Analysis of The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela
In The Underdogs written by Mariano Azuela, we are introduced to a character that strongly symbolizes the fuel of the Mexican Revolution. Heroes like Demetrio Macias brought the Serrano’s hope of giving them what they felt they truly deserved. Although Demetrio Macias, the general (colonel) of a rebel army is hunting down the army of Pancho Villa, he seems to have the same ideals as the enemy. In addition to Demetrio Macias, we meet women like Camilla and War Paint who represent the different roles that women played during the Mexican Revolution.
The character of Demetrio Macias proves to be quite ironic. One facet of his character reveals his determination to find Pancho Villa’s army,
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Demetrio plays the man who is full of power, and desires women and alcohol. He is even interested in Luis Cervantes’ soon to be wife, when he drunkenly fights everyone to get what he wants. Demetrio is a man of power, and feels that he can achieve what he wants through force.
The people that Demetrio represent are evident in the people that comprise his army, as well as the rare souls like Luis Cervantes. Cervantes, man who was well off to begin with, but later lost his fortune to the government. He quotes “Before the revolution, I had my land all plowed, see, and just right for sowing, and if it hadn’t been for a little quarrel with Don Macio, the boss of my town, Moyahua, I’d be there in a jiffy getting the oxen ready for the sowing, see?” (pg. 48) Luis Cervantes explains his cause when he says “The triumph of our cause, which is the sublime triumph of Justice, because our ideal-to be free the noble, long suffering people of Mexico-is about to be realized and because those men who have watered the earth with their blood and tears will reap the harvest which is rightfully theirs.” (pg. 69)
With respect to the degradation of women in The Underdogs, we must profile the two women portrayed in the book. On one hand we have the conservative Camilla, and on the other, we have War Paint. War Paint was the opposite of what society held as the typical woman. War Paint went against the grain, and partook in events which
Even at the beginning of the story, when the rebellion is young, one of the men, Anastasio Montanes, after a battle shouts, “‘viva Demetrio Macias, our leader, and God in Heaven and his Holy Mother’” (1). This shows how the group looks up to Macias to lead them to the solutions to their problems and how much trust they have him. They also have a lot of faith in Macias as in page 9, it states, “Pancracio, Anastasio Montanes, Codorniz sat at the feet of the stretcher like faithful dogs, waiting on their master’s wishes.” (2) This truly shows how much they look up to Demetrio and that also shows the control he has over his men. He demonstrates the stature that he needs to lead the rebellion to overthrow the corrupt Mexican
Mariano Azuela's novel, The Underdogs, is a male-dominated novel. The story of the exploits and wartime adventures of a rebel band during the Mexican Revolution is primarily driven by men; the majority of the characters are men who are separated from their families and lives and who are fighting for a cause in which they strongly believe (at least at the beginning of the novel). Despite the masculine story, however, there are two highly developed and significant female characters in The Underdogs. These women, Camila and War Paint, are a representation of two of the roles women played during the Mexican Revolution. While the portraits Azuela paints of these women and their role in society and revolution are
Lazarillo de Tormes is a famous work of Spanish literature published anonymously. The novel is written in the first person. Lazarillo de Tormes is known as a picaresque novel in that the novel is written about a character of the lower-class instead of a hero or upper-class character. The novel has several themes, but the theme that is constant throughout the novel is appearance versus reality. A rhetorical device is a use of language that is intended to have an effect on its audience. The author utilizes several rhetorical devices in the novel which add emphasis to the story. For the purposes of this paper, the following rhetorical devices are analyzed: satire, simile, hyperbole, double entendre and parody. The novel, which was banned by the Spanish Crown during the time of the Spanish inquisition, is the story of the birth and life Lazarillo as he serves various masters and his struggle for survival. His struggle is real. Many of the rhetorical devices serve to add humor to the novel as well.
In 1910, the first social upheaval of the 20th century was unleashed in Mexico. Known as the Mexican Revolution, its historical importance and impact inspired an abundance of internationally renowned South American authors. Mariano Azuela is one of these, whose novel, "The Underdogs" is often described as a classic of modern Hispanic literature. Having served as a doctor under Pancho Villa, a revolutionary leader of the era, Azuela's experience in the Revolution provides The Underdogs with incomparable authenticity of the political and social tendencies of the era between 1910 and 1920. The Underdogs recounts the living conditions of the Mexican peasants, the
During the Mexican Revolution, Mexico as a nation torn in many directions, people gave up simple farming lives to take up arms against causes that many of them did not fully understand. Gender roles during the period in Mexico were exceptionally degrading towards women. Having little more rights than slaves and treated as trophies or property more than human beings, women role in society was nothing near that of a man’s. In The Underdogs, Mariano Anzuela highlights the issue of gender roles by continuously illustrating the punitive role of women and their mistreatment. Augmenting Anzuelas work with citations from Oscar Lewis and Stephanie Smith will paint a picture of the degrading gender roles for women during the Mexican Revolution. Highlighted points brought up by Azuela are how men speak with and treat women, women’s place in society, and general disregard for women’s feelings.
The Mexican Revolution brought multiple parties and movements out of the woodwork. In John Womack’s Zapata and the Mexican Revolution, a story of one state’s drive for agrarian reform and its people’s evolving mission was told, with Emiliano Zapata as a pivotal leader. The dynamics of the revolution, however, reach deeper than Womack’s account portrays. While Womack documents the revolutionary path of the Zapatistas from the southern state of Morelos, the story of Pancho Villa, an arguably parallel character fighting for states in the North against the repressive powers of General Victoriano Huerta, reads more as a subplot. The writings of Samuel Brunk, Ana Maria Alonso, and Mariano Azuela shed light on the less simplistic dynamics of
Cervantes, on the other hand, has a different perception of the revolution - which seems nobler and greater - until we learn about its shortcomings on a practical level. He pointed out that the revolution, which was "bound to win", was meaningless if Mexico is going to fall again "in the cluthces of [its] eternal opressors, excecutioners, and caciques." Cervantes believes that he and Demetrio and his men are "the tools Destiny makes use of to reclaim the sacred rights of the people", and that they should be "fighting against tyranny itself" for principles and ideals. On a rhetorical level this view seems sound and virtuous. However, the foreboding dark consequences remain discernible.
Author Mariano Azuela's novel of the Mexican revolution, The Underdogs, conveys a fictional representation of the revolution and the effects it had on the Mexican men and women who lived during that time. The revolutionary rebels were composed of different men grouped together to form small militias against the Federalists, in turn sending them on journeys to various towns, for long periods of time. Intense fighting claimed the lives of many, leaving women and children behind to fend for themselves. Towns were devastated forcing their entire populations to seek refuge elsewhere. The revolution destroyed families across Mexico, leaving mothers grieving for their abducted daughters, wives for their absent husbands, and soldiers for their
Mariano Azuela’s The Underdogs, is about a brotherhood of the Mexican people taking a journey with only one thing on their mind; revenge against Huerta and the Federales. In this story, we as the reader are confronted with characters, such as Demetrio Macias, who is destined to lead his people into the depths of retaining an incorrupt lifestyle and hopes to find peace from the effect of war. Although Demetrio is seen as one of the main characters in the novel, we are also briefly engaged in the other revolutionary forces under Pancho Villa, Carranza, Obregon, and by peasants under Zapata. These appositional forces gain strength against the Huerta government as well. The Underdogs almost symbolizes a Robin Hood story, in which, Demetrio and
The students of the Centre are conformists. They are typical example of Spanish citizens to live under Franco’s Rule during the 1950’s. They accept what they are thought by Don Pablo and Doña Pablo and do not question it. In contrast to the students Ignacio is an independent character who does not conform to the society of the Centre. He challenges what the students have been thought. ‘Ciegos! Ciegos y no invidentes, imbéciles.’ Ignacio keeps on emphasising how there is a division in life between ‘los invidentes’ and ‘los videntes’ and tries to spread his darkness to the people of the centre. ‘La Guerra que me consume os consumirá.’
Antonio sat at the table opposite Pedro’s large glass of red wine and pondered how he could wheedle his way into the trust of this man. To Antonio, he seemed a shrewd individual who wouldn’t part with a maravedí unless he had to, let alone some critical piece of information. Antonio could see two ways into this. He could get Pedro drunk and hope he’d blurt something out that he’d rather have not said. Or he could pretend great sympathy with the ‘plight of the Moriscos’, as the Corregidor of Guadalajara rather carelessly said. He’d follow the latter course and see where it took
Not only did these women find a place in society other than by the stove, they won the appreciation and respect of men and women around them. Two of the most extraordinary of these women were Dolores Jimenez y Muro, who was an important political writer, and Hermila Galindo, who was a political speaker and advocate for Carranza’s campaign and regime. Dolores Jimenez y Muro's importance is evident in how she was able to have her voice heard and listened to by high-ranking revolutionary officials. Hermila Galindo's prominence is shown by her distinguished political career and feminist movements.
In this essay, female oppression in La Casa de Bernarda Alba will be discussed and analyzed. However, in order to be able to understand the importance of this theme and the impact it has had on the play, one must first understand the role of female oppression in the Spanish society in the 1930s.
The Portrayal of the Plight of Women by the Author, In Their Particular Period of Time
Women of Latin American culture have incessantly ensued the potent gender roles that have become a social construction of their society over innumerable decades. The profound author of Insurgent Mexico, John Reed, imparts his experiences with the revolutionary leaders of the Mexican Revolution, like Pancho Villa, and was able to witness their culture and more specifically the roles these Mexican women were forced to render by their chauvinistic counterparts. This period of revolution, started to grant women new mantles usually reserved only for men, like participating in fighting for the success of the revolution; any preeminent changes would soon approach, but in the meantime Mexican society run by men enjoyed the regulated traditional