The Birth Certificates Are Under The Feet Of Jesus

In our modern business society, so much emphasis is placed upon becoming successful and procuring enough wealth. Most people believe that having this wealth will allow us to lead happy lives. Unfortunately, this struggle for wealth and the widespread greed that we exhibit in a capitalist society ultimately causes the opposite of what we want. The endless struggle for money may be futile in some cases, as it can be difficult to become successful in any occupation. This strive for wealth and superiority also breaks ties with one’s family and friends, and alienates one from everything but themselves, causing them to become self-involved and even apathetic towards others struggles.

In any given business, someone who works a fourteen hour shift is honored as a “hardworker” and “determined”. Ironically, someone who can do the same amount of work in say, a seven hour shift, is lauded as lazy and unmotivated.

The modern American business sector is filled with problems, and at the root of American business, is capitalism.

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Capitalism alienates us and drives us further and further into an abyss of constant financial anxiety and depression. Although we have come to widely reject communism, it is not because of Marx’s Idealisms. In practice, communism has been exploited (just as capitalism is) to benefit those who are in control. We have seen this is China and Soviet Russia. While Marx had the world’s best intentions in mind, he could not have predicted the outcome of his works. Even though Marx’s writing were used as a foundation for various oppressive forms of government, Marx hoped that his views would be a sort of “guide” to a more promising future.

Today, however, capitalism appears to be just as oppressive. It is vital to have a job to support yourself, and in a perfect society everyone would contribute.

Workers are alienated (and abused) by capitalism.

One major flaw of capitalism is that many jobs require specific degrees or levels of experience to obtain, and the majority of applicants to a decent paying job would not meet these requirements. A greater flaw, however, is that capitalism completely eliminates the ability of workers to take pride in what they produce. Workers are exploited day by day, with nobody but weakening unions standing up for them. In “Under the Feet of Jesus”, Estrella and her family are penniless while the plantation owners get rich.

“Carrying the full basket to the paper was not like the picture on the red raisin boxes Estrella saw in the markets, not like the woman wearing a fluffy bonnet, holding out the grapes with her smiling, ruby lips, the sun a flat orange behind her.' (Page 49)

This quote compares the harsh labor that Estrella is used to and the image that corporate America is trying to portray. If people were aware of the fact that a young girl was forced to perform back breaking work on a daily basis, they may be more hesitant to purchase that brand of raisins. Instead of revealing the true hardships of labor that these workers have to go through to stay alive, businesses choose to display their products as something that is very positive and harmless.Thank goodness the marketing teams were there to save the consumer from guilt.

“Don’t let them make you feel you did a crime for picking the vegetables they’ll be eating for dinner. If they stop you, if they try to pull you into the green vans, you tell them the birth certificates are under the feet of Jesus, just tell them.' Page 63

This quote is Petra explaining to Estrella that the people who label her a “criminal” for stealing so they don’t starve are the same people who benefit from the workers extremely cheap labor. She also criticizes America’s political systems irony of relying on migrant work but at the same time being revolted by it. Petra argues that, although Estrella may not have legal citizenship, she does have a moral one. This argument would not be necessary if workers were treated with equal respect and value in society.

“We should not say that one man’s hour is worth another man’s hour, but rather that one man during an hour is worth just as much as another man during an hour. Time is everything, man is nothing: he is at the most time’s carcass.” (Marx, The Poverty of Philosophy, 1847)

This quote is hard to dissect. It can be interpreted in many different ways. One obvious meaning is that one worker cannot be placed above another. He calls for equality among the workforce to stave off the alienation of capitalism. (Ask About the Quote)

In capitalism, everyone is assigned a degree of respect based on how much money one makes. This rips the country up into classes; The rich, the “middle class”, and the poor. We are so far alienated from one another that the tension in our society today between the classes and different pay levels is higher than it has ever been.

Labor offers workers an opportunity to externalize their abilities and show off their talents. With new technology and assembly lines, a worker in any given factory plays a very small role in the final production of an item. This means that the worker cannot derive any sense of accomplishment from what they produce. Take a company like Ford for example. The first assembly line to be created required hundreds of workers, all working on very small pieces of the whole car. The worker, when looking at the finished product, would hardly be able to see their contribution at all. This means that the worker might feel their contribution is meaningless. Technology also plays a big role in provoking this meaninglessness. With capitalism, every time a new form of technology is invented that can help a company cut costs, companies will layoff or fire an increasing number of workers, leaving them jobless and likely broke. Which brings me to my next critique.