Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton

Melanie Freeman

English 48B

February 5th, 2009

Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton: The Squatter and the Don

Maria Ruiz was the first Mexican American author to become published in English.  She was born in Baja California in 1832, the granddaughter of a wealthy, aristocratic Mexican commander, similar to Don Mariano in her novel, The Squatter and the Don.  Maria Ruiz was a well educated woman who witnessed the changes the state of California experienced in response to the western expansion after the Civil War.  Her writing focuses on not only social and political tensions between the Mexican Americans and the white settlers, but also on environmental issues as well.  The Squatter and the Don can be interpreted from many viewpoints, but as an environmental critic, is reveals the importance of living harmoniously with the land.  

"Don very properly says, this is a grazing county, no legislation can change it.  So it would be wiser to make laws to suit the county, and not expect the county will change its character to suit absurd laws..." (100)

Summary:

This comment closes the meeting between the Don and the white squatters described in the novel.  In this meeting, the Don as proposed a plan which will serve as a compromise between himself and the squatters.  In this plan he recommends that the farmers replace their wheat fields with cattle and orchards to utilize the land they are given.  The Don feels that with these crops, the natural resources they have with be fully utilized, waste will be minimized and profits will increase. 

Response:

From the viewpoint of an environmentalist, the Don's proposal is based upon most natural, environment friendly values we are taught today.  The idea behind environmentalism is so take advantage of the natural resources provided by the earth and to live ones life in harmony with nature.  The production of artificial products and the waste of natural ones damages the earth and limits the capacity of what is achievable.  By suggesting that San Diego county is "a grazing county" and insisting that raising cattle will be most profitable, the Don is unconsciously preserving the environment.  Whether or not environmental concern is a priority for the Don, his ideas about utilizing the resources rather than altering them is clearly indicative of a conservationist view.

Both Maria Ruiz and Sarah Orne Jewett focus on the preserving their home lands as they remember them.  Each writer incorporates the natural environment as an essential aspects of the way of life and in the success of each society.  When this natural equilibrium is altered by either killing natural species or growing crops that waste resources, the value of the land is depleted.  The act of living harmoniously with the land and resistance to industrial damages are clear themes in each of these writer's works.