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1835 Earthquake
"I was on shore & lying down in the wood to rest myself. It came on suddenly & lasted two minutes (but appeared much longer). The rocking was most sensible; the undulation appeared both to me & my servant to travel from due East.”
“A series of minor temblors, which came like God’s wrath, finished destroying everything.” (Allende 39)
Allende uses vivid language to describe to the horror felt during the earthquake. http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/01/vanwyhe.quake.chile.darwin/index.html -
The Chilean Silver Rush
“Between 1830 and 1850 Chilean silver mining grew at an unprecedented pace which transformed mining into one of the country's principal sources of wealth. The rush caused rapid demographic, infrastructural, and economic expansion in the semi-arid Norte Chico mountains where the silver deposits lay.”
“Rich veins of silver and gold were discovered in the north”(Allende 65).
Allende calls back to real events that happened to tell her own story. https://dbpedia.org/page/Chilean_silver_rush -
Opium War 1839 - 1842
“The Opium War arose from China’s attempts to suppress the opium trade” (Britannica)- Foreign traders had been illegally exporting opium mainly from India to China and China tried to suppress the exporting of opium
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Chileans Come to California
”Perez Rosales was 41 years old when he sailed for California on December 28, 1848”(American Experience) “Added to the five Chilean miners they had brought with them at the end of 1848 were eighty peasants”” (289) Chileans came to California in 1848 to mine gold and others that were not involved before began to take part.
Allende used comparison between this event and put her own twist on it. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
”This treaty, signed on February 2, 1848, ended the war between the United States and Mexico” (national archives) ”The yellow pellet that unleashed the madness was found nine days after the war between Mexico and the United States had ended with the signing of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo” (145) After the treaty was signed gold was discovered. -
Gold Rush Miners 1848 - 1849
“Thus the hounds had perpetrated many outrages before public indignation was fully aroused. These were directed chiefly against foreigners — Chileans, Peruvians, and Mexicans.”- The “Hounds” were a group that caused trouble to other people especially foreigners
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Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill
- "In 1848, James W. Marshall found shining flecks of gold in the tailrace of the sawmill he was building in partnership with John Sutter." (parks.ca.gov)
- "In January of that year, near the mill of a Swiss farmer on the banks of the American River, a man by the name of Marshall had found a scale of gold in the water." (120).
- Allende nonchalantly slips Marshall’s name into the sentence, indicating how he wasn’t really an important person back then, even though he’s a historical figure now.
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Period: to
The Gold Rush
- "As news spread of the discovery, thousands of prospective gold miners traveled by sea or over land to San Francisco and the surrounding area…" (history.com)
- “By that time there were more than a hundred thousand argonauts in California, and more kept arriving, scattered all through the mother lode, turning the world upside down, moving mountains, diverting rivers, destroying forests…” (329)
- Allende uses repetition of phrases to emphasize the destructive nature of the argonauts.
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California enters the Union
- "California became the 31st state on September 9, 1850." (parks.ca.gov)
- “In September of 1850, Tao was present at the noisy patriotic celebration when California became the newest state in the union.” (318)
- Allende uses descriptive adjectives to highlight the excitement that California’s statehood was greeted with.
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Joaquín Murrieta is killed
- "A team of California rangers, led by Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff Harry Love attacked an outlaw camp in the early morning hours of July 25, 1853, killing eight men—Murrieta allegedly among them." (history.com)
- "The next day Tao Chi'en went out early to buy a newspaper, as he always did before opening the office, and was met with a six-column headline: Joaquín Murieta had been killed." (396)
- By not giving any buildup to the event, Allende makes Murrieta’s death feel sudden and surprising.