Narrative Style: The narration style of the story switches between 1st and 3rd person in the book. The protagonist, mostly, is a boy whose name is Marcus, which is not mentioned in the book however it is mentioned in the film. A high amount of the stories are written in his voice. The book consists of little memories or stories of different people though. 3rd person narration is used while the protagonist of a particular story is another person. In the part "When we arrive" we hear each individual's voice talking about their own feelings. The story follows a temporal structure, the stories are told without a sequence of time. They are told in stream of consciousness.
Setting
The setting for Mexican immigrants is not fixed, the place they live constantly changes. They move to from place to place to pick the seasonal crops. They stay in poorly built houses with really bad conditions. The fields are very hot and often they are sun-stroked. When they are not provided for water and proper houses they get prone to diseases.
Immigrants' Daily Lives
While reading and watching "and the Earth did not Devour him" the audience learns about the daily life and traditional practices of these Mexican immigrants. The mother of the protagonist puts a glass of water for the spirits and thinks that they actually drink it however it is the boy who drinks it. We witness the bad treatment some whites to Mexicans. The boys in school harass Marcus and the white nurse humiliates him.