Analysis Of Viramontes Under The Feet Of Jesus

In Under the Feet of Jesus, on page 151, Viramontes writes, “You talk and talk and talk to them and they ignore you. But you pick up a crowbar and break the pictures of their children, and all of a sudden they listen real fast.” By explicit consent, author enforces her view on change and the powerless through word choice, direct meaning, and sentence structures.
With these lines, Viramontes relays to the reader the idea that the more a voice is ignored the greater chance that the seemingly voiceless will take matters into their own hands. The first line repeats the phrase “and talks” to allow the reader to experience the exasperation of the character. By being repetitive the author places the reader in Estrella’s state of mind, forcing them to experience her exhaustion at repeating herself again and again. Viramontes then takes it further by ending the statement with a simple line that creates a sense of anger within the reader. The reader, who has just been exasperated through repetition is now let down because that repetition led them to nothing more than a simple statement that left them with an air of insignificance. This sets the stage for the second line. …show more content…
Just as Estrella does, the oppressed begin to get so exasperated with how they are treated, that they act out in ways that could be considered an uncharacteristic act for them. They try to change the cards they have been dealt by finding the “others” weaknesses and acting against them, using any means they have, because it is no longer an issue of right and wrong. Rather now it is an issue of people being forced to be voiceless because the “others” did not care enough about their situation or what they had to say. Viramontes not only makes it evident through her book, but it can also be seen through other tales of labor movements both fiction and