Joaquin Murieta's Hero Classification

What type of hero does Joaquin Murieta fit in with during the era of Romanticism?

The excerpt, From The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, the Celebrated California Bandit by Yellow Bird (John Rollin Ridge) in my personal opinion leaves us to interpret him as whichever type of hero best suits him, if in fact he fits into a specific category.

Byronic heroes present many different qualities also aligned with other heroes during the 19^th century. It is safe to say that Joaquin possessed many characteristics and qualities of the Byronic hero such as intellect, self respect, respect for his community, dark qualities—master of robbery and murder, his certainty of self-identity, moody, and confident.

Joaquin’s mood is displayed throughout excerpt in different forms—one being his frustration with the countries lack of support for Mexicans in the mining industry. It is logical for any human being to be flustered because the people who should have a say in the occurrence of events, are those who are in the midst of things. “The country was then full of careless and desperate men, who bore the name of Americans, but failed to support the honor and the dignity of that title.” Since he himself has a great deal of respect for the community he lived with during his time as a miner, he felt (according to the narrator) the need for all Americans to be respectful.

Even though Joaquin’s life isn’t being told in first person, the reader is able to get a sense of his frustration, at least I did. His mood becomes over taken by emotion after they refused Mexicans a chance to speak or have rights because prejudice “offered [Americans] a convenient excuse for their unmanly cruelty and oppression.” And shortly there after, Americans rape his girlfriend to establish their superiority.  Emotion then becomes a great part of what construes a romantic hero. 

After this happens to Joaquin’s girlfriend he rebels and loses respect for others, but it only shows his pain for what has happened to him since he has been under the control of the dominant culture. At least he didn't go all Romeo and Juliet on us and kill himself after witnessing such thing. I know if my significant other was to be ravished before me, I might shut down completely, but he doesn't. He's also a very young man and is sure of what he wants. Not very many young people know how to act accordingly after given situation. His feeling and emotions are in third person narration, therefore it is difficult to establish what type of hero he represents based on his personal feelings towards the whole fiasco. He might not even be a hero; he may just be a vicious desperado seeking revenge. But then, that is exactly what gives him the ability to be seen as a hero; his need to avenge his girlfriends and his own sufferings.

Although it is not explicit in the excerpt, I found it reasonable for Joaquin to seek revenge and become over confident in doing so. As he shouted, “I am Joaquin! Kill me if you can!” the narrator as well as myself, felt it to be “perfectly sublime to see such super-human daring and recklessness.” If i'm angered by something I am more prone to act foolish then to sit around while others  

I personally see him as a hero of his own kind, just like Frederick Douglass would be viewed as a hero to slaves who have endured the same types of brutalities he did, but nevertheless, they are both heroes of with characteristics of a Byronic and Romantic hero.

-Lily