After finishing The Underdogs (Los de Abajo), I came to the conclusion that there are two ways to read and interpret this book. The first way is to read the book from the descriptions and explanations given to us throughout the character dialogues in all three parts, and to read the book quite literally as a embellished war memoir with a heavy nihilistic element, not too uncommon of the early twentieth century. The other way to read The Underdogs is as a great tragedy and epic, where the actions of the characters are directly impacted by powers outside their control and by the forces and events of the Mexican Revolution that lurk in the back, and how each character reacts to these events.

After reading the foreword before and after finishing the novel in all three parts, I could not help finding myself in agreement with Carlos Fuentes, who reaches the same conclusion that Azuela’s The Underdogs follows the Homeric epic tradition, pioneered by Homer’s Iliad. Carlos Fuentes explains his reasoning for this comparison by stating, that both The Underdogs and the Iliad serve as a national origin story for primary audience, there has certainly been praise for The Underdogs as THE novel of the Mexican Revolution, however I could not help but notice many more similarities between The Underdogs and Homer’s works and that is what led me to my analysis for the text. We can compare the roles that the characters of The Underdogs play as a mirror of the roles that the characters of the Iliad have. Demetrios Macias and Luis Cervantes are similar in character to Agamemnon and Menelaus respectively, Demetrios serves as the leader of the revolutionary band and Luis plays the part of the revolutionary spirit of the group. The main figures of the revolution also act like the Greek gods of the Trojan war, as their actions are what ultimately decide the fate of the characters of the novel, while we never see them, they hold a place of reverence among their supporters or demonized by their enemies, especially Pancho Villa and Victoriano Huerta.

We can also divide The Underdogs into two distinct episodes, first we have the romanticized first episode, where the Revolution fought by the disenfranchised indigenous campesinos and urban liberals fight together against the militaristic and fascist old regime, and resembles a romantic epic. The second episode of the novel, however takes a radically different tone and resembles more a tragedy, where the ideals of the revolution are tossed aside, in exchange for infighting and dividing the spoils amongst the victors of the Revolution. If we take the first episode of the novel as resembling the Iliad, we can take the second as the Odyssey, where Demetrio must make his way back to his home and family and faces numerous trials and tribulations.

Also found it interesting how the actions of the character of Luis Cervantes resembles that of the Author, so my discussion question is: Do you think that Mariano Azuela purposefully made Luis Cervantes actions in the novel reflect his personal experiences?