Across A Hundred Mountains

Juana grows up in a Catholic community and religion is very important to many characters in the novel. Many characters turn to religion during difficult times, hoping the saints and the Virgin Mary will help and protect them. However, a question that is explored throughout the text is whether religion really can protect people from loss and misfortune. The theme of religion is first established when Juana, going by the name Adelina, finally finds her father, Apá, whom she spent years searching for. When Apá left Mexico to find work in the United States, he carried a white rosary for protection, but died without even making it across the border. The man who discovers his body observes, “‘He was clutching the rosary so tightly when I found him dead […] It’s as if he had been praying right until his death. Praying for a miracle, perhaps’” (4).

Juana’s mother, Amá, is also very religious, but briefly loses faith when she is at her most destitute. Looking at the altar in their home, Juana “remembered the times of long ago when the saints and La Virgen de Guadalupe had been there for them. But now, all the statues were covered with dust and the flower petals had long ago shriveled” (128). Amá wonders if she is being punished by the saints, and thinks, “‘I must try to offer something more powerful than prayers and tears’” (128). Amá eventually takes part in the practice of self-flagellation at the village’s passion of Christ reenactment, one of the most extreme displays of religion in the text.

Having witnessed how religion hasn’t always protected the people she loves, Juana often doubts her faith. This is evident when she first arrives in Los Angeles, under the name Adelina, and goes to stay at Don Ernesto’s apartment building. As Adelina and Don Ernesto walk by a picture of La Virgen de Guadalupe, “Don Ernesto made the sign of the cross […] Adelina didn’t look at it” (31). However, by the end of the novel, Juana has found a way to turn to religion for comfort, while not relying on religion to bring her good fortune. Once she has found her father’s white rosary, she carries it with her often, holding it in her hands during especially difficult moments. When Juana and José Alberto finally confront the truth about their family, Juana “nervously ran her fingers over each bead of the rosary, mumbling an Our Father under her breath” (252). By now, the rosary has come to represent not just religion but a connection to Juana’s family. When Juana and José Alberto finally throw their parents’ ashes into the ocean, they:

chanted an Our Father and a Hail Mary. Then they both began to say their distinct prayers, but not prayers they had learned as children in their catechism classes, but prayers they now made up, telling their parents everything they felt in their hearts (253).

At the beginning of the novel, the adults in Juana’s life are strict about their religious practices, expecting their faith to bring them protection and good fortune. When this doesn’t transpire, Juana doubts her faith. However, by the end of the novel, Juana has her own relationship with religion that provides a sense of comfort and a connection to her family.