Irony in Ruiz de Burton

Gustavo Quintero
English 48B
February 14, 2008
Journal #22 Ruiz de Burton


Quote:
"Only let us out in time to bring the milch cows home,before night comes on,'said old Miller,dryly.
'Exactly , we want to look after our cows, too'"(Ruiz de Burton 95).



Summary:
The newly granted land owners have come to the estate of Don Mariano to discuss the the land and cattle situation.


Response:
The new landowners have just acquired new land from Mexico and they have come to Don Mariano's estate to tell him to get out of the cattle business. The irony is how the landowners are complaining about the cattle yet they are so worried about bringing their cattle back to their pasture before it is to late. This helped shape the publics opinion by showing just how unlogical the demands of the new land owners were. It also played into the emotions of the public opinion by showing how demanding the new land owners were to the current land owners. After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo much of Mexico's land was given to the government of America. Here is where the problem lay, you were expecting people who had been living on and working the land for hundreds of years to give up land that was their's overnight. I can just imagine just how much of a issue this must of caused. Of course public opinion did not care about the Spanish and Mexican landowners, public opinion expected the Spanish and Mexican's to hand over the land unconditionally. What Ruiz de Burton did to sway public opinion was to point out the ironies and hypocrisies of the white people. In the above quote the white people have come to complain to Don Mariano abou t how his cattle have destroyed their crop.At the same time they are so worried about their cattle. You can not have it both ways. Either you want to raise cattle or you want to raise grain( which is what they propose Don Mariano does). Their is also another big irony that I forgot to point put, Don Mariano proposes they grow fruit bearing trees and plants instead of grain but the white's are so stuck on growing grains. Don Mariano proves to be the smarter of the three because the county of San Diego later in the states life becomes known for an excellent place to grow oranges and grapes just as Don Mariano had suggested.