There are two main themes that exist throughout Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton’s The Squatter and the Don. Those two main themes are introduced as ownership by means of litigation and selfish love. This particular novel takes place long after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was issued, which ended the Mexican-American War in 1848. The Squatter and the Don focuses on the treatment of Californios stemming from the California Land Act of 1851 and the railroad monopoly throughout California from 1872 until 1885. The novel revolves around the Alamar family, Californios that own a huge ranch in San Diego, and the Darrell family, who are Anglo-Americans that are squatting on the Alamar
