The Different Perspectives of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 in The Underdogs
The Underdogs provides a personal view of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The author, Mariano Azuela, served as a doctor with Francisco Villa's famed Division of the North, "Los Dorados." He criticizes the folly and brutality of the Underdogs as well as the cynicism and venality of Los Ricos. With this insight, he incorporates his firsthand knowledge of the revolution into this story. The novel is made up of two main characters, Demetrio Macias and Luis Cervantes, that represent differing views of the revolution itself. These two main characters represent Azuela's own feelings for the revolution. As the novel progresses, the reader is able to acquire a sense of what a revolution does to a person or group of people involved in it.
Macias and his band of revolutionaries at once attract and repulse you until, at the novel's end, the reader understands how bitterly disillusioned Azuela had become with the likes of the generals and foot soldiers who turned their noble cause into a pretext for their own personal gain. Thus, the revolution implodes upon the idealists who gave her birth and, in the end, the generals and foot soldiers of the revolution become consumed by the same base impulses that once fueled their enemies. Alberto Solis, often regarded as Azuela's spokesman in the book, compared the revolution to a hurricane, stating "if you're in it, you're not a man....you're a leaf, a dead leaf, blown by the wind." Cervantes exclaimed that, "The revolution benefits the poor, the ignorant, all the unhappy people who do not even suspect that they are poor because...the rich who rule them, change their sweat and blood into tears and gold...." This passage is valuable because it gives the reader a clear picture of the ideals that Cervantes represents. Cervantes has a number of positive character traits to assist the Revolution, such as being intelligent, virtuous and profoundly idealistic. In terms of intelligence Cervantes is unsurpassed among Macias' men, as the author subtly alerts the reader to this character's intelligence by giving him a last name that, in my opinion, is an obvious reference to the famous Spanish author of the same name.
Each of these characters personifies a larger class of people. Macias represents the poor farmers drawn into the revolution to protect their meager possessions, while Cervantes stands for the more educated middle class. It is through the eyes of Cervantes that we see one of the reasons the author became disillusioned with the Mexican revolution. The idea that the author uses Cervantes to represent an entire class of people is one of the most important aspects of this novel. According to the author, Cervantes (meaning the middle class), abandons the Revolution. We first see evidence of this during the course of the novel when Cervantes comes to act very differently than the poor people like Demetrio Macias that he claims to represent. While we can not be sure why Cervantes stopped believing in the revolution, it seems clear that he did. Cervantes first switches sides when things become to difficult with the Federal army. Then, he retires from the fight completely when things start getting rough for the revolutionaries. Based on this, the author is clearly angry at Cervantes, and the people he represents, for their lack of commitment to the Revolution.
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