Sickness in the system: the health costs of the harvest.
Cherie Moraga's play, Heroes and Saints, and Helena Maria Viramontes' novel, Under the Feet of Jesus, offer readers perspectives on the lives of migrant farm workers in California that challenge the moral imagination and conscience. Both focus on health hazards of pesticides and on the often prohibitive difficulty of getting health care for those who fall ill as a result of exposure. This paper offers a reflection on the direct political and moral appeal these works present to readers who may not see or acknowledge the sacrifices sustained by those whose undercompensated labors are an integral part of our food systems.
McEntyre
Marilyn Chandler
MC
Department of English, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA 93108, USA. mcentyre@westmont.edu
D000382:Agricultural Workers' Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D004324:Drama; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D010575:Pesticides / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014171:Transients and Migrants; D014481:United States
D010575:Pesticides