One of the most obvious points to notice in both Didion’s Where I was From and Ortiz’s From Sand Creek is the sense of deception that both experienced about the places and land that they came from or migrated to. What was supposed to be a positive and enticing quality of the locations only became somewhat of a disappointment or let down based on what both authors express in their messages of their novels. While Didion’s perspective was from her European heritage and ancestors who moved westward under extremely difficult and risky terms, Ortiz’s perspective was from the position of being the original inhabitants that were raped and tortured by the Europeans who continued to move further westward. While Didion’s focus is on the land of California, Ortiz’s focus was on the overall land of the America’s but more specifically the slaughtering of the Native Americans at Sand Creek.
Joan Didion
The challenge for Didion about the information she gathered on her ancestral history and experiences were the sense of obligation she felt she owed to those who came before her, yet she felt there was a degree of California being a false promise to all who headed west. As a native of California, she grew up knowing only what she saw and experienced of the state and as she began to get older the flaws become a point of contention for her and how she viewed the state that she called home. Instead of this land of free-thinkers and the idealistic life surrounded by the beautiful scenic landscape, Didion saw the state becoming a state where the Federal government was giving handouts to the people, while private businessmen took advantage of these government loans to become richer. Not only to become richer without draining their own funds, but with the use of government funding.
Her disappointment with the direction California has taken with the building of private prisons, mass incarceration, and all the social welfare issues that she saw arise. This is the point in her adult years that she began to relate to the California dream as a façade of lies that was nothing like what many imagined, and that those living and moving to California was doing it under false delusional. A clear sense of discontent is expressed by Didion in the involvement of the federal government and corporate greed that ultimately overtook the great dreams that California had presented its earliest settlers.
Didion’s attention was diverted to the many problems that California saw increasing as the population grew dramatically with people running west to this dreamland that was nothing like what people imagined. Instead, lots of immigrants making menial wages; a high number of mental patients in asylums, which eventually transferred to the prison system that currently still is growing rampantly; excess crime as a result of the lack of employment opportunities that have come to be through the closing of many major Department of Defense company closures. Overall, throughout the essays she voices a strong sense of disapproval of her home state of California that she should be obligated to considering the suffrage of her ancestors to pursue what they could upon their arrival in the earlier period of history. Many would say she is seeing the landscape of California through entirely negative and overly critical lenses.
Simon Ortiz
Whereas Didion expressed her sentiment of her land with staunch frustration about the reality versus the dream that California was and maybe continue to be for so many who decide to move west; Ortiz’s experience of his land was entirely different. His disappointment was imbedded in the way the European settlers robbed the Natives of the abundance of natural resources that were being taken care of under the ruler ship of the Natives. From Ortiz’s perspective, the beautiful land they loved was torn from them with a cost so severe to the lives of those living in Sand Creek. Sand Creek was the location of one of the worst slayings of the Natives by the European settlers who were moving further and further inland to claim new territory. This land was home to the natives and was beloved by them and taken care of by them, only to be brutally ripped apart from their homes as a result of the colonization.
Ortiz’s association with his ancestry and land is one of great sadness, turmoil and loss; whereas Didion’s approach was more so based on feeling lied to by the larger majority who sold settlers a false dream. Obviously the situations of each writer and their relationship to the land and ancestors differed dramatically considering Ortiz’s people had no choice and were victims of these vicious attacks and thievery of property. For Ortiz, the discussion and ideas on From Sand Creek are a painful part of history about his people that brings forth great upset. It is as if he cannot escape the early fate of his ancestors and what devastation was brought unto them at the hands of the greedy settlers who were unwilling to compromise as the Natives were used to.
Even the evidence of his own condition of being in the VA hospital for treatment of alcoholism is evidence of the mark the history of the settlers has made on his own life. It is as if the Natives are strangers in their own land with a shortage of opportunity and places to reach the potential that the white Europeans have continued to dominate. The hurt and remorse in Ortiz’s writings is very deep and personal because of the catastrophic outcome that has resulted for the Native American people since the entry of the settlers who colonized the entire continent leaving only small bits of land for the original people. The original natives that had so much respect and honor for their land that the settlers lacked value of by using up natural resources to expand into an industrialized nation down the road.
Conclusion
Each of these authors, Didion and Ortiz, have a very unique tale to tell of land, history, and ancestors that is seen from two entirely different perspectives and experiences. Although a connection exists in how Didion’s ancestors were the settlers who brought great harm to the Natives as they moved westward. Didion’s stance seems a bit arrogant and overly critical of her complaints about California when examining the concerns Ortiz presents about the land he loves. Didion by no means faced any semblance of victimization through the choices made by her ancestors to migrate to the west. However, Ortiz’s experience of what happened to the land of his ancestors is something that continues to haunt the quality of his life even today, hundreds of years later. Reviewing both authors books brought interesting insight and perspective into the expansive history that exists in America from the earliest period up to modern day 21st century life. The quality of the authors expression of their experience and opinions helps the readers to become educated about these matters from an inside look into the results it has had on people on all sides of the spectrum. In concluding this paper I cannot help but to feel no sympathy for Didion while feeling great sadness for Ortiz.
Works Cited
Didion, Joan. Where I Was from. New York: Knopf, 2003. Print.
Ortiz, Simon J. From Sand Creek: Rising in This Heart Which Is Our America. New York, NY:
Thunder's Mouth, 1981. Print.
