Reading Notes W7 The Californians (Atherton), Part A

This chapter of The Californians by Gertrude Atherton begins by introducing us to Magdalnéna, who feels miserable and discouraged in the current situation she is in. She is from a wealthy family in San Francisco, and stares out of the window in her room at a fire near Market Street, which she thinks is beautiful. As she looks out her window admiring the fire we are introduced to her friend, Helena, who climbs up a pillar onto Magdaléna's balcony, dressed in boy's clothes, with a proposition for her. She proposes that the pair sneak out, dressed as a boy and a greaser and catch a ride down to the city to see the fire in person. Magdaléna is not usually allowed on the streets in the day, let alone at night, but she decides to throw caution to the wind and join her friend.

The two get a ride, paid for by Helena who has received a nice chunk of money from her father, Colonel Jack Belmont. The two finally get down to the fire, where they are in awe seeing the flames and the chaos of firefighters battling the flames. They come across a family, who has lost most of their possessions in the fire and Helena generously gives the rest of the money she has on hand to them. At this point, the two ladies are confronted by a low level police officer, who arrests the girls for being dressed in boys clothes (this was a very different time obviously) and being a vagrant, since they had no more money to bribe him. He takes the girls into the police station, and Magdaléna is terrified that her father (who has a very bad temper) will find out what they had done. Magdaléna had once seen her father whip one of his employees until she had to cover her ears from the screams, and although she knew he would never whip her, she was still afraid of what he might do. Once handed over to the sergeant, Helena finally breaks the silence on the identity of the girls, and the sergeant releases them at once and pays for their ride home, with only one request in return, that Helena ask her father to vote for him in the upcoming sheriff election, of which Helena graciously agrees.

On their way home the two speak about what they plan to do about telling their fathers. Helena decides that she will wait until the day before she is to leave for New York, at which point her father will be feeling so bad that he will not be upset. Magdaléna, on the other hand, felt that she needed to tell her father immediately, that he had the right to know what she had done and how she had disgraced him. The pair get home, say their goodbyes, and part ways to their own respective houses. Magdaléna gets home and immediately finds her father to tell him what she has done. Upon telling him the story he goes into a fit of rage, and, ignoring her plea of "Papa! You will not do that!", grabs his whip and lashes her across her back.

At the end of the chapter she is alone in her room. The story ends with "her self respect had been cut through at every blow, and it quivered and writhed within her. She hated her father and she hated life with an intensity which added to her misery, and she decided that she had made her last confession to any one but the priest, who always forgave her." (Atherton 320)