Within John Rollin Ridge’s work The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta the Celebrated California Bandit, the theme of race plays an important role. Various minorities are depicted and mentioned throughout this work. From Mexicans, Americans, Chinese, Native Americans, and even Germans, it is interesting to see the various ways each of these groups of people are depicted by the author John Rollin Ridge, who is half Native American and half white. Thorough this story, Ridge uses the theme of race to convey a hierarchy involving superiority and power by describing the actions and words of these races the way that he does. First, the Chinese within this work seem to be on the lowest rung of the hierarchical depiction of race within this story.
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In the article, “Minority Interaction in John Rollin Ridge’s the Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta” Peter G. Christensen says that:
Ridge seems to be mocking the Chinese through such phrases as “unconscious Celestials” and “by no means euphonious tongue.” Their opium use has not only rendered them incapable of fighting back, but also of perceiving clearly, since they mistake Jack for a devil. After they hand over twenty or thirty dollars, Jack cuts their throats against Murieta’s wishes. The Chinese are seen as rich men rather than a transplanted minority group which might also desire to resist white American exclusion and repression” (Christensen 64).
This passage says that the Chinese don’t fight back and are passive because of their drug use. While this may be the case, it is unlikely that the effects of opium is the sole case of the Chinese being taken advantage of throughout this text. As Christensen points out, Ridge mocks the Chinese by saying that they also lack a “euphonious tongue.” Thus, Ridge has inferred that the Chinese are cowards, drug users, and he does not like the way they speak. It seems as though Ridge was either trying to mock the way that the Chinese were viewed during this time period, or he was aware of a prejudice that Mexican immigrants had against those from other
In the article, “Minority Interaction in John Rollin Ridge’s the Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta” Peter G. Christensen says that:
Ridge seems to be mocking the Chinese through such phrases as “unconscious Celestials” and “by no means euphonious tongue.” Their opium use has not only rendered them incapable of fighting back, but also of perceiving clearly, since they mistake Jack for a devil. After they hand over twenty or thirty dollars, Jack cuts their throats against Murieta’s wishes. The Chinese are seen as rich men rather than a transplanted minority group which might also desire to resist white American exclusion and repression” (Christensen 64).
This passage says that the Chinese don’t fight back and are passive because of their drug use. While this may be the case, it is unlikely that the effects of opium is the sole case of the Chinese being taken advantage of throughout this text. As Christensen points out, Ridge mocks the Chinese by saying that they also lack a “euphonious tongue.” Thus, Ridge has inferred that the Chinese are cowards, drug users, and he does not like the way they speak. It seems as though Ridge was either trying to mock the way that the Chinese were viewed during this time period, or he was aware of a prejudice that Mexican immigrants had against those from other