor. They 57
exploit the labors’ services nevertheless they do not give the labor proper wage and facilitation.
The worker only know the process of production they only know about how to pick up the grape, set down another sheet of newsprint paper, set the frame, place the grapes, and back to pick the grape again. The weight of the grape and the continuous work is causing hurt in the body. They do these things over and over again in a condition that is not proper for working. Furthermore, the landowner is also not giving any facilities to the labors. From Estrella’s experience, she brings her own lunch and the water for drinking is very awful.
“The water was tepid with particles floating like pieces of exploded stars in space and she drank in deep gulps, long and hard (Viramontes, 1995:52).” This condition is happening because the capitalist, or the land owner, only does not give their labor any facilities that could support the labors’ welfare.
Such condition make the worker realize about their condition and they make an act. The farm workers are fully aware of the true situation, by realization of the nature of exploitation. The Chicano experience the same condition in the orchard they experienced exploitation by the capitalist. “The members realize only by collective action can they overthrow the ruling class, and takes positive steps to do so. Particular collective behavior, for example strike, often occurs as the protest of the workers due to wages, redundancies and working conditions
(Haralambos, 1996: 40).” In the story the act is only shows with a clue; Estrella is receiving a leaflet which has black eagle logo. The same kind of leaflet is also received by the other workers. The logo is the logo of the United Farm Worker 58
(UFW). United farm Worker is an organization which helps the Chicanos
immigrant worker in dealing with their inequality in their job as farm worker.
“Cesar Chavez and a small group of organizers traveled up and down
California’s agricultural valleys, talking to people, holding house meetings,
helping with problems, and inviting farm workers to join their new organization,
the United Farm Worker (UFW) (http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/cesarchavez.
html).” This organization, which finally transforms into UFWOC, wins the right
for the labor in an end to the abusive system of labor contracting. Instead jobs
would be assigned by a hiring hall, with guaranteed seniority and hiring rights.
The contracts protected workers from exposure to the dangerous pesticides that
are widely used in agriculture. There was an immediate rise in wages, and fresh
water and toilets provided in the fields. There also contracts provided for a
medical plan, and clinics were built in Delano, Salinas and Coachella, some cities
in California which also conduct unequal treatment for the farm workers
(http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/cesarchavez.html). This act that is conducted
by the farm workers become the important evidence for the struggle of the
Chicano farm worker in California. Their struggle for getting equal treatment
from the landowner shows that they are being in the exploited position that really
oppresses them.
2. Race Discrimination
For Mexicans, as well as for most ethnic minorities, poverty compounds
the prejudice and discrimination already present because of race and nationality.
Discrimination occurs as they become a lower class citizen. The Chicano 59
immigrants, together with the Blacks, and Indians, are dealing with another problem despite their poverty. “They are generally of mixed Indian and Spanish ancestry, so that in addition to the ethnic, cultural, and linguistic discrimination faced by most immigrants, they are also victims of racial discrimination (Kitano,
1985: 168).” According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (1995:192)
“racism is a belief that such race determines the abilities and the superiority of human being, and an action that follows this belief, or racial prejudice, or discrimination.”
In Under the Feet of Jesus, Estrella experiences the racial discrimination in school. Estrella experience it when she is still studying at school. She deals with teachers with race problems. Her teacher is putting her in the desk in the back of the class together with other migrant students. Her teachers always consider her appearance is not neat. Sometimes her teacher rubs her fingers so hard until she cannot write or accusing her never taking a bath. This kind of treatment is considering a racial discrimination act. The unequal treatment that
Estrella experienced in the school should not be performed by the Anglo teacher.
Estrella and other migrant students should have the same opportunity in the class.
The Anglo teacher treats them different from the other student because they are considered coming from the lower class citizen. This position occurs because they are from mixed Indian and Spanish ancestry.
The case of Estrella is can be included to racial segregation. Racial segregation means “the act of separating and isolating members of racial group from main body (Kitano, 1985: 61).” The teacher separates her from other 60
students and she is placed in the back of the class and reserving different treatment from the other students. This segregation happens to the Chicano
Children because there is a prejudice for the Chicano that they are “dirty, lawless, stupid and lazy. (http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/center/events/mendez_052104/
052104_mendez.pdf)” This kind of prejudice may lead to a model of racial discrimination that is racial segregation.
Segregation was also intended to protect the interests of white students and shield them from contact with Mexicans who were perceived as “dirty, lawless, stupid and lazy (http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/center/events/ mendez_052104/052104_mendez.pdf).”
The segregation happens because the Anglo educator thinking that the characteristics of Chicano children may affect to the other students. This kind of segregation is made for the sake of Anglo students’ protection. From http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/center/events/mendez_052104/052104_mendez.pdf it is found the fact that “according to one teacher in California, the separation of
Mexicans was necessary because: the Mexican is a menace to the health and morals of the rest of the community.” The Chicano experience discrimination only because they are from different race from the majority. Their exclusion from the majority is considered legal because they are having such characteristics which could make bad effect toward the majority. As what happens in the larger scale of the Chicanos; they are “not participating in the dominant society as easily as immigrants of European background did (Kitano, 1985: 159).” And the Whites or the upper class uses some pattern of employment to separate them from the majority. “They were hired in groups, primarily in rural and migratory jobs, and were kept apart from workers of other background (Kitano, 1985: 159).” 61
Race discrimination toward the Chicano in California happens because the
Chicano is positioned lower than the Anglo. “The white settlers made no distinction between the original Mexican inhabitants—the “old timers”—and the immigrant newcomers; the all were consigned to the same low status (Kitano,
1985:158).” And the Anglo is also have what is so called “Anglo conformity— that is, to become Whites, Anglicized society—and the relatively easy merging of groups close to the English ideal in manners, customs, and physical appearance
(Kitano, 1985:2).” The Chicano is considered in the lower status and has to be excluded from the society. The majority has the belief that they are better than the
Chicano and if they live in one place together with the Chicano may cause their
“Anglo conformity” is affected. Therefore they excluded the Chicano to maintain their high and better position.
Race discrimination happens in the Chicanos society in California on
1900s. In the story, when Estrella goes home from the orchard, the border patrol chases her even she has complete document (Viramontes, 1995:59). The Chicanos is considered as illegal immigrant and they are always been checked by the local authorities, as Kitanos called with “terrorism by police officers (1985: 159),” for the completion for their document. All Chicanos immigrant are checked by the local authorities and suspected as illegal. Since they are immigrants from outer
California they are considered as outlaw if they do not have proper document.
There is also an act that controls the immigration of the Chicano. Their visas were denied for the Chicanos who failed to prove they have secure employment in the
United States “The Chicanos who were deported under this act were warned that 62
if they came back to United States, they would consider outlaws
(http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/timeline/17/html).” The Whites is not bound to this kind of act, because this act is only served for the Chicanos immigrant. If there is no way out from this matter because they experience
“exclusion from a jury duty (Kitano, 1985: 159).” The law does not take on their side, moreover it causes them trouble. There is nothing will defend their right from the discrimination.
Chicanos become targets for discrimination and removal. This happens because white government officials claim that Mexican immigrants made up the majority of the California unemployed. The Whites trade unions claim that
Mexican immigrants take jobs that should go to white men
(http://www.museumca.org /picturethis/3_2.html). Many ways is attempted to drive the Chicanos out of California. They are blamed for the unemployment for the Whites. The discrimination is worsen because these workers were forced to settle into communities that did not want them, and in communities that were promised the Mexicans were only staying temporarily, Mexicans were segregated, victimized, and resented by the surrounding Whites population.
This race based system makes the society which include in the lower status have the stereotype that makes them considered to be a threat to the majority. This stereotype might affect the majority and lower their status. They are also blamed for the Whites unemployment. Then the Whites segregate Chicanos from the majority and try to drive them out of the country. Discrimination, in form of segregation and removal, happens to the Chicano society. Viramontes uses the 63
experience of Estrella to criticize the race discrimination happens to her society in
California.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
The thesis studies one of Helena Maria Viramontes’ works, Under the
Feet of Jesus, and focuses on the life experiences of the characters to reveal the social criticism of the author. The author delivers the life of the Chicanos through the three characters’ experiences, Estrella, Petra, and Alejo. The three characters’ experiences become the representation of the life of the Chicanos in California in the 1900s. The Chicanos become the victim of the World War II since it affects the economy state of Mexico. Chicano has to manage to find jobs outside Mexico.
The Chicanos migrate to the California and work in the fruit fields as labors. The land owner who owns the means of production or the capitalist exploits them by using their services and not returning it with proper pay back. The capitalist exploits the labors by giving low wage and less facilitation for them.
As depicted in the story, Estrella deals with problems under the capitalist’s exploitation. She works as a labor and lives in poverty because the capitalist sets low payment for her services. It leads her to less access to proper housing, healthcare, and education. Estrella quits from school to help her family financial problem. The capitalist does not provide her an adequate house for her and her family. The neighborhood is dangerous to pesticide exposure. Moreover, her family uses a water source that is intoxicated with pesticide.
Petra, Estrella’s mother, cannot afford to buy groceries for her family because of the low wage that is paid by the capitalist for the work. She exchanges
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services to pay the groceries. Petra feels afraid because the poison might hurt her unborn baby. Nevertheless, there is no healthcare facilitation provided by the capitalist. Another character in the story who represents the Chicano farm worker is Alejo. He steals fruit and sells it to the market to earn some money for him and his grand ma, because the wage he receives cannot afford his basic needs.
Through these characters’ life experience, Viramontes criticizes the capitalist’s exploitation that causes the poverty of Chicano labors. The power of the capitalist is to exploit and to oppress the labor derives from their ownership and control the means of productions. The capitalist as the non-producers depend on the labor power since, without it, there would be no production. However the dependency of the two classes is not an equal relationship Instead, it is a relationship of the exploiter and exploited. The capitalist exploits the Chicanos in the sense that worker are cheated through underpayment for their services. This causes the Chicanos labors deal with poverty.
The poverty leads to another problem, the family cannot afford the basic needs for their family because money shortage. The Chicano children quit from school and work in the orchard to help her family financial. They have to follow their family to move to another farm to follow the crop season. Each move interrupts children’s academic instruction and other related school activities such as building and maintaining meaningful relationships with their peers and teachers.
The 13 years old Estrella is the representation of the child laboring practice in California. The capitalist employs children under age which is, 66
properly, under the protection of the law. Like 13th years old Estrella which suppose to be protected by the law, but happens working in the orchard with no protection.
In the story Estrella and her family live in a house that is so small and is not preferable for living. They live in a house that is too small for their family in surrounding that is susceptible to pesticide exposure. Chicanos live together in one small house close to the exposure area. It is very possible for all of them to get pesticide exposure, because they live, consume, bath and do daily activities in the same area.
The capitalist exploits the labors by giving fewer facilities for them.
Viramontes shows with Alejo’s experience when he gets sick and has to be brought to the healthcare institution. The Chicano have problem in accessing healthcare because of few reasons. The first is because they are poor so they cannot afford the hospital or other health institutions, mostly because the cost is high. Second it is because there is no nearby healthcare facilitation provided by the landowner. The location of the health institutions is distinct from the workplace. They have to travel a long distance to the town to get some expensive treatment. This means they have to pay for extra money to get there. The last reason is they are still having custom belief that prevents them to go to the health institutions.
Viramontes uses Estrella’s experience at school to show her criticisms on the race discrimination that happens to the Chicanos in California. Estrella is treated different from the other students and segregated from the other white 67
students. This segregation happens to the Chicano Children because there is a prejudice for the Chicano that they are “dirty, lawless, stupid and lazy” and may affect to the Whites. As what happens in the larger scale of the Chicanos; they are not participating in the dominant society as easily as immigrants of European background did. Another kind of race discrimination undergoes by the Chicanos.
They are considered as an outlaw and are always chased by the local authorities for their completion of their documents. Viramontes criticizes the American society for the discrimination that happens to the Chicanos.
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