Ramona By Helen Hunt Jackson

The American writer Helen Hunt Jackson was a far-sighted woman , who fought against racism and discrimination long before these terms actually came into use . She became an activist for the Native Americans or the so-called Mission Indians in California as early as the second half of the nineteenth century and , at the same time , she began writing for their cause , attempting to militate trough her essays and novels for their rights as human beings . Her writing , even when it takes the form of a romance , can be defined as political because Jackson actively

br endeavored to put a stop to the Indian genocide and to awaken the American consciousness to the terrible encroachment of human rights that they were carrying out in their expansionist policy . Helen Hunt Jackson 's main attack was against the United States policy of expansion which was adopted by the democrats around the middle of the nineteenth century and which was summarized with the famous phrase Manifest Destiny . According to this expansionist theory , the Americans ' gradual expansion towards the South and the constant pushing of the frontier farther into the Indian lands was something at once manifest ,that is evident , and fated or pre-established . The right of the Indians over the land of which they were the first inhabitants was never taken into consideration by this policy . Thus , with an unwonted insight for that time , Jackson essayed to persuade the Americans of the injustice of their actions through her books

As such , the novels of the American author go beyond the dramatic truth and acquire a significant historical value . As Jackson herself states Every word of the Indian history in Ramona is literally true ' that is , although she contextualized the historical facts in a romance , the basic story line , regarding the destruction of the Indian villages and murder of the Indians , is true . As Jackson herself retaliated at her husband 's remark that she was a woman , and consequently could not be a good judge of the United States policy , the injustice against the Indians was more than obvious through the many broken treatises and through the massacres ed by the American government

[ .]because I am not able - as I most certainly am not , - to outline . a detailed system for the management of 220 ,000 Indians - is there any reason why I should not be qualified to protest against broken treaties - cruel massacres - unjust laws . A woman does not need to be a statesman to know that it is base to break promises - to oppress the helpless

Before writing Ramona , Jackson had written an essay entitled A Century of Dishonour in which she tried to unmask the Americans ' aggressiveness against the Indians , deftly repeating the words of the United States Constitution which spoke of the essential human rights `life , liberty and the pursuit of happiness . The author demonstrated that , in the treatment of the Indians , the constitution was not respected

Cheating , robbing , breaking promises-these three are clearly things which must cease to be done . One...