Book Summary: The Misfortunes Of Miguel Ramírez

The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez describes the adventures of Ramírez, a poor Spanish American carpenter from Puerto Rico, who was taken captive by British pirates and was supposedly forced to work with them for two years. The book portrays Ramírez as a victim in the hands of pirates while emphasizing the graphic depictions of English pirate cruelty in order to serve Ramírez and the Mexican Viceroy’s purposes. However, through careful examination of the story, I believe that he indeed was a pirate, and will explain so in this essay by arguing four points: first, that Ramírez headed towards familiar territory due to the lack of paperwork for his belongings, second, his lack of explanation of why he did not escape whenever possible, third, his ownership of special weapons, and lastly, the use of words in his storytelling. To begin, Ramírez sailed to Spanish territory because he had no papers that certified that the ship and its cargo were his, as seen through Zepherino de Castro’s many attempts to restrain and seize Ramírez’s property (149). This meant, that he needed to find Spanish soil and subjects, where he knew the laws will be more lenient (rather than somewhere like Madagascar, where he could be denounced as a pirate to Spanish authorities in exchange

The Captain charged Ramírez of “treason” and “sedition” (129). If Ramírez was indeed an outsider like he claimed, he would not have used the words “treason” or “sedition,” as he could not have betrayed someone that did not confide in him on the first place. Others, may say that this indeed would be words used by a victim, would certainly betray their oppressors and revolt against them. Yet, if Ramírez was indeed an outsider, he would not be betraying them, he would only be acting as it is expected from a