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).