Under The Feet Of Jesus

Estrella is a 13-year-old Chicana, and the eldest daughter of Petra. Like the rest of her family, she is a migrant, seasonal worker who harvests the fruit grown on Californian farms. It’s not clear when Estrella herself first began working, but her mother first brought her with her to the fields when she was only 4. She has therefore grown up in exceptionally challenging circumstances, with the family’s poverty only deepening after the abandonment of Petra’s husband and Estrella’s father. The result was that Estrella had to grow up quickly, not only earning money for her family but also shouldering responsibility for her younger brothers and sisters. Petra, for instance, at one point remembers seeing Estrella cheering up her hungry siblings by drumming on an empty can of Quaker Oats:

One foot up, one foot down, her dress twirling like water loose in a drain, Estrella drummed the top of his low crown hat, slapped the round puffy man’s double chins, beat his wavy long hair the silky color of creamy hot oats and the boys slid out from under the boxspring (19).

As the above passage suggests, Estrella possesses a fortitude that her mother sometimes lacks.