Mariano Azuela’s novel “Los de Abajo” Essay

Mariano Azuelas refreshful Los de Abajo, entitle The Underdogs by Enrique Mungua Jr., in his English translation, has been hai take as the impertinent of the Mexican revolution. In this novel Azuela creates characters congresswoman of the two factions that are at variance, the revolutionaries and the federalists. The novel is divided into three parts and each part subdivided into chapters, the initiatory of all part being the longest and the third being the shortest. Enrique Munguas translation is or so one hundred forty pages in length and many have noted that this novel is one of Azuelas shortest.The novel is, however, sort of entertaining and it maintains the readers attention throughout. For anyone interested in a serious study of Mexican history, this is an essential novel to read as it gives a perspective into the social aspects of the revolution that few textbooks can capture. The book has diachronic significance because it gives a description of the Mexican revolutio n from the perspective of people who were directly affected by and involved in the revolutionary process.Literally the title of the novel in Spanish Los de Abajo translates to mean those from or at the bottom. This I believe is a very appropriate title and in itself captures Azuelas uncomplicated argument that he maintains throughout the novel. The revolutionaries and the federalists are constantly juxtaposed a come onst each other in the novel but Azuela, through the eyes of Luis Cervantes, allows the reader to see that the two groups are not that dissimilar.Both factions appearance distrust, treachery, moral decadence and kill so mercilessly that it is no wonder that the words of the title Los de Abajo is use in the novel to refer to both the rebels and the federalists. Early in Part I chapter three when Demetrio led his men into the first ambush of the government troops he instructs his men to Get those coming up from under Los de Abajo Get the underdogs be screamed. Later on i n chapter 6 the narrator reflects of Luis Cervantes, on the first night of his joining the revolutionaries, that Did not the sufferings of the underdogs, of the disinherited masses, move him to the core? the subjugated, the beaten and baffled.The events in the novel reflect the Mexican revolution of 1910. The main plot of the story is that of a peasant farmer, Demetrio Macias who, after having suffered at the manpower of the federalists, decides to join Pancho Villas revolutionary army.A defector of the government army, Luis Cervantes elite and educated, joins Demetrios troop because of his go of the ideals he believed the revolutionaries espoused. Azuela, however, uses this character as his mouthpiece and, in his disillusionment that the revolutionaries were not fighting based on ideologies the reader gets an understanding of Azuelas perspective. He, like Cervantes, abandoned the struggle and migrated to the United States after having worked along with Pancho Villa as a militar y doctor believing his ideals to have been betrayed.One of the main lessons that Azuela delivers here is relevant in so many areas of life. His major argument in presenting his novel is that without purpose, focus, planning and proper management, even the some worthwhile efforts will prove to be futile.The most incontrovertible aspect of Azuelas novel is that it was create verbally while the struggles in the revolution were still going on. Beginning in 1914 the novel began to be create as a series in a Texas newspaper in installments though it was not until 1925 that it began to gain worldwide attention.This novel details the battles in the Mexican revolution from the perspective of the author who himself was a watcher of these very events. Prior to moving to Texas, Azuela supported the revolutionary movement by moroseering his medical run to Pancho Villas army. In such a position he was exposed to the ills of the revolutionary battle, more so from the perspective of the revo lutionaries. Azuela was therefore in a fitting position to discuss the Mexican revolution because he too had been very intimately involved in the process.However, while this novel bears relevance to the themes that were facing the Mexicans at the time when they were most involved in the revolution, it fails to give a complete check of the revolutionary process. The business with the novel is precisely because it was written so close to the actual events. This prevents the reader from having a total picture of the before, the during and the after of the revolution.In the same way that Demetrios eyes remain leveled in an incessant glance at the end of the novel, so does the battle between the revolutionaries and the federalists give the impression that it will kick the bucket eternally without resolution or victory for either side. The tone of Azuelas novel therefore comes off as being very pessimistic. Failure and doom is the only outcome of the revolutionary struggle and no one seems to be winning. Azuelas conclusion here seems to be rather generalized.Authors who have written about the revolution subsequent to Azuela have had the benefit of seeing the long-term results of the struggle which revealed much more positive effects than what were immediately obvious while the struggles were still going on.REFERENCESAzuela, Mariano (1963). The Underdogs (Enrique Mungua Jr. Trans.). The U.S.A. Penguin Group. (Original work publish 1916).