Going for the jugular : strategies of resistance in the fiction of Helena Maria Viramontes

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze selected short stories and the novel Under the Feet of Jesus by Chicana writer Helena María Viramontes, focusing on her appropriation of Aztec myths and Mexican legends whose protagonists are feminine figures, whether of historical or mythical origin, such as La Malinche, La Llorona and The Hungry Woman. This critical re-view of the past plays a vital role for real and fictional Chicanas when facing patriarchal, colonial and neocolonial domination. Due to the complexity brought by the lack of linearity in the narrative, both in the short stories and in the novel, a brief analysis of the narrative strategies became necessary to show how these strategies are intertwined with the fragmented presentation of the migrant workers lives. It became equally indispensable to examine other narrative practices adopted by the author, namely, focalization, deconstruction, simultaneity and juxtaposition, as well as the link she establishes in Under the Feet of Jesus between reading, identity and effective human agency in order to achieve social changes