SOURCE: "I Am Joaquin!: Space and Freedom in Yellow Bird's The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, The Celebrated California Bandit," in Early Native American Writing: New Critical Essays, edited by Helen Jaskoski, Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 104-21.

In the following essay, Lowe examines Ridge's depiction of the relationship between space and identity in Joaquin Murieta.

Christopher Newman, that quintessential American abroad, opens Henry James's The American by occupying a huge circular divan at the Louvre; he sits, spreads his arms and legs, and fills up all the space he possibly can. He is, of course, from the West (where else?), where his prodigious energy and WASP identity have given him direct access to the American dream. A French aristocrat quite rightly nominates him for the title of "Duke of California."

The word "California" has always had a certain poetic resonance for Americans, partly because of the state's...