The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murrieta Essay

The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murrieta - Essay Example This is the case with Joaquin Murieta who despite being a bandit is also depicted as being an honorable man as seen in the manner in which he shows acts of kindness especially for those people who are marginalized or poor in society. An incident where Murieta is shown being kind is where he demands that a ferryman ferries his gang across a river and give him all his money (Ridge 64 - 65). When Murrieta realizes that the ferryman only has a hundred dollars, he tells him to keep his money and pays him the full costs of ferrying the gang across the river. In this way, Murieta is shown to be a man sensitive to the plight of the poor, and it is likely that it is as a result of his having been raised in an environment of poverty which forced him to come north to California in order to make his fortune. The portrayal of Murieta, despite being a bandit, is one where he is depicted as being a very likeable individual as seen through the way that most individuals in the towns he ventures into do not consider him a threat. Instead, he is a man who is quite well liked with friend in almost all towns he visits who often warn him of anyone who is hunting him. It seems that it is as a result of the numerous friendships that he has developed all across California that Murieta is always a step ahead of those who hunt him. As a person who is considered to be a hero, he is constantly being protected by his friends in various towns who do not wish him to be captured. His likeable nature is part of the characteristics that make him a hero because despite living in banditry, he is an individual who seeks to always do the right thing at all times. Murieta is shown to be a man who has a very complicated personality in such a way that while he kills, he only does so in self-defense or in situations where he has suffered betrayal from people that he