Mexican-American Relations

Race relations between Mexicans and Americans was hot topic of conversation during the nineteenth century. With the Mexican-American War going on during this time relations between the United States and Mexico were tense. Due to the tension between both countries, Americans developed the impression that Mexican people were savage criminals that wanted to kill American and take over the United States. This concept of Mexican people and Mexican culture can be seen in most of the literature of the time. Authors conceptualized this impression and illustrated it through their writing. An example of this is the narrative, “’Bel of Prairie Eden” by George Lippard. “’Bel of Prairie Eden” demonstrates the horrible image and opinion Americans, and Lippard …show more content…
The way in which Lippard describes the American characters in the story illustrates how Americans saw themselves during this time. Lippard portrays Americans in the story as compassionate and pure people. For example, when Lippard is describing Isabel he says, “She was indeed one of the women, whom we call “queenly,” especially in case our knowledge of queens is limited.” (Lippard) This illustrates that Americans saw themselves as majestic almost divine people. In addition, the way in which John is depicted in the story shows that American saw themselves as strong and brave people. For instance, when John is described in the story it says, “John, aged twenty-one, was a man of stalwart, yet graceful proportions, with a dark-brown visage, strongly marked with aquiline features, and shadowed by dark hair and beard.” (Lippard). The way in Lippard portrays Americans in “’Bel of Prairie Eden” demonstrates the effect the Mexican-American War had on American citizens and how they viewed …show more content…
During the course of the story the relations between Mexicans and Americans go from tense to hostile. This can be seen through the relations between John and Don Antonio. For example, in the beginning John and Don Antonio have a strained relationship because of what happened between Don Antonio and John’s father in Philadelphia. As the story goes on the relationship between Don Antonio becomes more and more strained to the point of hostility and John ends up killing Don Antonio. The relations between Americans and Mexicans worsen in the story because of the events that occur. For example, John experiences the rape of his sister Isabel and the deaths of his father and his brother Harry. The changes in race relations are also manifested the characters in the story. The events the characters encounter cause them to change and become completely different people. Throughout the narrative the race relations between Mexicans and Americans experience a radical shift and become hostile because of the events that the characters