In class on Tuesday, we observed and analyzed a commercial for sun-maid raisins. In said commercial we pointed out a few facts about the way it was made–how the landscape seemed beautiful and lush, and how the woman looked as though she’d never worked a moment in her life. This goes the same for many other ads out there–noticeably in my mind orange and grape themed products. However, one then realizes that oranges and grapes are mostly grown in California–a place that is the opposite of lush and thriving. Not only that, but again, the woman is very ideal–the perfect weight, a beautiful face, and flawless skin. These are all the exact opposite of how the field really work. 

In Helena Maria Viramontes novel, Under the feet of Jesus, one gets a more real sense of what the fields are like, and what working in them are like. First off, instead of there being lush lands, there is dry dirt and yes, indeed grape vines, but the heat is also unbearable–a point Estrella among other characters constantly make as they avoid heatstroke. While the  grapes just fly into the raisin box in the commercial, that clearly does not happen in real life. The workers in the field need to hand pick them one by one. It is tedious work–not just magical.

Furthermore, the difference between the sun maid and Estrella, and even her mother Petra, is large. The woman is dressed in relatively nice clothing, a nice white dress and a lovely bonnet, her cheeks are rosy red and her eyes bright, her hair nice, and skin perfect–even glowing. She also appears to be at the prime of her life. However, Under the Feet of Jesus shows what really happens to someone working in the fields. First off, Estrella is thirteen years old–thirteen and already working. She has heavily tanned skin from the work in the fields and her skin is nowhere near glowing. There is no bonnet, but instead a straw hat that guards her from the sun and sometimes even that cannot be enough. Estrella wears a simple flower printed dress that she says has only been washed so many times–so it’s sure to be dirty and worn.

Estrella notices the differences between herself and the raisin box. She goes on at the beginning of chapter two, realizing just how different the two images depicted are. Estrella knows that if that woman really did work in the field, she would not be beautiful and young, she would be tired and old. She would not know how work the fields–her bonnet useless, it would be awful for the sun maid. Estrella and the others working in the field, they were the real ‘sun maids’–rather servants of the beating sun.

The sun maid advertisements, are quite terrible in that sense. They do not mention of the horrors the workers have to go through, they do not mention the pesticides that kill not only the insects but also the people. They do not mention how poor the people work the fields are–how they need to keep track of how many children they have–how they live off of eating spam and other cheap foods–how they slave all day in the hot sun even when they have barely come of age. All advertisements try to show that these products are made effortlessly, but the truth is people are suffering for them. People need to see the real servants of the sun.