do all of her other relationships, while La Loca's hatred of people effectively rules out romance. Even Sofi acts like a dutiful daughter and passes up the chance for true love. However Castillo complicates this theme by making the alternatives to the traditional role just as unsuccessful. Esperanza puts her career ahead of family and is killed, while her three sisters all choose paths that lead away from the traditional wife and mother syndrome and they all die childless as well. Castillo suggests that until women can see themselves as human beings first, they will be ultimately unsuccessful. Sofi loses everything her culture tells her is important: her husband, her children, and even her home. Only when she has nothing left to lose does Sofi realize that she must live her life for herself as a woman, not as someone's daughter or wife or mother.

Exploitation of Women The idea of exploitation runs throughout twentieth-century American literature, and So Far From God is no different. Here the exploitation extends to women at home as well as work. Esperanza gives her life for her job as does Fe, but Fe's experience is much harsher. Her employers at the bank and the factory do not really care about her as a human being. In fact, the factory manager takes advantage of Fe's willingness to do whatever job to make a good impression and earn a bonus. She soon discovers that the chemicals she has been using are lethal and the company couldn't care less. Her death is painful and extended as the cancer eats away at her body. Sofi, too, falls victim to emotional and illegal exploitation. Her husband continues to gamble and loses her house and property in a card game. Even though the judge, who won Domingo's bet, knows that his actions were illegal since Domingo neither owned the land, nor could the judge take it, he still forces Sofi to pay rent on her own home. She cannot sue him because of his status as a judge, and so he exploits her ignorance and fear for his own benefit. Caridad is exploited as well, both before and after her "holy recovery.'' She allows herself to become a sexual plaything using sex as a way to forget her pain. After she becomes aware of her spirituality, she allows Dona Felicia and others in her community to use her talents, her struggles, and her faith to their own ends. Caridad's exploitation also costs her her life. Castillo seems to be arguing that exploitation of any kind is unavoidable for women.

Religion Religion and devotion to a faith causes most of the problems in this novel. The major flash-points deal with how women are supposed to interact with a sexist religion and still remain women. Catholicism, as described in So Far From God, does not allow the female characters any way out. They must submit to male authority or die. Dona Felicia and, at the end, Sofi both reject this kind of religion and are freed from its constraints, but both have lost everything that they hold dear. Caridad tries to rework her religious beliefs, but she cannot escape the effect she has on other people. They mill around her, invade her privacy, and, in the end, force her leap to her death as the only means of escape. Castillo casts religion as a fundamental part of human existence, but argues against the confining rules of organized religion and its evil effects on society at large.

Family Space Family, traditionally, invokes ideas of warmth, security, and safety. Much as she does with religion, Castillo turns this idea on its head. Family space becomes a place where pain, death, and fear dominate. Fe learns that her life, as she knows it, is over at home when Tom sends her a "dear Jane'' letter, while Sofi loses her home to her husband's gambling problem. Even Caridad's home (the trailer she rents from Felicia and the house her father builds) become sites of pain and victims of theft. Family and family space become sites of loss and pain, forcing readers to rethink their own ideas about security and peace.

Spiritual vs. Physical Along these same lines, Castillo presents the conflict between spiritual and physical identities. For the women in the novel, spiritual needs are subdued to the needs of the physical. Fe and Esperanza neglect their spiritual needs and are killed for their troubles. However, living totally in the spiritual realm is not an option either. Both Caridad and La Loca choose to ignore the physical world for the spiritual and they, too, die. Castillo seems to suggest that extremes are unhealthy and fatal, but that moderation does not come easily. The conflict between the physical and the spiritual realms is one fought and re-fought by every generation.