The Squatter And The Don Analysis

The Squatter and the Don is a fictional novel that depicts the experiences of Americans and Spanish people in California following the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo and the legalisation of squatting on ‘vacant lands’. This paper will focus on the ways the passage “Come, let us show...despoiled, forgotten.” (Burton 81) is important in the larger context of the book and to society at the time it was written. This will be done by analysing the various literary techniques the author employed and their impact on readers. This passage is situated just after Clarence arrives in Southern California and is asked to request the attendance of the squatters at a meeting with Don Mariano.

The passage uses symbolism to highlight the characteristics, beliefs and emotions of different people/groups etc in the novel. Mrs. Romeo Hancock, representative of squatters, “guided them to a little cave under a large oak” The “large oak” symbolises the United States of America, and the “little cave” is the land occupied by the squatters. This can be linked back to Mrs. Darrells sentiment, “I shall never be able to see the necessity of any one being a squatter in this blessed country of plentiful broad acres, which a most liberal
This could also be a reference to the Alamars being outnumbered on their rancho, rendering them helpless and dependent on US law for their hold on their land. The bells are not visible and their sound comes from the oak tree, similarly the Spanish population is practically silenced as the US government took over their land and left them powerless as Americans squatted on their lands. The Spanish”must henceforth wander off disinherited, despoiled,