I am ending the first part of the Lost Children Archives, but I am still wondering who are the lost children in this book. As far as I am concerned all the characters in this book are kind of “lost children”.

Naturally, she notes that they refer to refugee children, many of whom are missing, as “lost children”. She explains: “These are children who have lost the right to a childhood”. Part of the book is devoted to the story of these missing voices, or more precisely how she can tell the story of these thousands or millions of forgotten voices in order to give sense to this human tragedy. A crucial question that runs through the book is about the legitimacy of telling such a story. Indeed, the narrator, who is a journalist by training, criticizes this “fashion” of sensationalism that is de rigueur in journalism, portraying immigrants as aliens and insisting on the urgency of this crisis. Another question is about who should be the main subjects of her sound documentary. Indeed, at the beginning of the book she starts with the idea of recording the voices of these children in the courtrooms but changes her mind in the will to tell the story of these children who are forgotten because they are lost or missing.

However, this is only an almost minority part of the book, which makes me think that the lost children are not just those refugee children. The children in this peculiar family are also the lost children. Through their questions, their imagination, their maps, the Polaroid camera, the children are trying to make sense of both their family’s crisis and the larger story of thousands of children trying to cross the southwest border of the United States. Although the children’s lives seem to depend on the outcome of their parents’ marriage, they seem to express their agency through a particular understanding of their surroundings. These children are lost in the complexity of the world and their uncertain place in the future of this family on the point of breaking up, even as their parents try to hide this tragedy from them.

Last but not least, as far as the parents are concerned, it is also about lost children. Lost Children Archive begins with the journey not of a refugee child, but of an unhappily married couple. It is difficult to understand the reasons for their love because of the permanent “silence” that reigns in this couple. The parents are also lost children because they seem more concerned about their own feelings and plans than about the fate of their family. The father looked into this Apache project without even telling his wife and without evaluating the concrete possibility of carrying it out. Moreover, throughout the book, the mother is very cold with all the members of the family as if she were disconnected from this reality. It is as if the parents were dreaming of being able to rewrite their whole life again, forgetting that they themselves had forged this reality. Parents are lost, but they are also children because they are locked in their own reality, imagination and dreams.

As far as I’m concerned, The House on Mango Street is a book about the need to escape. Throughout the book, the narrator expresses, through various metaphors and direct allusions, her desire to be free and to escape from this miserable life in this poor neighborhood of Chicago. What does Esperanza want to escape from? The book begins with a description of her intense disappointment at the discovery of her new home on Mango Street. Throughout the book, Esperanza expresses her desire to escape the poverty and detrimental living conditions associated with her home. In addition, she wants to escape from the neighborhood in which she lives, frequently expressing her feeling that she does not belong there (even though she expresses her attachment to her community). Last but not least, Esperanza wants to escape the “traditional” patriarchal roles that oppressed Chicana women. To clarify this point, I think it is important to point out that most of the chapters begin with a female character’s name and that most of the book describes in negative terms the events that happen to these women. Every female character is trapped by abusive husband or father. It is interesting to note that Esperanza describes different ways for women to achieve their freedom, but not all of them are conclusive. One of the possible ways would be the possibility for beautiful girls/women to marry a man. However, in all cases, for example in the case of Sally, they try through this marriage to escape from a reality of misery (because of poverty or physical abuse) but end up trapped in similar conditions. In the end, by creating her own story, Esperanza creates her own solution to escape this trap. Two quotes from the book struck me. The first is on page 89: “I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure, I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the char or picking up the plate”. The other is page 108: “Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all my own. With […] My books and my stories”. These two sentences clearly define the message of the book. If the woman wants to escape the traditional expectations of gender roles, she must take her own destiny into her own hands and break this dependency on the male figure.

Even more interestingly, Esperanza describes the means by which she expresses her desire to escape. I noticed that the window metaphor is recurrent throughout the book. The window symbolizes the trap in which all the women in the book are stuck, because of their violent partners, but at the same time it represents their deep desire to escape from this reality. Another omnipresent symbol is that of the trees whose “only reason is to be and to be”. The trees represent Esperanza’s desire to get out of this dependency by herself and for herself. Finally, her books, stories and poems are a practical way to escape her reality and express who she really is.

(I should precise that I am writing this post at Amsterdam airport (my second Paris-Lyon flight has been cancelled and replaced by 2 other flights Paris-Amsterdam and Amsterdam-Lyon) and I have not slept more than 24 hours. So, if you could be indulgent aha).

A recurring theme in Bless me Ultima is about knowledge, and more specifically about who possesses the knowledge and how that knowledge is central to the maturation process.

First of all, several sources of knowledge are presented throughout the book and are embodied by different characters. The parents represent the knowledge that comes from tradition, namely a past linked to the land on the Luna side and the tradition of the Llano on the Marez family side. Each of the parents embodies a form of ancestral knowledge about traditional ways of life that are passed on from one generation to the next to be reproduced and perpetuated. The priest represents God’s knowledge, that is to say, knowledge beyond the reach of men that allows God to judge the sins of people. Ultima represents another form of ancestral knowledge, of an indigenous type, originating from a culture whose aim is to preserve earthly harmony. Finally, these ancestral forms of knowledge are counterbalanced by two new sources of knowledge. Firstly, the school is represented by the two teachers who guide Antonio during his first and third grades. Secondly, science plays a minimal role through the evocation of the doctor and the atomic bomb.

Curiously, one notices when reading that traditional knowledge is much more important than the knowledge acquired through school and science. While Antonio laconically describes his experience at school, showing at the same time that in reality it had only a limited influence on his childhood, he insists on his experience in the church and all the knowledge it brings him. Thereby, while his passage to the fourth grade is not even mentioned, a great moment in antonio’s life corresponds to his first confession and his communion. Moreover, while traditional medicine did nothing to improve his uncle’s condition, the traditional medicine of Ultima seems to work miraculously. This pervasiveness of traditional knowledge in contrast to modern knowledge is one of the central aspects of this book. It allows us to understand the traditional structuring of villages in New Mexico in the 1940s and the importance of the nuclear family in this organization.

Finally, the acquisition of new knowledge is key to Antonio’s growing process. Indeed, each new piece of knowledge allows him to question the structuring of the world, the importance of inequalities, the legitimacy of religion. In reality, this book describes a process by which the child loses his innocence. Each new piece of knowledge brings new questions due to the paradoxes that Antonio tries to solve. Through this process, he ends up developing a form of autonomy as well as a capacity for taking decisions. This ability is exemplified at the end of the book when he courageously decides to run 10 miles in a desperate attempt to save Ultima.

Bless me Ultima is a coming-of-age book that does more than just describe Antonio’s transition from childhood to adulthood. The book depicts the evolution of the American society, or at least New Mexico society, by highlighting the contradictions between a traditional society and the construction of a modern society. However, before I get into that, I would just like to praise the style of the book. This is the first time since the beginning of the semester that I have enjoyed reading a book, not because of the story it narrates, but because of the style it uses. In particular, I would like to highlight the use of language that allows the legends described in the first part of the book and Antonio’s dreams to come alive. In addition, the author spends a lot of time describing the beautiful landscape of Mexico. Finally, this beautiful style is a very powerful element in giving substance to the human relationships depicted.

The book describes the contradiction of a society in transition. Historically, the book took place in the war and post-war periods, which correspond to the development of the ideology of modernization. The transition is portrayed as a passive and subtle revolution throughout the first part of the book. One of the main elements of this transition is the process by which the moral authority of parents and especially of the Father is challenged by children and young adults. Indeed, Antonio’s three brothers challenge their parents’ ambitions about their destinies. The parents’ confrontation about their children’s (male) destiny, namely between living as farmers in Puerto de Luna or as Vaqueros in California, is the symbol of the nuclear family in which the parents have the supreme authority to decide unilaterally about the children’s lives. It also represents a model in which social mobility is absent since the child has the duty to reproduce the lifestyle followed by the parents. However, this model is undermined by the refusal of the three brothers to follow the proposed life models and their desire to follow their own dream. Furthermore, the book establishes that Antonio will challenge this model in the same way. In fact, when he passed directly from the first grade to the third grade at school, he realises that he can make its own decisions and that responsibility implied by those decisions is an essential part of “growing up”. This disjuncture between the ambitions of parents and that of children is a symbol of a transition from a patriarchal society to a modern society in which the emancipation of young people is a central component. The book describes in part the causes of this transition. First of all, social institutions have a crucial role in raising the ambitions of young people. In particular, we can see how school represents a fundamental stage in Antonio’s life. On the other hand, the military is also an essential institution that increases the ambitions of Antonio’s brothers as well as their desire for mobility. A second cause that is subtly shown consists in the evolution of transportation, which allows children to no longer be tied to a specific place but to change their place of living, as in the case of Antonio’s brothers who dream of settling in Las Vegas.

It should be noted, however, that the destiny of the women seems to be of minor importance, since the fate of Antonio’s sisters is never addressed either by the parents or by the book, which only deals with the fate of the men. This shows that even if the patriarchal model is challenged in this modern society, the gender discrimination it implies is resilient.

One concept that is central to the three books we studied is the concept of law. I would like to talk about a concept that is omnipresent in Marxist literature (for example in Gramsci’s philosophy), namely law as an element representing the social hierarchies. More than this previous aspect, according to the Marxist current, law is the instrument of the dominant social class and can only represent and pursue the interest of this dominant class.

In the books The Squatter and the Don, the author precisely describes a series of laws that cause the social downfall of Mexican families such as the Alamar families. Indeed, the law is profoundly illiberal in the sense that it favours squatters, who are Anglo-American, against the inhabitants of the southwestern territories, who are mainly of Mexican origin. The laws represent social hierarchy in that they are an expression of the political and numerical domination of Anglo-Americans over Mexican-Americans. More interestingly, the law is the instrument of a perpetuation of political inequalities that are rooted in historical events, principally Mexico’s defeat in the American-Mexican War and the subsequent Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The law, by questioning the validity of the propriety titles of that population and allowing de facto and de jure settlers to take the occupied lands according to the concept of Terra Nullius, is a crucial variable that explain the social downfall of the Mexican Families. More importantly, these laws are the first step in creating a pattern of economic inequality. Therefore, the laws perpetuate this domination by giving Anglo-Americans the instrument that allows them to consolidate their position in the expanse of Mexican America. Political inequalities are transformed into social inequalities which then perpetuate themselves.

In the Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, the Law is not criticized per se, but the unjust application of the Law represents an extension of the deeply illiberal character of the Law. In fact, the law, although expressed in general and non-discriminatory terms, does not appear to be applied in the same way to Anglo-Americans and Mexican Americans. For the former, the presumption of innocence seems to be respected, while for the latter, a presumption of guilt seems to be applied. Moreover, throughout the legal process, we can see how the application of the law is ambiguous and depends on the bias of the juries and the court. Moreover, not all the actors are not subjected to the Law. In fact, paradoxically, the executor of these laws, the Rangers, carries out extrajudicial killings against peaceful citizens for the sole reason that they are Mexican. This shows that the law empowers one class of citizens against another, perpetuating a pattern of discrimination. Social inequalities are thus the mere consequences of political and legal inequalities.

Last but not least, in Down These Means Street, the treatment of the law is subtle. In fact, it is not the application of the law against Piri that is criticized because he is a criminal who is punished fairly for these offences. Rather, the book narrates the social consequences of these legal discrimination. In fact, one point of critics is the tolerance of discriminatory and racially motivated actions and behaviour. Indeed, for example, when Piri is denied a job simply because he is black, this situation is quite unbearable. The application of the law in this context is flawed, as there is no mechanism to prevent this type of discrimination, which is at the root of the perpetuation of socio-economic inequalities.

Aurélien

As far as I am concerned, the chapter that caught my attention the most in this book is chapter 18 entitled “Barroom Sociology”. This chapter depicts a rhetorical confrontation between a bartender named Gerard Andrew West and Brew. This passage in the book is crucial because it formulates the difficult question of whether individual identity is something that can be chosen and defined by people themselves or is ultimately something that depends on external elements (skin color, nationality, spoken language, physical features, etc.) that are outside the will of individuals.

The character of Gerard is interesting because he embodies the ambiguity of identity, being a characteristic that should be defined by the individuals themselves, but which ultimately cannot be controlled by them. In the first part of the chapter, he defends the human right to choose one’s own identity according to his or her instincts.  He states that : “I feel that the racial Instincts hat are the strongest in a person enjoying this rich mixture are the ones that -uh- should be followed”. Even more interestingly, in defining his own identity, Gerard emphasizes cultural affinity rather than nationality or ethnic or racial elements. For example, he says: “I feel sort of spanish-ish. I have always had a great admiration for Spanish culture and traditions -er- yes – I feel rather impulse toward things Spanish”. Gerard therefore presents his identity in such a way as to show that for him it is a choice that depends on his own will and that is disconnected from imposed external features. However, in the face of the Brew’s hostility, Gerard ends the conversation by saying “I look white, I think white, therefore I am white”. This is a radical change of perspective. Now Gerard defines his identity according to the colour of his skin, which is an uncontrollable characteristic related to birth and parents. So, we see a surprising shift in Gerard’s assertions from defining identity as a choice totally dependent on individual agency (a cultural affinity rather than a “blood” tie), to a given characteristic that determines his culture, his ideas, his way of acting in society, etc. This is why this and the following chapters underline the ambiguity of identity.  On the one hand, since identity belongs to the individual, it should be defined by the individuals themselves. However, in the end, this identity depends mainly on uncontrollable external elements that are attributed to the individual.

Throughout the book, Piri is faced with this dilemma of whether this identity can be a choice or is imposed. He would like to be able to choose his own identity, since in the first part of the book he rejects his black identity by defining himself as a Puerto Rican. However, as the book progresses, he realizes that external elements are also components of his identity and that he cannot ignore them. Piri, through his autobiography, shows us the need to accept these elements of birth “imposed” on the individual. He ends up, after a long process of hatred and rage, by accepting his black identity. This is clearly demonstrated by the confrontation with his father, whom Piri accused of living in a fantasy world because he acts “like a white man” when he is a black man (Chapter 16). Even more interesting, Piri reinvests and affirms this identity in the episode of the “cathouse” (Chapter 19). He first presents himself as a Puerto Rican before confirming his black identity. Therefore, he shows that identity should not only be imposed but also appropriated by the person herself. In this way, by accepting his identity, the individual reaffirms his agency over identity.

Aurélien

In the first part of this post, I would like to share my impression as a reader. In fact, when I read this book, I had an ambivalent feeling. First of all, the immediacy of the text allows the reader to be totally involved in the story of the young Piri as he grows up in a hostile environment in Harlem. Indeed, the unfiltered and natural writing as well as the events that captivate by their intensity are elements that contribute to the authenticity of this text which is its main strength. On the other hand, even though this story is captivating, I personally found the book sincerely difficult to read because of the urban language that is used throughout the story. As a non-English speaking reader, several times I had to reread entire sections of the chapter because I found it difficult to properly understand the story, a feeling I had not had in previous readings.

It is now time to discuss a theme that I found central, namely the importance of ethnicity and the sense of belonging. Piri Thomas tells us his story from childhood, which is very relevant because it is during this period of primary socialization that identity is forged. For Piri, however, this construction of identity is in fact a quest to define which community he belongs. As a child, Piri rejects the essentialism of categories, as the oppositions white/black, Spanish/English, American/Porto-Rican overlap and intertwine. Thus, belonging is defined both in terms of identification to a national community (American vs. Italian), to an ethnic community (Puerto Rican), a racial conception linked to skin colour. The difficulty for Piri to define his own identity is raised by this short exchange between a young man of Italian origin and Piri in chapter 4 :

“Hey, you,” he said. “What nationality are ya?” I looked at him and wondered which nationality to pick. And one of his friends said, “Ah, Rocky, he’s black enuff to be a nigger. Ain’t that what you is, kid?” My voice was almost shy in its anger. “I’m Puerto Rican,” I said. “I was born here.”

Here, Piri struggles to define himself. Technically, he is American because he was born in New York. But at the same time, he affirms his pride in being Puerto Rican in front of people of Italian origin, revealing here how important ethnic and national divisions were and still are in the urban organization of New York City. Another thing that is really interesting in this section is the fact that Piri affirms his belonging to the Puerto Rican community to defend himself against an accusation of “blackness”. Piri insists throughout the first part of the book that he is not African-American by asserting his Puerto Rican blood. Through this acceptance of one identity and the parallel rejection of another, Piri reveals the importance of racial hierarchy in American society.

“Though it flourished independently of newspapers or other written material, it existed side by side with them” (Chapter VIII, p.245). This remark in the last chapter demonstrates the need to multiply the types of sources used to study the history and social structures of a region. Indeed, if newspapers (or court decisions) are crucial primary sources for reconstructing a historical event, as shown in Chapter III of the book, the population’s productions about this event, in this case a Corrido, reveal its significance for local communities. The fact that this corrido survived the event and the death of its main character shows that this form of oral folklore is a central element in the formation of Mexican American culture along the lower Rio Grande. The second part of the book, devoted to the structure of the Corrido, emphasizes that this form of border corrido represents a diffuse and silent culture of resistance to assimilation.

I would like to build on some of the elements highlighted by Paredes in Chapter VII concerning the structure of El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez.

1. The Narrative

The Corrido is primarily narrative, but it differs from Mexican Broadside, which focuses on sensational elements. Instead, the border corrido uses a rather simple vocabulary and a direct style with few images. The objective is therefore to tell a story that reflects the everyday life of the Mexican American. The changes brought about by the variants analyzed by the author is a way for the corrido maker to emphasize the crucial characteristics of this daily life. We can group the variants into two broad categories, namely the variant that focuses on the events that led to Morris’ death, or the variants that tell in detail about Cortez’ surrender. The first represents the clash of North American and Mexican cultures along the lower Rio Grande, a clash that led to the discrimination of the minority by the majority. The second is the symbol of an obvious and predetermined end, with Mexicans unable to resist because they are outnumbered by better equipped Americans.

This story, mainly symbolic, expresses the tension and resentment between the Anglos- and Mexico-Tejanos. The fact that the story underlines the permanent injustice suffered by the latter and their powerlessness to oppose this “state of affairs” indicates that the corrido is an anonymous means of asserting their right as a people. The corrido becomes a protective disguise in their public and private relations with North Americans. It is a form of active but silent resistance, namely a counterweight to the domination of English-speaking culture.

2. The syllable-supplying devices

The author emphasizes the functional use of syllable-supplying devices. Two basic elements catch my attention. First, the poets prefer to use the imperfect rather than the preterit in order to emphasize the intensity of the action. Second, singers have made extensive use of the “y” to put the vocal apparatus in the right position for singing and to help them get into the proper mood of tense absorption of the ballad. This demonstrates that the corrido is a way to tell a serious and dramatic story and to emphasize the tension of that drama.

Thus, the intensity of Corrido reflects the fact that this folk song is a form of revolt against the racial attitudes of the time. It then becomes the only weapon of the weak to confront the domination of the strong.

3. The language

The language used in the variants of Corrido Cortez is also a sign of the formation of this culture of resistance. First of all, it should be noted that the Anglo-American enemies are not named. There is therefore confusion between their ethnicity and their identity because of their symbolic role in the corrido. This confusion reveals the construction of the figure of the enemy in which his dignity as an individual is denied. Secondly, the use of the English equivalent of the Spanish noun, in order to give a more precise meaning to the Spanish world, represents an appropriation of the enemy’s culture in order to affirm the Mexican-Americans’ own identity. Consequently, the Mexican-American identity is not destroyed by this clash of cultures but, on the contrary, it is strengthened by an appropriation of the tools of assimilation.

With his pistol in his hand is surprising because it is not a novel but a scholarly work on the Chicano culture. The book uses the oral tradition by studying in detail a corrido on a folk hero, Gregorio Cortez, as a means of providing a social and cultural history of the Texas-Mexico border.

The first point I would like to make is that Paredes’ book is a mixture of different genres. It is partly historical with its chapters 1 and 2, which provide an in-depth factual study of the history of the north of the former Spanish province of Nuevo Santander, which became South Texas between the Rio Grande and the Nueces Rives, and the true story of Gregorio Cortez. Chapter 2 is of a folkloric nature with a complete account of the legend of Gregorio Cortez as it was told in the oral corrido. The book is also ethnographic in its description of the Tejano culture. This mixture allows Paredes to provide a complete description of the political and social climate of the northern Rio Grande.

The ballad of Gregorio Cortez describes a region where border conflicts are the cause and consequence of a cultural conflict between Anglo-Americans and Mexican-Americans living in South Texas.

In Chapter 1, Paredes demonstrates that knowledge of the historical border conflicts between the two countries is necessary to understand the cultural discrimination of Hispanic Tejanos. The history of the Mexican border is not the history of a peaceful straight line. The region was the scene of several border conflicts during the second part of the nineteenth century as well as the first part of the twentieth century. As the author explains, the conflicts between the Republic of Texas and Mexico around the Rio Nueces and the major impact of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo were crucial in creating this cultural rivalry. The former had the most dramatic impact by using the Rio Grande as the border between the United States and Mexico. This treaty thus created a separation where Mexican communities lived in cohesion. Moreover, these border conflicts were predominant in the association of Mexicans with the enemy. First of all, Mexicans were considered violent, thieves or criminals because of the atrocities committed by General Santa Anna during the war of secession between the Republic of Texas and Mexico. Second, Mexicans were considered to be foreigners from the United States. This is reflected in the glorification of the Texas Rangers who were considered a crucial element of border control. Mexican Americans were not considered part of the Nation but merely immigrants who wanted to benefit from the economic development of the region. As a result, the presence of Mexican Americans in Texas was seen by some Anglo-Americans as a violation of the border, which is ironic given that Mexicans were there long before the Anglo-Americans. This implies that Mexican-Americans were seen as people who had no place in the territory and were therefore considered undesirable. This construction of the Mexican as a foreigner was central to the association of Mexicans as a threat to the security of Anglo-Americans, as evidenced in the Ballad of Gregorio Cortez the association of several innocent people as belonging to the “Cortez gang”. Furthermore, treating Mexicans as second-class citizens or enemies provides the Texas Rangers with a moral justification for “enforcing” the law as they see fit. As a result, this cultural conflict has also fueled future border disputes.

Thus, through his academic study of the Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, Paredes provides crucial work on cultural conflicts in Texas. The story of Gregory Cortez could have been anyone’s story. This is why Mexican-Americans were able to identify themselves and translate the reality of conflict in this region into a ballad. Therefore, Paredes shows us that folklore is therefore a primary subject of study to understand the history of this region.

In chapter XXII of the Squatter and the Don, Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton reveals the purpose of her book: to instruct the readers. Indeed, it is stated at the beginning of this chapter that ” Biographies are intended, or should be, admonitory; to teach men by the example of the one helps up to view – be this is an example to followed or to be avoided “. While this book cannot be considered strictly as a biography because it is merely a fiction, it nonetheless contains several historical facts and has been largely inspired by the life of the author. It is therefore fair to admit that this book can be considered as a fictional biography. As a biography, its main purpose is not to entertain but to deliver lessons. If throughout the book several lessons are shared with the reader, the end of Squatter and Don reveals the real antagonist of the story and therefore its main “Moral”. On the one hand, if, after a long period of uncertainty, the Alamares and the Darrels are united by the marriage of their respective children, thus showing the possibility of building a nation despite the diversity of races. On the other hand, both families are victims of the selfishness and voracity of the managers of the Central Railroad Company. The hope of building a sustainable nation that includes and considers equally all these citizens regardless of their social or racial origin (at least the Spanish and Anglo-Saxons) is demolished by immorality. That is why I consider this book as a real plea urging the Americans to act ethically in all aspects of their lives in order to build a just society. As the author shows, this task is particularly incumbent on the powerful, but it is also a guiding principle in the lives of ordinary citizens.

To demonstrate my point, I will use the example of the “Business”, which is crucial to the plot of the novel. The author throughout the book but especially in the second part of the story develops a crucial division between “wild capitalism” and “moral capitalism”. The wild capitalism is represented mainly by Gasbang, its lawyer Roper, and the managers of the Central Railroad Company. The moral capitalism is represented by George, the Don and Clarence. The distinction between “wild” capitalism and “moral” capitalism is not the legality of actions but their ethical approach. In fact, all illegal actions are presented as immoral. The immorality of corruption is first represented by Roper, a corrupt lawyer. His immorality is first presented by his lack of humanity when he says: “If I can make any money by kicking him out of his house, don’t you suppose I’d do it”. The second element characterizing his immorality is his corrupt nature when he says: “you have the law, the equity, the money and the talent but I have the judge” (Chapter XXX, p.280). The immorality of corruption is also illustrated in chapter XXXI, when the author, referring to the conspiracy of the railway barons, states that “The aid was refused. The monopoly triumphed, bringing poverty and distress where peace might have been”. Nevertheless, even if Business is conducted legally, it can also be immoral according to the author. In fact, the actions of squatters are, at least at the beginning of the novel, totally legal because they use unfair laws as an opportunity to make money. However, their actions are guided by bad faith and hurt honest people, namely the Don’s family. Worse still, they harm the global economy and all Californians, as illustrated in Chapter 5, because their activities are not adapted to the country, which is a “gazing country” and not a country adapted to crops. Therefore, this “wild” capitalism is mainly driven by vanity, i.e. an action guided by a person’s self-satisfaction without taking into account the suffering involved by his activity. The actors of this immoral capitalism intentionally hurt people in order to improve their own satisfaction. On the other hand, moral capitalism is represented by George or Clarence who are true entrepreneurs, taking risks to make money. It is interesting to show that the family is omnipresent in the strategy employed by the two characters, which implies that a moral form of capitalism must lead to the prosperity and growth of the whole society and not of certain individuals. By contrasting these two forms of capitalism, the author shows the need to introduce morality into this new economic system. She shows that if morality is forgotten, it will lead to the improvement of the majority and the domination of a few powerful businessmen.

This is why Morality is the main link between capitalism, the nation, the people, the law, the democracy and love, at least in this novel.