Who Would Have Thought it?

Fiction. Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton’s WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT? (1872) is a historical romance which engages the dominant myths about nationality, race and gender prevalent in society in the United States prior to and during the Civil War. The narrative follows a young Mexican girl as she is delivered from Indian captivity in the Southwest and comes to live in the household of a New England family. Culture and perspectives on national history and identity clash as the novel criticizes the dominant society’s opportunism and hypocrisy, and indicts northern racism.