Under the Feet of Jesus: Blame/Shame

Going along with what I had said in previous post, I find it interesting how many of the works we have read for this course deal with issues of shame and blame.  In Breath, Eyes, Memory, there was a great deal of shame in regards to sexuality and blame placed upon the mother of each generation for causing this shame.  In Bone, Leon felt that he was to blame for any misfortune that fell upon his family because he had shamed them and himself by not fulfilling is promise to his "paper father" and sending is bones back to China. The family deals with Ona's suicide, blaming themselves and each other. 

In Under the Feet of Jesus, there is shaming in leaving one's husband and shame in being left by him... either way there is the question of blame.  These themes continue to pop up throughout the book but one place in which I found them particularly important was when Mercedes gave birth to a still born child: "Mercedes buried her head in shame at her failure but did not bury her accusatory stare" (80).  She blamed Perfecto and "his church" for preventing her from learning of birthing rituals.