Mariano Azuela’s The Underdogs, Essay Example

Introduction

The Mexican Revolution is fairly regarded as one of the most prominent and crucial events in the 20^th century. Driven by the peasants’ search for truth and justice, the Mexican Revolution turned into a bloody fight for confusing ideals and signified the dramatic shift in social and political awareness among Mexican populations. Mariano Azuela’s The Underdogs is a saga about human transformations which occur under the influence of external political and military factors. It is a book distanced from any particular ideology but concentrated on the description of characters, who fight for their own, not always understandable truth. Demetrio Macias as the central character of the novel exemplifies the shift in human consciousness and the growing commitment to revolution as the only means of promoting justice and fairness in the Mexican society; with time, however, Demetrio comes to understand the uselessness of the revolution and the unchangeable nature of his social position of an underdog “at the foot of a proud, lofty mountain, pleated like a turban” (Azuela), the pressure of which neither Demetrio nor his companions can reduce.

That revolutions and military action change people no one can deny. Under the influence of revolutionary moods, and in the face of a military threat, people consciously or unconsciously realize the need for a profound change, which stretches from the need to protect their safety and up to the need for changing the vision of the surrounding reality. In Azuela’s novel, Demetrio Macias exemplifies the complex vision of change which occurs during such revolutionary shifts. This change in his vision of the war, the reality around him, the people who surround and support him, and the aims and the goals of the revolution which they pursue reveal the hidden facets of human knowledge and thinking, which are vulnerable to external threats. The change, through which Demetrio must go, begins with the tragic feeling of displacement which he experiences upon the need to separate with his wife and his newborn child. “You go to father’s house, quick!” Demetrio ordered. She wanted to hold him in her arms; she entreated, she wept. But she pushed away from her gently and, in a sullen voice, said, “I’ve an idea the whole lot of them are coming” (Azuela). This displacement, the disruption of family ties, and the lack of family support which are altogether justified by simple Demetrio’s desire to protect his family from violence are actually the starting point in his long and continuous migration from one place to another, searching for the truth and justice, and participating in different revolutionary activities. On the one hand, Azuela shows that being a revolutionary person means to be able to weigh family values against the values and principles social justice. On the other hand, through the prism of Demetrio’s image, Azuela also implies that external influences similar to revolutions and wars do not leave anyone intact. The need to leave the family is just one out of many changes a person is bound to experience on his way to the revolutionary ideal.

It should be noted, that where Demetrio takes the decision to leave his family and his house, he consciously tears himself from his past. The fact that his house is burned does not leave him a chance for return. The fire signifies the border and the line between his past and his future, with no present between them. His present is changeable and unstable. His present is about continuous journey to the ideals and values which he himself cannot always understand. His leaving the house and the family bring a significant change into Demetrio’s consciousness: he wants to return home and actually, all his revolutionary moves and moods are aimed to make this moment of return closer and more realistic: “Well, that’s all I want, to be let alone so I can go home” (Azuela). However, as time passes, Demetrio loses this sense of belonging to his home or to any other territory. This change in consciousness happens under the influence of revolutionary moods, which turn people into migrants without any definite place to live and without any definite purpose. This change in consciousness becomes particularly striking at the moment when Demetrio encounters his family again, but instead of reuniting with them and accepting, he chooses migration and movement, to which he is now used. “Why do you keep on fighting, Demetrio? – Demetrio frowned deeply. Picking up a stone absent-mindedly, he threw it to the bottom of the canyon. Then he stared pensively into the abyss, watching the arch of its flight. – ‘Look at that stone: how it keeps going…” (Azuela). This movement of the stone into the abyss is the sign of Demetrio’s desire to move forward. Under the influence of continuous migration which is the direct product of the revolution, Demetrio quickly becomes used to his new position of a guerilla and is no longer willing to change it. It is very probable that this reluctance to rejoin with the family is justified by his natural fear to lose them again, but regardless of the purpose it is clear that revolution changes people and their worldviews, and they are no longer prepared to return to their previous ways of life.

Another significant aspect of change, which Azuela shows and discusses in his novel, is in how former peasants and today’s revolutionaries view the ideals and goals for which they are fighting. This is the change from the idealistic vision of revolution as the movement to justice up to the realization of its complete uselessness. From being a peasant who witnesses the socially unjust practices in his society, Demetrio undergoes a profound transformation in consciousness, and he is probably the only one in Azuela’s book to question the effectiveness of their fight for freedom. From watching his military opponents as underdogs, Demetrio gradually realizes that all this fight for freedom is more complex than anyone could have imagined before it began. Witnessing the cruelty and abandonment, as well as unhappy lost women who have to spend their lives waiting for their husbands to come back from the war, Demetrio cannot escape the feeling that something important is missing in this revolution, but he cannot decide what it is. “Coreligionist, sir, that is to say, a person who possesses the same religion, who is inspired by the same ideals, who defends and fights for the same cause you are now fighting for”. – Demetrio smiled: ‘What are we fighting for? That’s what I’d like to know” (Azuela). And although, with the lack of education and military experience Demetrio quickly takes a position of one of the minor leaders, he soon faces the reality that the revolution is different from the way he imagined it.

The use of sophisticated arms, military knowledge, and air force – all these require some degree of professional training which none of Demetrio’s companions have. Moreover, seeing the cruelties and casualties, through which people are bound to go while they are moving to a new state of social consciousness, creates an atmosphere of doubts and no longer show revolution as the best solution to the social and economic problems in Mexico. Of course, “the revolution benefits the poor, the ignorant, all those who have been slaves all their lives, all the unhappy people who do not even suspect they are poor because the rich who stand above them” (Azuela), and it is due to revolution that men are given a chance to forget what they were to in their hut living like slaves, always under the owner’s eyes, always in need to rise before dawn and to work for someone else (Azuela). However, what about the lost homes and lost lives? What about the men who, for the sake of becoming rebels, choose to lose their homes and turn into homeless people? And how many homeless men are wandering on the Mexican land in search for their ideal future? That Demetrio refuses from his family in order to keep moving shows revolution as the movement without any definite direction and purpose, and which also does not change the rebels’ social position – from being underdogs they turn into underdogs and cannot escape it.

Unfortunately, the revolutionary ideals and the desire to fight are not enough for Demetrio to win in this battle against the federales. Revolutions are no longer a matter of rebel – rather, they are a matter of knowledge and professional fighting. The minor leadership which Demetrio has among his revolutionary friends does not give him much power, not can it give him a chance for victory. The story which Azuela tells about Demetrio resembles a vicious circle of troubles, and after having left his house, Demetrio actually returns to the starting point of his journey with the only difference being in that he is no longer the leader but an underdog for the federales. “The spirit of nomadic tribes stirred their souls. What matters it whether you go and whence you come? All that matters is to walk, to walk endlessly, without ever stopping; to possess the valley, the heights of the sierra, far as the eye can read” (Azuela).

This endlessness of walks and journeys during the revolution reflects its real character, the character which lacks purpose and direction and which causes human sufferings. Demetrio finds himself under the pressure of the federales and in the position, which at the beginning of the book used to be his advantage. In this position, he gradually realizes that revolution does not work for the benefit of the poor; nor does it bring any benefits to the disadvantaged people in his community. At this point, Demetrio finally understands that revolution is about moving into nowhere; it is about moving into an abyss without any chance to reach the ground. Apart from the fact that revolution makes him lose his family and home, it also does not leave a chance to understand its meaning and goals. As such, revolution for Demetrio is nothing else but an endless journey into nowhere without any chance to change anything in this life.

Conclusion

Mariano Azuela’s The Underdogs is the saga about how revolution changes people and their inner world. Through the prism of Demetrio, Azuela shows the inner change through which people have to go whenever they lose their homes and engage in revolutionary activities. With the need to separate from the family and to leave home, people gradually get used to their new way of life. In the face of different life threats they question the relevance of revolution and its ideals. With time, people realize the uselessness of the revolution itself and the unchangeable character of their social position – they always remain the underdogs of their social system.

Works Cited

Azuela, M. The Underdogs. 28 November 2009. http://www.pinkmonkey.com/dl/library1/digi508.pdf