An Essay On The Underdogs By Azuel

“The Underdogs” follows the rise and fall of Demetrio Macias and his group of rebels during the Mexican Revolution of the early nineteen hundreds. The novel charts Demetrio's rise from farmer to general of the northern rebel army, and his following decline and the fall of his army. The Mexican Revolution started as a series of local/personal fights, then turns into a national movement. Cervantes’ changes from the beginning of the novel to the end. “The Underdogs” is considered both a Latin American and a Mexican classic. There are problems using the novel as a historical source but historically the Mexican Revolution was very chaotic, so when Azuel wrote the book it gave many people the ability to understand what happened through eye witnessed events.
The Mexican Revolution began as a movement of middle-class protest against the long-standing dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. Like many of Mexico’s 19th-century rulers, Diaz was an army officer who had come to power by an overthrow. Unlike his predecessors, however, he established a stable political system, in which the formally representative Constitution of 1857 was bypassed, local political leaders controlled elections, political opposition, and public order. While a handful of powerful families and their client’s monopolized economic and political power in the provinces. The Mexican Revolution started as a series of local/personal fights, then turns into a national movement. The revolutionary armies are led by Pancho Villa, Carranza, Obregón, and by peasants under Zapata- joined forces. Huerta resigned as president of Mexico and fled to Spain. The revolutionary armies entered Mexico City, and the disagreement within these revolutionary forces, mainly between Villa and Carranza. The main character, Demetrio, and his men represent the peasant guerrilla forces in the revolution. Demetrio was an expert in guerrilla warfare and used it to his much smaller army’s advantage. The Federales raided their way through the countryside, to send a message to the disorganized and corrupt government stealing from the poor. Luis Cervantes changes throughout the story. He fights for the Federales until he becomes disillusioned with their cause. He has deserted in part because he has come to see the truth about the government’s side, and he feel sorry for with the poor and oppressed, which are represented by the rebels. He is found by Demetrio’s men. Luis is a medical student and a journalist. He wrote pieces about the revolutionaries and the Federales came after him to stop him from continuing his writing. Luis calls himself a coreligionist with the same ideals as the revolutionaries. It takes some time for Demetrio and his men to trust him, but he has knowledge about the revolution in all the ways in which Demetrio cannot, and it is Cervantes who encourages Demetrio to take his rightful place in history. Cervantes has always looked out for himself and …show more content…
By the mid-1920’s, however, it had been translated into various languages and was considered both a Latin American and a Mexican classic. Ranked internationally as the best novel of the Mexican Revolution, “The Underdogs” helped transform the novel into the most important literary genre of Latin America and Mexico. Individual members of Demetrio’s command symbolize certain features of Mexican society. Azuela selects and spotlights a few specific characteristics of a person, a scene, or a situation and that allows the reader to understand the book