"the land belongs to those who own it, work it or use it. Or no one."

Ok, so this is my first blog ever, just a heads up. Also the page numbers are from the 1^st edition of the book, sorry!

I’ve been reading a whole lot more about history lately than ever before. Belonging to the Land appealed to the blooming history fanatic in me; how different groups of people (different races, age-groups, genders, etc.) experience the same moments, decades, eras fascinates me.  The relationship between Masumoto and his companion Jessie described “In the Sixth Grade” sets the stage for a comparative piece; what is the reality of living as a Japanese American compared to life as a Mexican American in a small farming community? What about a landowner or a seasonal worker? How do these experiences intertwine? Has life always been this way? Masumoto keeps in the background of this piece what feels to me to be a scale, measuring how fair this land, that these two peoples both try to call home, will be and to whom. “We were supposed to be on opposite sides, even though we both sweated and itched the same each summer as we picked peaches in one-hundred-degree heat.” (p. 199). The idea of how the land affects both of these families lively-hoods and perception of the other illustrates the differences between the experiences of being a landowner or a land worker “wasn’t nature supposed to be fair and Democratic? I wonder what they have told Jessie since the sixth grade when we cheated together, and what stories we have left behind.” (p.199). It makes me wonder; while the landowners may have the deed to the property, the profits and the power to hire or let go of workers; who really is in control?

Nature again shows that it has the final word while Masumoto tells his families history of farming. He recalls his grandparents attempt to control nature by purchasing land and thus “…controlling one’s destiny.” (p.200).  Yet we have already seen in his first passage that nature is not controllable, and perhaps that’s what truly forms your destiny. While his family moved from place to place, their place in society as land workers followed them, and became their identity. This reminds me of how Jessie’s family is treated and thought of by society. When Masumoto speaks of his father showing him human nature I wonder if it is human nature for one group of people to improve their place in the world and then feel as though someone else most now feel how they suffered. Is that why we see a system of Japanese American landowners and Mexican American land workers that is similar to what is described as the struggles faced by Masumoto’s own family to obtain land, and also respect? With owning a piece of land comes a place for you and your family. You are no longer just a seasonal guest. But finding your place can be difficult. Weather as a farmer, an immigrant or anything really. There’s discrimination, people don’t want you to settle in and become part of a place; there’s fear that you will take someone else’s place, or impose your way of doing things on everyone who’s already there. There’s draughts, and floods and earthquakes that keep you from settling in; that rip from under you that foundation you’ve begun to take for granted. “Dad grew angry. He felt that at least nature-bad weather, spring frosts, hail storms, rain on the raisins-was democratic. It didn’t matter the color of your skin or your religion or where your family came from. But human nature was worse, it left scars that would not heal.” (p.204), this was my favorite passage from this text. I felt it summed up a universal feeling of unfairness. How no matter what your history is, what your social standing is, human nature can tear you down just as easily as the furry of a storm can lead a tree crash into your own shelter and leave you exposed to the elements, suddenly without a place to feel safe.

I felt that the epigraph was an amazing was to start this story. When I first read it, I didn’t feel how deep it ran. I read it on print level so to speak. After reading the piece I went back and read it again. Upon rereading I felt it spoke to me not only specifically about this piece, but also about nature in general and how hard some people try to control it or use it to make other people feel insignificant. You can control nearly every aspect of a person’s life if you can control nature, but you can’t control nature. I read recently that in China they have a weather machine that will make it rain two or three days before a big event to make sure the weather is clear on the big day, of course there’s no guarantee it will work, and often it doesn’t. I see similarities in trying to reach this level of control with how non-whites were not allowed to buy land; it’s all about control and showing who is dominant.  We all either own, work or use the land in one way or another, but very few of us claim to control it; because we don’t have the fear that something or someone is trying to snatch it away from us, that our place is in jeopardy.