“Ramona” by Helen Hunt Jackson is a Must-Read

 

Biographical Sketch

 

Helen Hunt Jackson, born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830, is an author most well-known for her 1884 novel Ramona. In her early life, she grew up in a severe environment “of learning, religion, and decorum” (Ranta). But when Jackson’s parents died when she was a teenager, she was put under the care of her uncle. Soon after, she began attending the boarding school of John and Jacob Abbott (Ranta). She was a classmate of Emily Dickinson, which resulted in a lifelong friendship between the two writers (Ranta).

 

Jackson began her writing career with works of poetry. Her poetry was inspired by the death of her husband, Edward Bisell Hunt, and their two sons (Ranta). Her poetry is what first brought literary recognition to her name (Hart). Upon the marriage of her second husband, a businessman, Jackson had material to write more poetry while also expanding her work to include short stories, children’s books, magazine articles, and full-length novels, many of which were published under pseudonyms (Hart). One notable admirer of Jackson’s poetry was Ralph Waldo Emerson (Ranta).

 

Her novels about Native American life began with her interest in and advocacy for the rights of Native peoples. She is known to have attended a lecture led “by Ponca leader Standing Bear, protesting the removal of his peaceful tribe from their homeland” (Davidson). This interest led to research and the publication of her first book on behalf of Native American justice, A Century of Dishonor; this was also Jackson’s first book published under her own name (Davidson). Unfortunately, following her death, the book was out of print for many years (Ranta).

 

Jackson’s inspiration for writing Ramona stemmed from her lack of satisfaction with the effectiveness of her first book on Native American policy (Ranta). Her source for material in writing Ramona began with her gaining the role of a governmental agent sent to investigate the state of the Native Americans and the Spanish missions in southern California. She hoped the product of her endeavors would result in touching the pathos of the American people (Davidson). Again, unfortunately, another one of Jackson’s Native American books was not “as effective a propaganda piece as Jackson had hoped,” but rather it was received as a romance novel (Davidson).

 

Jackson experienced a hard fall in her home in Colorado Springs not long after the release of Ramona in 1884 (Ranta). She died in 1885 from stomach cancer and never got to witness the full impact of her writings, but her literary works still continue to challenge popular stereotypes of Native American people and their culture (Davidson).

 

Overview / Summary

 

Ramona tells the tale of the injustice Native Americans and Spanish settlers faced in the early 19th century under the rule of the United States government. The story is told in third-person omniscient through the life and hardships of the titular character, Ramona, an orphan girl of Scottish-Native American descent living in southern California. The first few years of Ramona’s life were spent under the care of an adoptive mother, Señora Ramona Ortegna, the young Ramona’s namesake. When Señora Ortegna dies, Ramona is placed in the care of her adoptive mother’s sister, Señora Gonzaga Moreno.

 

The main plot of the story begins under the roof of the strict but cheerful Spanish-Mexican Moreno household. Though Señora Moreno rules all, formally, the control of the Rancho estate resides in the hands of her son Felipe, whom she ardently adores. In fact, Felipe garners all of his mother’s love; Señora Moreno has no warm feelings towards Ramona due to her Native descent. Everyone else on the Rancho loves the beautiful Ramona, but Felipe most of all. His feelings vary from those of a brother and a lover. Ramona, unaware of her charms, is described thus: “Her face was sunny, she had a joyous voice and never was seen to pass a human being without a cheerful greeting, to the highest and lowest the same” (Jackson 67).

 

As the novel opens, Señora Moreno, being a devout Catholic, is awaiting the arrival of the priest, Father Salvierderra, for the Rancho’s yearly confession and worship. She wants to time this event so as to share her faith with the Native American sheep shearers hired and on their way from Temecula. The leader of the group is Alessandro Assís, a young man of honorable character raised and educated on a Spanish mission.

 

Immediately upon reaching the Moreno Rancho, Alessandro falls in love with Ramona. And after some confusion and ill feelings towards her friend Margarita and her behavior, Ramona reciprocates Alessandro’s feelings. In a fortunate turn of events led by Felipe’s sickness and the injury of the head ranch hand, Juan Canito, Alessandro is asked to stay and help for an extended period of time. Before long, Ramona and Alessandro confess their love for one another and are found out by Señora Moreno. She does not support a relationship between the young couple due to Alessandro’s ethnicity, despite Ramona sharing that same background.

 

Alessandro leaves the estate as commanded by Felipe, and Ramona becomes seriously ill over her distress at Alessandro’s absence. The destruction of his village and the death of his father keep Alessandro from returning. When he finally does make it to the Rancho, he and Ramona steal away to be married by a priest. Even Señora Moreno’s revelation of Ramona’s inherited wealth cannot dampen her passion for Alessandro. This is the start of their tragic life together.

 

The novel then details the troubles the young couple face in finding work and places to settle. For a while, they make friends, have a daughter, and live happily. Ramona never loses sight of her faith, but before many years can pass, Alessandro obsessively worries over their safety. They move often to escape the Americans who are unjustly taking Native lands. Through it all, their daughter dies, and this is the cause of great grief. Ramona gives birth to another baby girl, but Alessandro is not the man he used to be. With their small family hidden away in the mountains, Alessandro is given to fits of madness. It is during one of these fits that Alessandro’s accidental theft of an American’s horse leads to his murder. Ramona becomes sick with grief, and she and her daughter fall under the care of nearby Native villagers.

 

Felipe, with great love for Ramona, has been searching for her since she escaped in the night years before. He had been misled many times, but with the help of a Tennessee family, and friends of Ramona and Alessandro, Felipe finds Ramona and returns to the Moreno Rancho with her and her daughter. The Señora had died not long before, so Felipe decides to move to Mexico and ask Ramona to marry him. Realizing that she has always loved Felipe, she accepts. In Mexico, the new Moreno family finds themselves surrounded by friends. Felipe and Ramona have children together but they will always favor the daughter of Ramona and Alessandro.

 

Although a changed girl from the start of the book, Ramona still hears the birds sing the name Alessandro gave her: Majella.

 

“Alessandro’s Majel”: Identity and Romance in Ramona

 

In Helen Hunt Jackson’s novel Ramona, the titular character is raised on a Spanish ranch with a half-Scotch, half-Native bloodline. Accordingly, Ramona struggles to figure out where she belongs. She is referred to as a “half-breed” and is thus discriminated against by the woman that was meant to be a mother figure to her. Ramona, in choosing to marry Alessandro and live amongst the Natives, forsakes her Scottish background and Spanish upbringing. After leaving the Moreno estate, being Native is the only real identity that defines her. In choosing this identity for herself, Ramona humanizes the Native people in the eyes of the readers. She allows the readers to be better able to recognize the cruelty being inflicted on Natives as it is a stark contrast to her comfortable life in the Moreno household, a life she willingly rejects. But what’s more, Ramona’s and Alessandro’s identities are representative of all Native Americans, a point that Helen Hunt Jackson most consciously makes through the romanticization and dramatization of her story.

 

To begin, it is important to note that identity is influenced by many factors — location, upbringing, ethnicity, friends, experience, etc. — and has the capacity to change over time or in no time at all. Ramona’s sense of identity was never solidified growing up under Señora Moreno’s roof. She is an outsider taken in out of obligation. She doesn’t even know her own ancestry until she is grown and ready to leave her childhood home. So, with no foundation to hold on to, Ramona establishes her own identity as a Native American. Shortly after learning about her parents, Ramona, never having defied Señora Moreno in her life, stands firm in her argument with the Señora about her marrying Alessandro. She says, “‘And if I am an Indian, why do you object to my marrying Alessandro?’” (Jackson 159). This is the first time Ramona discovers who she is, and she does not waver in her pride of being Native for the rest of the novel. And then, when Ramona and Alessandro run off, but before being married by Father Gaspara, she is, in a few short days, already becoming more and more herself. In such a short time, sleeping and living out of doors feels right to her: “‘This seems to me the first home I have ever had. Is it because I am Indian, Alessandro, that it gives me such joy?’” (Jackson 229). Similarly, when meeting Aunt Ri and her family, Ramona tells them, “‘We are Indians’” (Jackson 298). She feels no shame in who she is and does not once identify herself as anything but a Native.

 

An argument could be made that, despite her claim to Native American origins, in continuing to practice the religion she was raised on, Ramona could still be classified as Spanish. While this is a valid point, staying true to the religion she learned from growing up with the Catholic Moreno family does not make her any less Native American. Alessandro too was raised Catholic on a Spanish mission and he is never considered anything but Native. Together, they create an altar for prayers at each of their homes. In one description of their house in San Pasquale, it is said that “The old San Luis Rey chairs and the raw-hide bedstead were there, and, most precious of all, the statuette of the Madonna… so that it finally came to be a sort of shrine for the whole village” (Jackson 267–268). Religion does not determine a person’s identity; Ramona, and every Native both in and out of San Pasquale, actively choose to hold to their values and not let cultural assimilation strip them of their sense of self. They hold to Catholicism without compromising any other parts of their culture.

 

Now that the main characters’ unwavering Nativeness is established, Jackson’s romanticization of their lives must be examined. There are many critics that firmly believe that, in Ramona becoming a wildly popular romance novel, the political message it held was diminished if not erased entirely. Kimberly Armstong is one such critic who claims Jackson’s reform message is hidden by the people’s interest in it as a book for pleasure reading (Armstrong 132). While Ramona may not have had the immediate effect that Jackson intended, there is no doubt that it had political sway. It is considered responsible for “influencing national legislative agendas and energizing activist organizations such as the Sequoya League and the Women’s National Indian Association” (Wagner 1). In fact, being a romance novel, the book was more widely read than Jackson’s previous protest essay, A Century of Dishonor. Ramona’s popularity can be attributed to the fact that it was sweeter and easier to digest for the majority of the audience, a fact that disproves the critics who do not view Ramona as an act of protest. Conversely, Robyn Gronning attributes the power of Ramona to its sentimentality: “One of the ways the sentimental novel achieves its power is through the use of emotive language and pathos” (Gronning 23). Evoking emotions is the way to spark reform, the very quality A Century of Dishonor lacked. The dichotomy between Natives and other Americans was challenged and there became a gradual removal of this dichotomy.

 

The romanticization found in sentimental novels is made even more powerful in Ramona with the dramatization of the Native American sufferings. All of the hardship that Ramona and Alessandro endure is heightened because their experiences are a culmination of every injustice that Jackson witnessed amongst the Native American tribes. John Byers sums up the concept of this symbolic representation of Ramona and Alessandro perfectly: “In their trials, they become the personification of all the unfortunate wards of the government… By placing the suffering on an individual basis… Mrs. Jackson has succeeded in making the action more intense and more condemnatory” (Byers 345). The full extent of the cruelty that Natives underwent is better able to be better realized by readers when the characters they have come to love suffer this very fate. Again, with the idea of a romance novel evoking emotions, so too are readers drawn into feeling connected to the characters. With lines like “The sunset beams played around her hair like a halo; the whole place was aglow with red light, and her face was kindled into transcendent beauty” it is impossible to not see these characters as beautiful people that one grows attached to and later sympathizes with (Jackson 80).

 

This emotional value is bound to grow stronger the further readers get into the novel; the more they read, the more devoted they become to the characters’ lives. This ultimately leads to the — arguably — most emotional scene in the entire novel: Alessandro’s bout of madness and subsequent death. Jackson writes his madness is a result of the state of constant worry and fear Alessandro has for the safety of his family, worry and fear that is directly caused by the increasingly cruel implementations of the United States government and racist Americans. Sympathy is evoked and a need for justice is brought out when readers see that “Ramona sat on the ground by Alessandro’s body, and held his hands in hers. There was nothing to be done for him. The first shot had been fatal, close to his heart” (Jackson 329). Alessandro’s brutal death at the hands of Jim Farrar, a man who was meant to hire Alessandro, goes to show that words have no significance if not supported by actions. The promises made by the government to not touch Native lands are made null when the destruction of their homes begins. Alessandro had to lose his mind and be murdered to emphasize to readers the terrible heights of the injustice endured. Readers grow to love Alessandro and Ramona throughout the novel, so his death is the closest thing they’d get to real heartbreak over Native Americans. Evoking real sympathy in Jackson’s contemporary audience was the first step in creating a desire to bring justice for all Native Americans in real life, outside of novels. In other words, the novel had to be a romance in order for the public to feel a connection to the characters that symbolize all Native people. This then allows readers to develop sympathy for Natives outside of novels and feel that the cruel treatment and destruction of their land is wrong.

 

In recapitulation, the dramatization and romanticization of Ramona was able to create an effective protest that appealed to human sympathies towards all Native injustice as evidenced by the collective symbolic identities of Ramona and Alessandro. If not for being a romance novel, Ramona is likely to have suffered the same fate as A Century of Dishonor; Ramona is all the more powerful because it is a romance.

 

Get your copy of Ramona here.

 

Works Cited

 

Armstrong, Kimberly E. “A Failed Uncle Tom’s Cabin for the Indian: Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona and the Power of Paratext.” Western American Literature, vol. 52, no. 2, University of Nebraska Press, 2017, pp. 129–156. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/wal.2017.0032. Accessed 28 Feb 2023.

Byers, John R. “The Indian Matter of Helen Hunt Jackson’s ‘Ramona’: From Fact to Fiction.” American Indian Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 4, University of Nebraska Press, 1975, pp. 331–46. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1183608. Accessed 28 Feb 2023.

Davidson, Cathy N., et al. “Jackson, Helen Hunt.” The Oxford Companion to Women’s Writing in the United States. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference, https://www-oxfordreference-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/display/10.1093/acref/9780195066081.001.0001/acref-9780195066081-e-0411?rskey=hlsUcF&result=412. Accessed 19 Feb 2023.

Gronning, Robyn. “Helen Hunt Jackson’s ‘Hobby’: The Sentimental Novel and Political Reform in the 19th-Century West.” Southwestern American Literature, vol. 23, no. 1, 1997, pp. 19–25.

Hart, J. D. “Jackson, Helen [Maria] Hunt.” The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1st ed. Oxford University Press, 2002. Oxford Reference, https://www-oxfordreference-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/display/10.1093/acref/9780195047714.001.0001/acref-9780195047714-e-1012. Accessed 19 Feb 2023.

Jackson, Helen Hunt. Ramona, edited by Siobhan Senier. Broadview Press, 2008.

Ranta, Taimi M. “Helen Hunt Jackson (15 October 1830–12 August 1885).” American Writers for Children Before 1900, Estes, Glenn E. Gale Research Co., 1985. https://go-gale-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T002&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=30&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=4&docId=GALE%7CHGGHAY102799957&docType=Biography&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=DLB-MAIN-ARCHIVE&prodId=DLBC&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CHGGHAY102799957&searchId=R1&userGroupName=psucic&inPS=true. Accessed 24 Feb 2023.

Wagner, Bryan. “Helen Hunt Jackson’s Errant Local Color.” Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory, vol. 58, no. 4, Regents of the University of Arizona, 2002, pp. 1–23, Project Muse, https://doi.org/10.1353/arq.2002.0009. Accessed 29 Mar 2023.