Under the Feet of Jesus
A Chicana Bildungsroman
Traditional Bildungsroman
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The struggle of a young man to become a
subject of consciousness.
Focused on his integration into the social
system.
Looking for/at turning points in personal,
psychological, social development.
Women’s Bildungsroman
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For women, the bildungsroman has been
most often about finding a suitable mate.
Often, marriage is often followed by
unhappiness, or leads to madness,
brought on by the realization that the
marriage was the end of any hope for selfrealization.
a more contemporary scenario for
the bildungsroman
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Women and especially ethnic women writers
have tried to revise this story/formula for their
women characters.
Women in these contemporary works become
subjects of consciousness through selfknowledge, understanding of relationships, use
of or interrogation of the uses of language, and
the investigation of different forms of freedom.
Search for Self-Knowledge
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In terms of awareness of sexuality and the
joys and problems surrounding it.
In terms of an understanding of death and
its manifold repercussions.
In terms of an understanding of love and
the fulfillment as well as the fetters it
brings.
How do these “fit” Estrella’s story?
Relationships
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With older women (mother, abuelitas).
With mythical figures (la Malinche,
Tonantzin, La Llorona, the Virgin).
With the “other” – oppressor, white,
wealthy, educated . . .
With the “other” – patriarch, male,
patriarchy.
Language
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How to overcome or break out of the silence
imposed on you by a culture that can’t hear you
and can’t see you.
How to escape domination by the oppressor’s
“tongue,” which can include cultural/social
expectations different from your own, or
oppression from within your own culture.
How to live in the borderland between
languages
Freedom
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To
To
To
To
To
travel
leave home
have meaningful work
use her intelligence
accept/embrace her sexuality
Alma Luz Villanueva
“I Was a Skinny Tomboy Kid”
and I vowed
to never
grow up
to be a woman
and be helpless
like my mother
but then I didn’t realize
the kind of guts
it often took
for her to just keep
standing
where she was.
I grew like a thin, stubborn weed
watering myself whatever way I could
believing in my own myth
transforming my reality
and creating a
legendary self