Southern California
Essay Preview: Southern California
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Carey McWilliams incorporates nicknames for Southern California comparing its semi-tropical climate to the Mediterranean climates of exotic parts of the world such as Italy and Greece. In using such labels to help describe the climate to the reader, McWilliams is attaching an almost foreign quality to the climate in a region that is very much a part of America yet so vastly different in climate from not only the rest of the land but from the rest of the state. She uses many early tourists quotes in describing Southern California as a sort of panacea curing all kinds of sicknesses while certain ailments are unknown. Such was the rumor, exaggerated and certainly widespread, many sick Americans migrated and Southern California soon became a land of invalids and funerals.
In addition, McWilliams reports of exaggeration among reports of “products of the soil.” She quotes of gigantic geraniums, vines and bushes individually bearing tons of their fruits, and of daisies larger than life. Physical change in people was definitely a studied fact. Here, natural disasters were inexistent and fleas became a thing of the past. Days and seasons did not seem to pass since the climate remained alike every day, which left newcomers either nostalgic of the climate back home or left them in uncharacteristic awe. Its “warmth, brightness, and beauty” were here to stay in this land of paradox. While some Californians were accused of laziness, others attributed placidity. In Southern California, everything is outdoors, loose but not boundless, and rain falls only at night.