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Estrella’s Real Father
Estrella’s younger sister and Cookie’s twin. The twins are often too curious for their own good; they have to be stopped from eating bugs and are quick to venture into dangerous places, like the dark barn. They’re also loving and affectionate, quickly taking to strangers like Alejo and awed by the strength and capability of their oldest sister.
Perla Quotes in Under the Feet of Jesus
The Under the Feet of Jesus quotes below are all either spoken by Perla or refer to Perla. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter Four
Quotes
The twins nuzzled under her arms. Soon, they were on the main boulevard again and the twins slowly fell into the snowlike quiet, shielded and warm and amazed that their big sister had the magic and the power in her hands to split glass in two.
After leaving Alejo in the hospital waiting room, Estrella sadly returns to the station wagon, but when she reaches the automatic doors, she makes a show of walking through them in order to amuse Cookie and Perla. Both girls are deeply impressed and fight to sit next to her on the way home. On a basic level, the fact that the girls have never seen an automatic door (a fairly ubiquitous item) underscores the family’s poverty and exclusion from basic aspects of public life. It’s also interesting that the twins derive so much security from Estrella’s trick and invest their sister with such sweeping powers. The safety they feel underscores Estrella’s actual powerlessness and the danger the family faces more than ever before. By leaving Alejo in the hospital, Estrella has finally acknowledged that she lacks the power to save him or devise a better solution; moreover, by threatening the nurse in order to get Perfecto’s money back, she’s potentially exposed herself to criminal prosecution. While the twins’ behavior creates a touching picture of family unity, it’s disturbingly clear that the safety they feel is entirely imaginary.
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Perla Quotes in Under the Feet of Jesus
The Under the Feet of Jesus quotes below are all either spoken by Perla or refer to Perla. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter Four
Quotes
The twins nuzzled under her arms. Soon, they were on the main boulevard again and the twins slowly fell into the snowlike quiet, shielded and warm and amazed that their big sister had the magic and the power in her hands to split glass in two.
After leaving Alejo in the hospital waiting room, Estrella sadly returns to the station wagon, but when she reaches the automatic doors, she makes a show of walking through them in order to amuse Cookie and Perla. Both girls are deeply impressed and fight to sit next to her on the way home. On a basic level, the fact that the girls have never seen an automatic door (a fairly ubiquitous item) underscores the family’s poverty and exclusion from basic aspects of public life. It’s also interesting that the twins derive so much security from Estrella’s trick and invest their sister with such sweeping powers. The safety they feel underscores Estrella’s actual powerlessness and the danger the family faces more than ever before. By leaving Alejo in the hospital, Estrella has finally acknowledged that she lacks the power to save him or devise a better solution; moreover, by threatening the nurse in order to get Perfecto’s money back, she’s potentially exposed herself to criminal prosecution. While the twins’ behavior creates a touching picture of family unity, it’s disturbingly clear that the safety they feel is entirely imaginary.
00010
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
