31 pages • 1 hour read
Mariano AzuelaThe Underdogs: A novel of the Mexican Revolution
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1929A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Mexico’s Natural Landscape
The events of the novel are described in stark, minimal terms, but author Mariano Azuela writes beautiful, intricate descriptions of the harsh landscapes. The terrain is often described lyrically, but also as being intricate, labyrinthine, barren, and treacherous. The trees are often dead, and there are few mentions of anything that is growing or alive. The set pieces are stone fields and dry sierras. There are frequent references to the deepness of the ravines and the steepness of the cliffs. Dust storms appear more than once, blinding the men and making their navigation difficult. Nature confuses and hinders the men as much as it helps them, although it does work to their advantage when they know the terrain better than their enemies. Men such as Demetrio are at the mercy of the bureaucratic forces cajoling them to fight, but every character in the novel is subject to the turbulence of the inhospitable nature in Mexico.
Money: Poverty and Wealth
Demetrio’s men are all poor. When they hear the rumor that Pancho Villa is coming to visit, they think of the lavish uniforms they have heard that his men wear. They are always aware that they are dirty and dressed in shabby clothes. When Demetrio’s men begin to take advantage of the peasants when they occupy a town, they initially focus on looting. The formerly ethical Luis delights in finding diamonds and stealing them. Pintada takes every chance she can to dress in the fancy clothes of the women whose houses they ransack. There is a growing emphasis among the rebels on amassing jewels and gold when they settle into a town.
Late in the novel, Demetrio says that he does not care about money, he only cares about the Revolution. When he orders the men not to loot the home of Don Mónico, they begin to rebel against him. The Revolution produces no tangible results for the men in terms of political progress or a better life for the peasantry. Their increasing focus on amassing wealth transforms them into the bandits that Luis had described in his early journalism against the rebels.
Becoming the Monster You Fought Against
The rebels fight against the Federals so that peasants can be free from violence, terror, and oppression. Solís worries that they will become “monsters of exactly the same sort” (74) as the Federals if they win. Luis cannot yet comprehend that such a change could be possible, but within a few victories, the rebels begin to resemble the Federals they hated so much. Demetrio’s men rape, murder, steal, and torture innocent people throughout the second half of the novel. Most of them become indifferent to the pain of others, and see their actions as the rewards that a victorious army deserves.
The cause Demetrio fights for changes frequently. By the end of the novel, several characters have said that the Revolution itself is what matters, not the political cause at the root of it. Fighting and ransacking cities has become their routine. The war has indeed changed them into the very thing they were fighting against.
