The Underdogs (novel)

The Underdogs
Author(s)	Mariano Azuela
Original title	Los de abajo
Translator	E. MunguÍa, Jr.
Cover artist	"Agrarian Leader Zapata" by Diego Rivera
Country	Mexico
Language	Spanish
Publisher	Penguin Books
Publication date	1915
Pages	149

The Underdogs (Spanish: Los de abajo) is a novel of the Mexican Revolution by Mariano Azuela. It was originally published in serial form in the newspaper El Paso del Norte in 1915.

Synopsis

The book tells us the story of peasant Demetrio Macías, who becomes the enemy of a local cacique (leader, or important person) in his town, and so has to abandon his family when the government soldiers (Federales) come looking for him. He escapes to the mountains, and forms a group of rebels who support the Mexican Revolution. Some of them are prototypes of the sort of people that would be attracted by a revolution, like Luis Cervantes, who is an educated man mistreated by the Federales and therefore turning on them, or Güero Margarito, a cruel man who finds justification for his deeds in the tumultuousness of the times. Also Camila, a young peasant who is in love with Cervantes, who cheats her into becoming Macías' lover, and whose kind and stoic nature gives her a tragic uniqueness among the rest. With a concise, unsympathetic tone, Azuela takes us along with this band of outcasts as they move along the hills of the country, seemingly struggling for a cause whose leader changes from day to night. The rebels, not very certain of what or whom they are fighting for, practice themselves the abuse and injustice they used to suffer in the hands of the old leaders. So the Mexican people, as the title of the book hints, are always the “ones below”, no matter who runs the country. In the end, Macías has lost his lover and most of his men, and reunites with his family with no real desire or hope for redemption or peace. He has forebodings of his destiny, and the last scene of the book leaves him firing his rifle with deathly accuracy, alone and extremely outnumbered by his enemies.

Characters

• Demetrio Macías: He leads a group of men fighting against the federal forces of Victoriano Huerta. He is famous for his marksmanship and his ability to lead men in battle. Many poor peasants he meets throughout his journey protest against the Federales because they burn their houses, take their wives, their stock, and their animals. Demetrio Macías and his men were not much better though. After conquering a town he would loot many houses. Still many of these poor men joined Macías in the fight against Huerta’s troops. At the beginning of the novel he fights to change his country, when at the end he does not know why he continues to fight, comparing his actions to that of a pebble he throws into a canyon. Many of Macías' men forget what they are fighting for and as time goes by start to concentrate more on their own needs. While at the beginning of his journey, Macia is fighting against various injustices at the end he seems to lose sight of the purpose. Mariano Azuela shows that while the Revolution improved various conditions and got rid of certain inequalities, it also created new ones.

• Luis Cervantes: The newest member of Demetrio's band of rebels. He was conscripted to fight in the Federale army but deserted when he was offended. He is a medical student and journalist. Towards the end of the novel he flees the country to go to the United States. His story is similar to the author's.

Minor Characters

Note: Many of the names in the book are nicknames.

Members of Demetrio's band

• Quail, La Cordoniz
• Lard, Manteca
• The Indian
• Pancracio
• Venancio
• Anastasio Montañés
• "Blondie" El Güero Margarito
• "War Paint" La Pintada: Female member, likes Towhead.
• Camila: Demetrio's girlfriend. Doesn't get along with War Paint.

Other

• Don Mónico: Sent the Federales after Demetrio before the novel starts, which causes Demetrio to join the rebellion in the first place.

References

• Azuela Mariano, The Underdogs: a novel of the Mexican Revolution, trans. Sergio Waisman (New York: Penguin Books, 2008).

External links

The Underdogs at Project Gutenberg