An Essay about Ramona: a novel about miscegenation's implications
Though Ramona’s story is the one still told today, a sort of Uncle Tom’s Cabin for Indians, her family’s history is important to know in order to understand Ramona herself. The older sister of the novel’s Señora Moreno had an admirer in Angus Phail when the Señora herself was a young girl. The Scotsman finally persuaded Ramona Gonzaga to be his wife, but before the ceremony, he had to sail to San Blas while she visited the city of Monterey. There, she met and almost eight months later married an officer of “the Monterey Presidio”(25). Obviously heartbroken, Angus Phail tried to console himself by spending away his fortune on liquor and also on things worse than liquor. He eventually came to live with an Indian woman, and 25 years after Ramona Gonzaga’s marriage to the officer (a childless marriage), Phail reappeared in her life with a child of his own. He asked her to “bring it up as a child of yours, or of mine, ought to be brought up”(27). She agreed to do so and the two never saw each other again. A year later, Angus died, leaving the last of his fortune to his daughter (named after Ramona Gonzaga) which consisted of some priceless jewels. Then a few years later, Ramona Gonzaga died, and she had her sister, the Señora Moreno, adopt Ramona. So the adoption of Ramona from her sister, who’d taken care of the child given to her by Angus Phail, landed a half-Scottish, half-Indian girl into the Moreno home. Something important to mention, though, was that though she was half-Indian, it didn’t mean that she was half-Native-American. In Ramona, the author’s “Indians” were actually of Mexican descent, not Native-American. The author’s use of the word “Indian” when they were actually of Mexican nationality shows the many ways in which race, nationality, ethnicity, and citizenship were confused and crossed during the 19th century. So Ramona was half-European and half-Mexican. The Señora Moreno and her son, Felipe, were criollos: of European descant but born in the Americas.
Before we get to how Ramona’s tale ends, one other thing must be discussed because it is an important part of how the book proceeds. The Moreno family, including Ramona, and the Indians that worked on the estate during sheep shearing were Catholic. H.H. Jackson strongly suggests that the Mission period had been an ideal way of life for southern California by incorporating certain scenes within the book that showed characterizations of the Mission period. After the secularization of the Catholic churches and missions, much of the land was taken over by the criollos (so the Moreno estate was comprised of land that used to belong to the Church, and many of the local mission’s religious relics were given to Señora Moreno to protect them). By the time the story begins, Señora Moreno has lost most of her land to the Land Commission.
Jackson suggests to the reader in many ways that the Mission period was the ideal. One such suggestion is the scene where work (sheep shearing) was put off until the Father arrived to hold mass for the temporary Indian workers: “the sheep-shearing would better be deferred until the arrival of Father Salvierderra”(11). Putting off work for the Father’s arrival connects religion and work, a characteristic of the Mission period, when the churches’ vast land grants were worked by converted Indians. Also, the reader can observe that Señora Moreno’s desire to put off work until Father Salvierderra’s arrival shows that she herself tried to continue the ideal of mission life on her own estate. Speaking of Father Salvierderra, his name in English roughly translates to “save land.” This also connects the author’s persistence in the concept that the Mission period was ideal. The Father’s name suggests that only the Church can save the land, from who is anyone’s guess. The main point to make, though, is that this is a solid connection, even though the Church by then couldn’t save the land from being taken. The fact that the Church would perhaps use the land better is a good way to think of it. So in a way, Jackson wanted that the Father’s name suggest how the Mission period was ideal since the Church used the land in a better way before secularization.
Sadly in the end, Alessandro lost his mind and eventually found himself in a bad situation. During a “fit,” he accidentally rode home on the wrong horse (showing to all involved later that he couldn’t have stolen the horse on purpose if he left his own behind). “He was wholly irresponsible”(322). However, the owner of the horse rode up to the small cabin where Ramona and Alessandro lived with their second child, and killed Alessandro before he could explain his actions. To say that Ramona loved Alessandro would be an understatement, so his death was an enormous blow to her (and to me, too!). She was saved, though, by her foster-brother, Felipe, and after he declared his love to her and asked her to be his wife, she hesitantly did so, and they both left the US territory to live in Mexico. She had two reasons for being hesitant. One, she never did feel anything but sisterly love for him. Felipe adamantly asserted that he “would rather die”(360) than be a brother to her, and Ramona for the first time saw the way life must have been for him after learning of his more than brotherly affection for her. This marriage between siblings is a well-recognized allusion to Adam and Eve and also as an allegory of the tie between sibling nations. But before Ramona said yes, she threw out a disclaimer: “You could not want me for your wife, Felipe, when part of me is dead”(361)! Felipe sort of brushed this aside, so beside himself by joy to carefully consider her words, but they married and lived in Mexico for the rest of their lives with their sons, daughters, and Ramona’s only child by Alessandro, whom both love greatly.
It’s a bittersweet ending, but more than that, allegorical as well! As stated above, there’s the allegory of marriage between brother and sister (though Felipe and Ramona were not related by blood, the connection can still be made). As far as Ramona’s statement about part of her being dead, I can believe that, and explain how this affected the novel’s end. Alessandro’s part of her died when he did, and so the part of her that is European can only be happy with other Europeans, rather than with other Indians. Another way the hybrid of Ramona’s ethnicity can be explained allegorically is that the blending of cultures represented by Ramona shows what an ideal solution should be. However, H.H. Jackson suggests that the blending solution would be rejected by the United States in that the author has Ramona desire to live in Mexico, rather than the US, as if that country had rejected her.
Finally, as is key in all 19th century literature, perspective is important. H.H. Jackson was a white American writing for other white Americans. She had become inspired to write this novel because of the accounts of an Indian chief, Standing Bear (among others). These accounts so shocked her morality that she took up the Indian cause. The fact that she is white and writing the novel for whites is very important, though. This is why Ramona must be a hybrid, else the whites of the 19th century would not even consider allowing the romance between an Indian, Alessandro, and a woman of European descent. Miscegenation was extremely taboo in the 19th century (and sort of still is). The reader can therefore understand the reason for Ramona’s complicated background (nationality, ethnicity, race, and citizenship) because it was done so that white readers could accept the romance between her and Alessandro in order to bring to light the plight of Indians under US law.
--K. Wheatley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Click to return to the previous page.
Get A Free Homepage! | 