The second part of the Squatter and the Don brings certain misfortunes for the families residing on the San Diego county. The biggest of these misfortunes is the denial to construct the Texas Pacific Railroad. Indeed, this decision meant an important economic loss for the Alamar and the Mechlin families, who were expecting the approval of this construction for guaranteeing their economic future. Much of the thematic and conversations in this part of the book revolve around the construction of the railroad. Business and money are two topics that are continuously touched in this story as well. One of the reasons for which these families talk a lot about money and business is because all of them are considerably wealthy. They seek for the continuation of their business, and in so doing they relate to each other, marry each other and start new business together with the hope of increasing their earnings. However, the construction of the railroad also represents for all these families an incredible amount of inconveniences with the political and legal authorities in charge of such duties. Corruption, bribery, legal injustices, false promises, etc, are the kind of things they have to face in their attempt to get the railroad done. San Diego county is relegated as a place not worthy yet of trading or taking important commercial decisions.

Another important and prevalent theme in this second part of the story is honour. Honour is presented as a pivotal ingredient for the dignity of families and also for each of their individual members. For instance, we can see honour at play when Mr.Darrell get so furious with his son and his wife; once he discover they have paid Don Mariano for the land without his authorization. He got so angry he wanted to hurt Don Mariano; yet, he was unlucky and it was he the one who resulted harmed. All this was such a pain in his pride, that he suffered all this alone, denying himself the option to get love and care from his own wife. Moreover, we can also see how important is honour for Mercedes`mother, who advise her daughter that the most appropriate thing to do will be to postpone her marriage with Clearance, due to the atrocities Mr. Darrell has said about her. The squatters also try to conserve their honour by doing almost the impossible for acquiring the land of Don Mariano as of their own. When they feel threatened, they attack in order to maintain their honour. For example, Mathews usually shoots Don Mariano`s cattle, and he even shot George in a fit of anger.

These are the two topics I see recurrent in the second part of the book. Love, of course, still appears in the story together with all the legal matters; but these were topics I already talked about in the last blog.

Pamela Chavez.

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)

My name is Pamela Chavez, I am in my last term of a Political Science major and Sociology minor. I am from Ecuador and talking about Latin American literature is one of my passions. Personally, I don’t find myself an expert on this topic; however, I would love to learn more about it and explore more genres and topics inside Spanish literature. I hope to enjoy this course and the readings, as well as to learn together with the fellow students.