Ruiz de Burton

Francesca Cricchio
Journal for Ruiz de Burton
English 48B
February 3rd, 2011

“Don Mariano had been for some years under the lash of the maternal government, whom he had found a cruel stepmother, indeed.” (93)

“Ruiz de Burton works within many established literary traditions. She follows the historical romance tradition set by contemporary British, French, Spanish, and Mexican writers, but she also incorporates American modes of realism and naturalism later made popular by writers such as Theodore Dreiser and Frank Norris.” Describing Ruiz de Burton from Cengage Learning website.

Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton’s literary piece, “The Squatter and the Don” paints to tale of Don Mariano. An elder native of California who slowly loses his land when squatters move in and build homes on his property. Is the story, Don tries to negotiate with the squatters and convince them to plant Fruit trees and vineyards instead of grains because it will bring more prosperity. The squatters are adamant to Don’s proposal, and think that he has other motives. Don suggests building reservoirs to maintain a water supply, and to raise cattle for capital as well. The entire chapter is spent with Don trying to convince the men to change their ways, and them being unsure. As a woman who lived on a ranch as well, Ruiz uses this story to demonstrate the unfair actions that came with new laws.
I found it to be incredibly smart how Ruiz created a character (Don Mariano) that was so genius and clever in the way that he proposed a plan that would indirectly benefit himself and his family. With a thick layer of irony surfacing this story, I was both amazed and appalled with what what happening to Don’s land. At the beginning of the chapter we learn that squatters (most definitely younger in age than Don) have come on to Don’s thousand acre ranch and built homes for themselves. In fact, the interaction between Don and the newcomers takes place on the “broad Piazza of John Gasbang’s house, this being the most central point in the rancho” (94). Gasbang, who is a squatter can be seen as one of the central problems of Don’s land being taken over. Thus, Ruiz ironically places Gasbang’s newfound home in the center of Don’s land to foreshadow the dominance of this new group.
The irony continues when the two groups converse and discuss how long the meeting will last. The newcomers agree to talk until whenever, but must leave before nightfall to “bring the milch cows home” (95), which are, in fact, Don’s milk cows that they stole from him. Don cleverly responds with “Exactly, we want to look after our cows too” (95) as if to make the squatters feel like they still have ownership by completely ignoring that fact that the cows they are referring to as theirs are actually his.
Throughout Don’s entire proposal, I can see the cleverness in the way he goes about business. By referring to the future not as “his” but as “ours” he makes the squatters feel like they are the future of the land, and if they do just this simple task (plant fruit trees instead of grain) they will prosper. The language Ruiz uses for Don makes him sounds so clever. “I hope to have the opportunity to thank you for your kin co-operation” and “If you don’t understand me I will repeat my words until I make my meaning clear” (95) writes Ruiz. These two sentences are laced with such a subtle sense of irony, that it’s almost missed when reading for the first time. Don is almost saying to the squatters face “this is how we are going to do things, and I hope will repeat myself until there will no longer be any argument in my proposal”.
For a man who has lost almost everything, it is amazing to watch him speak to these thief's so calmly and diplomatically. If I were in his situation, I would find it very hard to keep my composure around the very people who stripped me of my land and prosperity. But by creating a character that is so collected and intelligent, we see how Ruiz tries to have Don befriend the squatters so that he can gain back his land that was taken away by the very people he is talking to. It almost makes me think of the phrase “keeps your friends close, and your enemies closer”, and that is exactly what Don did.

Mary Hunter Austin

Journal for Mary Hunter Austin
Francesca Cricchio
English 48B
January 31st, 2011

“She was the walking woman. That was it. She has walked off all sense of society-made values, and, knowing the best when the best came to her, was able to take it.” (892)

“Sometimes Austin celebrates the borderland as a place to think beyond the confines of gender; sometimes she couples women and nature through mutual strength and resistance to male domination. Often, by picturing the land as a mistress, Austin creates a feminine land that counters domestic ideology and conjoins women and nature not as a victims but as powerful allies." From the book Studies in American Fiction by Stacy Alaimo.

The Walking Woman, written by Mary Hunter Austin is that tale of woman by the nick name of “Mrs. Walker” who mysteriously travels by foot all across California. Austin, who has been searching all over for this enigma finally finds the walking woman at a “Warm Spring in the Little Antelope”. There the two sit and Austin learns a little bit about the walking woman. It is stated that she once had a child, but quickly lost him after birth. She writes, “The baby had not stayed long enough for that”. The walking woman also tells Austin about Filon Geraud, a sheep rancher, whom Austin helps greatly during a storm. Together the two herd Filon’s sheep, and through working hard as “one sort and one mind”, Filon and Mrs. Walker become romantically involved. Several months later Mrs. Walker’s son is born, but quickly passes away. With a strong ache in her heart, Mrs. Walker packs her small black bag and continues on her journey to find herself in the middle of nowhere.

This is a magnificent story of strength and willingness to make decisions that go against the norms of society. The Walking woman depicts the freedom of those who are strong enough to decide for themselves. As quoted above, “knowing the best when the best came to her, was able to take it” Mrs. Walker was courageous enough to move on to something more before she fully even let go. While the rest of society is finding ways to cope with hard situations, or hoping for a better solution, Mrs. Walker decides to continue on an undefined path. I cannot even begin to say how many times I have waited and hoped for something better to come along instead of taking initiative and changing my ways. Wether it be relationships with the people I love, and hoping that they will change or realize they are doing something wrong. Or the way I am constantly worrying about finding a decent job. The Walking Woman demonstrates the courageousness that is hidden in each and every one of us, but masked by the fears and pressure of fitting in to society. Mrs. Walker throws every norm out the window, and steps downs a path of happiness and serenity. Austin writes, “and that led to the Walking Woman saying that there were three things which if you had known you could cut out all the rest, and they were good any way you got them, but best if, as in her case, they were related to and grew each one out of the others.” (890) Perhaps it was the loss of her infant, or the ability to be her true self around Filon that gave her the mindset to get up and leave whenever she wanted. Whatever it was, it made her into an excellent definition of the freedom that most of us know, many of us want, and few will ever truly have.

Journal for Sui Sin Far

Journal for Sui Sin Far


Francesca Cricchio
Journal for Sui Sin Far (Edith Maud Eaton)
English 48B
January 26th, 2011

“You do no know-man- what it is to miss the feel of the little fingers and the little toes and the soft round limbs of your little one. Even in the darkness his darling eyes used to shine up to mine, and often have I fallen into slumber with his pretty babble at my ear.” (882)

“Edith Eaton hoped to effect a change by means of her pen, to be the pioneer in bridging the Occident and the Orient, but the last article she published, less than a year before her death on April 7, 1914, was still a plea for the acceptance of working-class Chinese in America.” Biography of Edith Eaton from Georgetown University’s website.

In the short story, “In the land of the Free”, main character Lae Choo is a loving woman dedicated to doing anything for her young boy. Her and her son take a ship to San Francisco, California where they plan to meet Hom Hing (Lae Choo’s husband). Their hopes of living a prosperous and happy life are cut short when American Immigrations is forced to take their son away due to not having any papers that prove Hom and Lae have any “bearing upon the child” (Sui Sin Far, 881). They see no other solution and adamantly give the child to American government, in hopes of hearing back from “Washington” the very next day. Unfortunately, an entire year passes before they are reunited with their son again, and by then the young boy does not recognize his mother. This story is filled with heartbreak and sympathy for the Chinese immigrants who are taken advantage of and treated unfairly by the government.

It is clearly evident how much irony Sui Sin Far played in to this novel. The Norton Anthology is not at all wrong in saying that “In Sui Sin Far’s journalistic and fictional writings she vigorously and openly defends Chinese immigrants-especially women and working-class immigrants-with an ironic stance” (880). By simply titling the story “In the Land of the Free” we can see the irony for several reasons. For starters, Lae is immediately stripped of the only thing she cherishes (her son) the moment she steps on to American soil. Without even getting the chance to explain or fight for her son, she has to give him up because she quickly learns that working-class immigrants are not seen as equal to the whites, and begging for her son would not solve anything. The irony of her title becomes even stronger when several months pass with still no word from Washington. A young man arrives and offers to help the two get their son back by traveling to Washington and getting them the paper they need. All they have to do is pay a small amount...of 500 dollars- an amount they can’t even fathom. Lae, who is on the verge of death from agony, lights up when hearing that all she has to do to get her son back is pay money. She runs upstairs, grabs all of her finest gold jewelry, and hands it over to the man without any hesitation. Everything that is valuable to her is stripped away in a matter of seconds so that she can get her son back. The irony of this entire situation is unbelievable. To have to give your son away to a stranger is a punishment that should be paid back to her, not the other way around. But because she is Chinese, and a working-class immigrant, she has to fight twice as hard, and pay even more by sacrificing all of her gold. First, she loses her son, and then gives away all of her sacred belongings to a stranger in a country that she originally moved to so that she could be free.
The irony found in Sui Sin Far’s writing is more than evident, and the unequally of Chinese immigrants is clearly demonstrated in this heart-wrenching short story.

Journal for Zitkala

Francesca Cricchio
Journal for Zitkala
English 48B
January 17th, 2011

“Then I lost my spirit. Since the day I was taken from my mother I had suffered extreme indignities. People had stared at me. I had been tossed about in air like a wooden puppet. And now my long hair was shingled like a coward’s! In my anguish I moaned for my mother, but no one came to comfort me. Not a soul reasoned quietly with me, as my own mother used to do; for now I was only one of many little animals driven by a herder.” (1116)

“In her writings as well as her work as an Indian rights activist, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, or Zitkala-Sa (Red Bird), is a vital link between the oral culture of tribal America in conflict with its colonizers and the literate culture of contemporary American Indians.” “Gertrude Bonnin”, Cengage Learning.

Zitkala’s attempt to “learn the white man’s way” (1105) begins at age eight. A year before she began to question the pale-faces when her mother mentioned them as the cause for the loss of Zitkala’s only sister and praised uncle. When two white missionaries enter her village to try and get young Native American children to attend school in the East, Zitkala is persistent with attending, even though her mother disagrees. Her mother adamantly decides to let Zitkala attend, and her journey into mainstream white society begins. Her life away at school abruptly starts off with a forceful cutting of her long hair. Zitkala writes, “I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids.” (1116) This is the start of her indignities, and as her narration continues we begin to see even more forceful assimilation. Zitkala continues to attend school, and quickly becomes used to the “iron routine” of bells ringing and roll-taking. The room she sleeps in is now white and harsh on the eyes, and the touch of a pale-face makes her tremble. As Zitkala grows older, she becomes more and more interested in the rights of Native Americans, and by the end of her life she becomes a spokesperson for Native American and woman rights. The harsh change she faces is told through her narrations and autobiography.


Zitkala’s life is an example of the domination of the white man in society. Through her literature, it is constantly stated how the white man has forced Native Americans in to assimilation. In “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”, Zitkala writes about how she becomes so tempted to travel East because of the “big red apples” (1111). “Yes, little girl, the nice red apples are for those who pick them...”(1112) writes Zitkala. At only the age of eight, she becomes so excited with the notion of having as many red apples as one wants! I mean, who wouldn’t love the idea of that? But, something in the way it is written makes me believe that maybe “those who pick them” are the mainstream white society, because as Zitkala’s narration continues we discover that she never gets to the land of big, red apples. Instead, she arrives at a large fluorescent building, where children sit at the sound of a bell and answer “here” with the mention of their name being read off of a role sheet. I also find it very interesting, and sneaky in the way the “pale-faces” take over. Zitkala writes that her mother says, “The palefaces, who owe us a large debt got stolen lands, have begun to pay a tardy justice in offering some education to our children.” (1113) To me, this is ironic because first the White steal the land of Native Americans, and then “make up for it” by offering education to Native American children. But this “education” entails destroying Native American culture by teaching young Native American children the english language instead of their native tongue. It involves cutting off children’s long hair that is considered “sacred”. So really, the “palefaces” do not “pay justice”, but actually take away even more than they took away before.

Journal for Winnemucca

Francesca Cricchio
Journal for Winnemucca
English 48
January 18th, 2011

“I can imagine his feelings, for I have drank deeply from the same cup. When I think of my past life, and the bitter trials I have endured, I can scarcely believe I live, and yet I do; and, with the help of Him who notes the sparrow’s fall, I mean to fight for my down-trodden race while life lasts.” (503)

“Following the oral tradition of her people, she reaches out to readers with a deeply personal appeal for understanding, recording a portion of the history of the far west from the Native American perspective.” Biography of Sarah Winnemucca published on the Nevada Women’s History site.

Sarah Winnemucca has a unique way of writing about the history of Native Americans not only through her perspective, but through the perspective of a large community of Piute individuals. At the beginning of her story, Life Among the Piutes, Sarah talks about the history of the Piute’s and how they are spread out across Nevada. Her grandfather is the head of their tribe, and he believes that the White man is their friend. He goes on to tell the story of the four children. Two children were dark skinned, while the other two were light skinned. They got along for a while, but then began to argue, and their parents had no choice but to “separate” the children across seas. Sarah’s grandfather believed that one day the white brother and sister would return, and peace would be restored between the two. So when the day came where the White men showed up, Sarah’s grandfather is surprised when he finds that the White men want nothing to do with the Native Americans. As Sarah’s story continues we discover that a great fear develops within the Native Americans, and they decide to flee to the mountains to avoid the Whites “eating them. Their food supply is burned when the Whites reach their camp, and the distance grows even stronger between the two races. Sarah finishes her writing by comparing the the government in Native American society and White society.

The very first quote that I listed is directly from Life Among the Piutes. Sarah is talking about the feeling her grandfather first experienced when he went to kindly greet the White men, and was surprised when they acted adamant and unfriendly to him. Sarah then goes on to say, “I mean to fight for my down-trodden race” which means that no matter what she will do whatever it takes to protect her fellow Native Americans.

I find it very interesting how Sarah writes her stories, because you can tell that she is not writing them for the sake of herself. For instance, in the book she talks about the Native American gatherings, where they all meet around a circle and talk about issues going on within the tribe. Both men and women are equal and treated with the utmost respect. Anybody can talk if they have an opinion, and they will be heard equally. An entire chapter is dedicated to explaining the life and culture of Native Americans, and it is through this chapter that I have learned how much of an important spokesperson she is. She is more than able to “reach out to readers with a deeply personal appeal for understanding” by revealing everything there is to know about Native American culture. Her honest words give us insight to a world that we judged too quickly.

Booker T. Washington

Francesca Cricchio

Journal Entry: Booker T. Washington

English 48B

January 10th, 2011

Quote from book: 

“Negro youth must work harder and must perform his tasks even better than a white youth in order to secure recognition. But out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of birth and race.” 

Quote from internet:

“During a difficult period of transition for the United States, he did much to improve the overall friendship and working relationship between the races. His work greatly helped blacks to achieve higher education, financial power and understanding of the U.S. legal system.” “Booker T. Washington” biography on Wikipedia. 

Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, “Up From Slavery”, is the real-life tale of Washington’s slow and steady rise from plantation slave during the Civil war, to public figure, spokesperson, and educator to the inferior race of that time. He begins his novel by painting for us the visual of what it truly meant to be a slave. He points out the harsh conditions he had to endure, like traveling several miles each week for work. Washington also points out some of the lessons he learned as a slave that he continued to repeat later on in his life as a free man. For instance, Washington writes, “When freedom came, the slaves were almost as well fitted to begin life anew as the master...” As Washington becomes older he is forced to work with his Stepfather and cannot attend school. Eventually, his strong passion for learning becomes so powerful that he convinces his family to let him go to school under the condition that he still attend work before and after school hours. Later on in the book, Washington speaks at the Atlanta Exposition and gains notable popularity within White and African American communities. His speech strived for African American’s to set aside any political ambitions and reach for lower level economic positions instead. 

In a time when African Americans were concerning themselves with simple things like finding a safe place to make a life and survive, Booker T. Washington was concerning himself with finding a way to bring together the races through economics and education. He argued several things that are still supported and opposed to this day. One of his main arguments was that “success should be measured by the position a person has reached by overcoming obstacles in the way” (665). This is a very sensible and relatable argument. In the story, Washington’s struggle with attending school and work is often talked about. Washington states that he had to wake up at 4 o’ clock in the morning to get to work, and then went to class at 9 a.m., and then back the work after school was out. He could have simply given up on the notion of education, but through hard, grueling work, he created a career for himself that has been referenced throughout history. This dedication is a perfect example of what he preached and believed in. Washington also believed that Whites should not judge African American children with white children until they are caught up in school. He writes in his book that White children are given the support they need to try hard through hundreds of years of ancestry. The pressure of succeeding is much higher, and African American children do not have this support because of the lack of known origin of their grandparents and great-grandparents. He believed that because of this, African American children already had a disadvantage, and so judging them from a young age would not really be considered fair. 

As an influential figure in time, Booker T. Washington brought a vast amount of optimism to African American’s across America. While reading his story, I felt surprisingly refreshed by his ability to constantly look on the bright side of things. Time over time he was able to find the good within something so horrible, and that is why I think he has left such and impact on the world. He did not look to argue with Whites, but instead found an educational and positive way to bring together the races. While others were still fighting a war that had ended, Washington convinced an entire nation to let in a struggling minority that would eventually become completely equal with the rest of the world.