The Invisible Women: Femininity, Race, and Marginalization of Chicana Women in Viramontes’s Under the Feet of Jesus Anonymous College

Generally, women have traditionally been consigned to the margins of society even though without their contribution there can never be society in the first place. While it is undeniable that significant progress has been made in the area of gender relations, there is no gainsaying that such improvements are experienced only by Anglo women. Migrant women and women of color, unlike their white counterparts, continue to live on the fringes of society where they remain socially and economically estranged. In her first novel Under the Feet of Jesus (1995), American novelist Helena Maria Viramontes explores the lives of migrant Latino laborers as they encounter countless challenges to make ends meet. Although part of the challenges they face derives from the fact that they are women, their experience is further compounded by racism and the threat of deportation. Indeed, the feminist theory suggests that while women are generally marginalized, this experience is further complicated by several other factors like race and immigration status. In Under the Feet of Jesus, feminist writer Helena Maria Viramontes suggests that while Latina women in the United States undergo the same plight as women elsewhere, their experience of...