Ramona

Helen Hunt Jackson's novel Ramona, published in 1884, was intended to arouse the nation's interest in the plight of California Indians using literary, melodramatic adaptations of actual events, such as the shooting of a Cahuilla Indian in the same fashion as Alessandro in the novel. Ms. Jackson was attempting to write "a story which will be a good stroke for the Indians." Very accelerated growth of the state of California was a key factor in the continuing marginalization of the mission Indians during the time in which the book had been written. Romance is used as a device to drive the story of Ramona, a 19 year old girl of Indian and Scottish descent who falls in love with Alessandro, an Indian shepherd. Using a fictional love story to set the tone for her book allows the author to reach a broader audience than if it were written in a preachy, politically polarized style. Ramona became a bestseller in 1884, many literary critics at the time focused only on the romantic story line and not the progressive message of reform.
Incorporated into Ms. Jackson's novel are her own personal feelings about the lack of a real social movement to combat these injustices at the time. Michael Dorris writes "[Jackson] incorporated in her own work not only the Southern California locales of her recent experience, but many of the names, events, and specific occurrences she had witnessed and heard about. Though Helen once stated that much of her best plots came from her dreams, much of the crucial action in "Ramona" was taken whole from real life." "Throughout Ramona, Mrs. Jackson reflects, consciously and unconsciously, various attitudes prevalent in her day towards Indians" "Felipe grew wretched as his fancy dwelt on the picture of Ramona's future. He had been in the Temecula village…it was incredible that a girl reared as Ramona had been, could for a moment contemplate leading the life of a poor laboring man's wife." With the knowledge she is adopted, though