The Underdogs : Gender Roles During The Mexican Revolution

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.

By the time the Mexican Revolution began, women were ready to be recognized fully for their talents and abilities. While many women chose to stay behind the scenes and care for the soldiers on the sidelines, like Camila in The Underdogs, there were equally as many women who chose to actively participate in the revolution. Women such as War Paint chose to become fighters, while others followed less dangerous paths (although many were equally as radical). Despite the fact that Camila and War Paint are both accurate representations of the women who chose the same paths during the revolution, there are still many different roles that women played during this time that Azuela does not acknowledge.

The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela is arguably the most important novel of the Mexican Revolution because of how it profoundly captures the atmosphere and intricacies of the occasion. Although the immediate subject of the novel is Demetrio Macias - a peasant supporter of the Mexican Revolution -, one of its extensive themes is the ambivalence surrounding the revolution in reality as seen from a broader perspective. Although often poetically revered as a ‘beautiful’ revolution, scenes throughout the novel paint the lack of overall benevolence even among the protagonist revolutionaries during the tumultuous days of the revolution. This paper will analyze certain brash characteristics of the venerated revolution as represented by Azuela’s

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

The Magic Lantern, published in 1886 and written by José Tomás de Cuéllar, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) is a novella about nineteenth century Mexico. The author wrote this novel to express his thoughts and ideas regarding the manner in which men and women interacted with each other during this time. Cuéllar believed that the Mexican culture set impossible standards, and he conveys this ideology within the short story, Having a Ball. He concluded that men should seek women with more substance, rather than just relying on their looks to achieve status. The novella describes Cuéllar’s views on the French customs in Mexico City during the 1900’s.

Alfonsa had strong convictions toward women being suppressed as she was growing up in a time before and after the Mexican revolutionary war. Her father sending her to Europe had made its contributions to her "revolutionary spirit." Women at that time lived their lives in the constant shadows of men. The women were consumed by family life, marriage, the Catholic church, and lived silently behind their dominant male counterparts. There were many inequalities women and other ethnic, economic, political, or religious minorities suffered under the regime of Porferio Diaz. Mexican women at that time knew they were essential in a number of ways and rose up becoming strong advocates for causes they believed in (Jandura 1). Alfonsa's character speaks of "Dictator Diaz" in a conversation with the main character by the name of John Grady (McCarthy 236).

What is more important, years worth of tradition involving the oppression of women, or breaking that chain to live up to your dreams even if it means risking certain relationships with your family? In Mexican culture, is commonly known that from the moment you are born, family values and beliefs are applied and different things will be expected of you depending on your gender. For all in the culture, is mandatory you speak your native language, which is Spanish, and it is to be spoken always at home. Women are expected to stay at home and clean, care for the children, and take care of their husbands. Men work and take care of the finances of the household. The little girls are expected to clean once they reach an age where they can walk

Women in mexican society are looked to as caregivers, weavers, and seamstresses. This is the way in many different cities around the world to which I have traveled. Those who dare to change the normal view of women during this radical time are either shut down or looked to as heroes and role models to other women who will never be given the opportunity to change their role in everyday life Mexico. Many females will be kept hidden from the public eye and forced to live like nuns until marriage. They are given a dowry, 1 in exchange for marriage. The same can be said about a cow being sold by their owner. Once married or “bought out”, just like animals, women are expected to produce offspring to help with chores and other responsibilities

The Spanish Civil war was a complex and tumultuous whirlwind of combating ideologies through the resulting emphasis on gender differences and maternalism, it played the catalyst in the bolstering prevalence of gender discourse. Although unlike traditional feminist movements, the women of the Spanish Civil War, specifically the Milicianas and Mujeres Libres were primarily in search of a voice in ongoing social revolution and less concerned with the acquisition of political equality. By taking into account the history of the social conditioning of Spanish women, I hope to analyze the changes in the sex-gender system, wrought on by revolution and war by furthering examining

In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the way women have been represented and characterized gives us an idea of how the female gender are treated differently from the male gender as well as children in Latin America during the 1950s. The husbands were given all the authority, also known as machismo, whereas women weren’t allowed to take charge of anything, and were portrayed as weak and impotent.

Women in Mexico endure unbelievable hardships all due to their gender. Mexican women are faced with inescapable gender roles that cast females into cruel and subservient positions. Women are treated as second tier to their male counterparts and are commonly treated as subhuman. While men are capable of doing as they want, when and where they please; women have strict duties that must be followed to keep her husband and sons happy. “The macho male is not expected to become involved in child rearing, considered to be a woman’s task” (Deyoung, 1994). Unfortunately, it is all to common that when a women speaks out of term or upsets her husband, cruel and violent outburst occur. This abuse is widely accepted in Mexico, and little is done to prevent domestic violence. Women in Mexico live every day under house arrest, exist in fear of their male superiors. Fortunately in 1970 women began to fight back, and the Mexican feminist movement began. However, unlick the United States female revolution this feminist movement was quite and slow. Nonetheless the percentages of women in the work for began to rise dramatically and domestic abuse took a small step back. The women of Mexico today are still relentlessly fighting for equality. The gender roles cast upon women, men and the abuse women endure due to these gender roles cast upon them are all instrumental steps in the advancement of women’s rights in Mexico.

In Mexico, as the revolution was intensifying, many people, especially men refused to fight against the government or get involved in the war. Thus, resulting in many fleeing to the United States, fearing conscription (Innis-Jimenez, 2013, 23-24). However, many people did not have this opportunity to flee Mexico. According to my mother, she stated that her grandmother’s brothers in Michoacán fought involuntarily in the Mexican revolution. She states, “During that time, you had to choose a side, you either fought with the government or fought with the peasants. So my grandmother’s uncles chose to fight against the corrupt government (M. Barocio, personal communication, April 21, 2017). Various civilians could not just leave Mexico easily and

“I want to die as a slave of principles, not to men.” It is my favorite quote from my role model General Emiliano Zapata which he was during the Mexican Revolution. This is also what I consider my foundation of my beliefs and were my ground stands in any political view. We have several problems that if we don’t work together it will hinder our free society. First, I will interpret how as individualism and collectivisms can help solve some of the problems we encounter today like rising of unemployment, poverty and political issues to include our rights to use 1st Amendment. Secondly, obtaining balance between not being self-centered and having common purpose in life, to private pursuits market mentality will change views in the big spectrum to the better.

Many women were imprisoned for having participated in the Republican militias. However, their presence not only as rebels but mainly as women put greater weight on them as they were not only presenting defiance through battle but also through rebelling against the traditional roles imposed on Spanish Women at the time. Under the Franco regime Spanish Women had to follow specific and strict rules of how to be a woman, from how to be a wife and a mother having only the right to devote themselves to their husbands and families and that alone. In order to enforce these strict guidelines, the regime sanctioned the ‘Sección Femenina’ to lead it (Davidson, 2011). The ‘Sección Femenina’ (Davidson, 2011, pp.

In the memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi and the novel Revolutionizing Motherhood: The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo written by Guzman Bouvard, the repressive revolutions played a pivotal role in the lives of women. Through the Iranian Revolution, restrictions in the public and private sphere were evident by imposing censorship constrains. The Argentinian revolution, on the other hand, allowed limited civil rights by actions of the military junta. Despite these conditions, women managed to find empowerment through forming groups and rebelling against government in both the public and private sector.