In reading the first twenty chapters of The Squatter and the Don, I was confronted with two reoccurring themes. One was of an “us vs them” ideology, even within specific ethnic groups which escalated as the book progressed, and the second was the idea of love and friendship in spite of being of seemingly distinct backgrounds.

The divisive and often destructive mindset of “us vs them” begins early in the book, as Mr. and Mrs. Darrell are arguing over the morality of squatter laws, which we will see is a tremendously important issue. This continues as the squatters, while discussing their “lawful appropriation” of Don Mariano’s land, speak poorly about him, saying he has been lazily handling his land title, and that “Spaniards will never be businessmen”. These beliefs are said to normalize and endorse squatter laws, which in fact, are argued to be discriminatory themselves. The squatters, directed by vague and misleading law, believe land to be unsettled until proved good, which sponsors the appropriation of rich land in California predominantly held by families of Mexican decent. I found it interesting that in spite of the hardships faced by the Don because of haphazard laws, women do not have suffrage (as found in Chapter XIII). It’s upsetting that, even though The Squatter and the Don is a call to action for fixing biased laws, it glosses over that half of the population has quite literally no voice in legal society.

Despite the constant reaffirmation of in-group/out-group thinking, themes of both friendship and romance shine through the cracks of San Diego’s discriminatory beliefs and practices. In the first couple of chapters, we learn that the Don does not view squatters in an unsavoury way, but understands that they are simply “victims of a wrong legislation”. Furthermore, the generous Don offers to donate cattle to each squatter family in exchange for them to build fences around their property. The Don is amiable to all people, regardless of previous behaviour, and soon befriends Clarence, the son of Mr. Darrell. This proves that even though the inequalities of class and ethnicity yearn to divide, the power of companionship speaks louder than societal difference. Further supporting this is the romance of Clarence and Mercedes, whose profound love for one another sees Clarence abandon his home of San Diego (all be it for a short time) to be with his “Mercita”. These interactions, as insignificant as they may seem, demolish societal restrictions imposed on the divided people of 19th century America. It’s in Ruiz de Burton’s novel that we see these small relationships have cascading effects on simpatía y compasión irregardless of ethnic or political difference.

-Curtis, SPAN 322

The Squatter and the Don reflects two main dynamics that are developed according to the thread of the story. These dynamics are: love and the law.

The story begins by talking about the Darrell family, and how Mr. and Mrs. Darrell fell in love and later on get married. However, immediately after introducing the love story, political matters, specifically those related to the legal system, come to the story as well. The story then begins to refers us in a more historic way to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and how this phenomenon represented a concern for the negotiations and economy of the Darrell family. As the story continues, we find more characters such as the Alamar family. The book portrays them as a  family full of color and live, and optimistic; despite the fact they have lost many of their cattle as a consequence of the economic, political and  legal constraints of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Later on, we see how the characters become more and more interrelated between each other, and specifically we come to center our attention to the romance between Clearance (son of the Darrell family) and Mercedes (daughter of the Alamar family). It is as if the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo has come to join this two families for a reason. Or, we can see it as a way in which these characters use the legal and political issues around them to forge their own love stories. Or is it that love comes out of nothing but destiny?

The book certainly plays a lot with these two dynamics around the story. We see how romance  is usually intertwined with the law issues that both families have to handle due to the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty.  We also see how these legal issues become problematic for the lives of both families, interfering in their economy and in their love life. These complex legal problems even come to impose a label on each family, accordingly to how each one relates to the Treaty. In other words, one is the Squatter and other is the Don.

This complex ambivalence and shifts between the dynamics of love and the law, even makes  look this story as in the border between fantasy and reality; being fantasy more in accordance with the love dynamic, and reality more related with the law one.

Pamela Chavez (19417161)

I found the first half of this book really intriguing!  Upon reading the first few pages, I was unsure of how/when the relationship between the squatter and the Don would be established, or if there would even be one. In these first few pages, we see the word “squatter” appear various times, and its meaning is heavily focused on.  For example, Mr. Darell says, “I am still poor, all I have earned is the name ‘Squatter’. That pretty name (which I hate because you despise it) is what I have earned” (5). His wife replies: “That’s exactly it. We aren’t squatters. We are ‘settlers’. We take up land that belongs to us, American citizens, by paying the government price for it.” (5).  This was the first comparison of the two that I noticed, but I soon realized that these two would be compared throughout the first half of the novel. For example, on page 55 the narrator describes an anticipated future encounter between Clarence and Mercedes: “what would she think of him, believing him a “squatter”, one who came to take land that did not belong to him?” (55).  It’s interesting here that the narrator is putting this thought in our heads, before it’s even happened. I’ve noticed that that the narrator’s voice in this novel is very evident and impactful, and at times it seems that we can clearly see the author’s voice through the narration. Is what the narrator says true? Is Clarence taking something that doesn’t belong to him (like Mercedes)? The romantic aspect of this novel is very interesting, but also quite typical; for example, these two lovers must navigate through obstacles, in this case, specifically political and economical obstacles.  

I noticed very soon into the novel that the law plays an extremely important role; it’s almost as if the law is the most powerful “character” in this novel – it is referenced by the characters numerous times as it seems to influence their thoughts and actions, and their understanding of how processes (like the purchasing land) in their community are meant to be carried out. The law is viewed by the characters as holding the every answer as to what is right and wrong, for example: “This is what I call business / and all inside of the law.  That is the beauty of it – all perfectly lawful” (27). The narrator then describes a land deal and says: “All would be done ‘according to the law’, and in this easy way, more land was taken from its legitimate owner” (27). It’s interesting here that again we hear the narrator’s voice; she describes the process as “easy”. Later on the same page, there is another reference to a “lawful” appropriation, and the word “lawful” is in italics. Interestingly, the narrator often puts words relating to the law in quotations or italics, as if she is drawing specific attention to it, perhaps to question it.  We also clearly see the narrator’s voice in the following sentence: “Now only tears flowed; silent tears of helpless discouragement; of a presentiment of impeding desolation” (27). Here the narrator is claiming that although now there is no bloodshed due to land issues, there still remains tears. In my opinion, the author’s voice is clearly expressed here, as if she is expressing a strong personal connection. 

The chapter titles also caught my attention; they are so simple and direct, yet they serve as a perfect summaries of the chapters, even with just a few words.