Heroes and Saints Literary Elements

Drama

English and Spanish

McLaughlin, California, a fictional town in the San Joaquin Valley in 1988

No narrator

The tone of the play is searing, unapologetic, and at times humorous. The mood of the play is bleak, defiant, and hopeful.

The protagonists are the people of McLaughlin, the antagonists are the bosses of the agricultural industy and the government

There is conflict between the Chicano/a farm workers and their employers regarding their working and living conditions.

The play reaches its climax when Cerezita and Juan are shot while walking into the grape vineyards.

The frequent references to martyrs foreshadows Cerezita and Juan's deaths at the end of the play.

The play alludes to the "cancer cluster" in McFarland, California in the 1980s which was also caused by the community's high exposure to pesticides.

The imagery is dark and disturbing, specifically the portrayal of children's bodies hanging up on crosses. The playwright also tries to inspire non-Latino audiences to imagine the squalor of the living conditions that the workers have to live in.

There are scenes of Bonnie playing with her doll throughout the play. Bonnie takes care of her “sick” doll, buries her when she dies, and hangs her doll's body up on a miniature cross. Her play parallels the sickness and death that the characters are experiencing in their lives.

During a protest in Act 1 of the play, actors come into the audience and pass out pamphlets with information about pesticides. In this moment, Moraga chooses to break the fourth wall, an invisible division between the audience and the actors of a play. Her decision to do so is a reminder to the audience that the conditions they see farm workers living and working under in the play are real.