Two Years Before the Mast · Chapter
XII explained
The chapter describes a Sunday at Monterey where the crew is forced to work on their day of rest, leading to passive resistance and slow work.
What happens
The chapter describes a Sunday at Monterey where the crew is forced to work on their day of rest, leading to passive resistance and slow work. After a promise of fishing in the afternoon, the work is completed quickly. The narrator then describes a fishing trip and the arrival of the Loriotte. The next day, Mexican customs officers board the Pilgrim, and the narrator details their elaborate dress and the social structure of California, where Indians do all the hard work and the Mexican gentry appear wealthy but often lack money.
Themes in this chapter
Labor and Economy
The crew's forced Sunday work and passive resistance highlight the dynamics of maritime labor, while the description of customs inspection and the absence of a Mexican working class illustrate the economic structures of California.
Class and Social Inequality
The contrast between the wealthy-looking but often impoverished Mexican gentry and the enslaved Indian laborers underscores deep social stratification.
Characters to notice
- Richard Henry Dana Jr.
The narrator participates in the crew's Sunday work and later goes fishing, observing the customs officers and describing Californian society.
- Mr. F⸺
Former second mate, now part of the crew, joins the fishing trip and catches a pearl-oyster shell.
- Mr. R⸺
The agent who arranges a compromise with the customs officers to avoid unloading the entire cargo.
Key passages
“Jack is a slave aboard ship; but still he has many opportunities of thwarting and balking his master.”
Sailors are subject to the captain's authority, but they can subtly resist by working slowly or inefficiently.
Describes the crew's passive resistance to Sunday work.
“Among the Mexicans there is no working class; (the Indians being slaves and doing all the hard work); and every rich man looks like a grandee, and every poor scamp like a broken-down gentleman.”
In Mexican California, all manual labor is done by Indian slaves, so even poor Mexicans appear genteel while the wealthy seem aristocratic.
Highlights the social and racial hierarchy in California.