In-depth Book Review: Mariano Azuela's 'The Underdogs' - History 215

This report provides a comprehensive review of Mariano Azuela's novel, 'The Underdogs,' within the context of the Mexican Revolution. The review identifies the central theme as the horrors of war and its impact on ordinary people, analyzing how Azuela effectively conveys this through storytelling and character development. It examines the novel's connection to historical events and figures, assessing its contribution to understanding the revolution's human cost. The report concludes that 'The Underdogs' offers valuable insights into the social and psychological consequences of civil unrest, presenting it as a compelling blend of fiction and historical reflection. Desklib provides this and other solved assignments to aid students in their studies.

Running head: THE UNDERDOGS
The Underdogs
-Book Review
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The Underdogs is a novel by the Mexican writer Mariano Azuela. The story takes
place in the backdrop of the Mexican revolution and a group of commoners who gets dragged
in it and how it impacts they psyche. The book was originally published in Spanish in 1920
and the first English translated version of the book was published on 1929. The novel is
considered as a good example of a modern post revolutionary literature and has been
translated into several languages since its first publication12.
The aim of the essay is to write a review on the book, identifying the main theme of
the work, analyzing how the facts have been presented by the author in context to our
understanding to the past and comparing the novel to other works based on the same
historical context of the novel
Discussion
The book ‘The Underdogs’ by Mariano Azuela is about a group of commoners who
gets dragged into the Mexican Revolution which heavily affects their psyche. The books are
about the horrors and problems that come with civil and political unrest and how it affects the
common people’s lives. The novel is based on the central theme of the book is the horrors of
war and how it makes people helpless and at the mercy of others and how such incidents can
break and destroy families and people’s lives3.
The book never argues a thesis but through the story of the central characters lives, it
portrays how wars and civil unrest affects people. The purpose of the author seems to be to
1 Franco, Rafael Olea, ed. Mariano Azuela y la literatura de la Revolución Mexicana. Vol. 18. El Colegio de
Mexico AC, 2017.
2 Azuela, Mariano. The underdogs. Penguin, 2013.
3 Robe, Stanley Linn. Azuela and the Mexican underdogs. Vol. 48. Univ of California Press, 1979.

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increase awareness of people about how wars can adversely affect our society and warn us of
the horrors ensuing such incidents. To convey the central theme of the story, the author uses
the strategy of story-telling, recounting the story of few ‘commoners’ in the time of the
Mexican revolution and how different chains of events led to those people being dragged into
the conflict and how the conflict affected their minds and their lives. This strategy has been
quite effective to create an image of horror and suffering under conditions of war and civil
unrest. The book is neither a sentimental memoir, nor is it a book of political propaganda, and
the events were described with great simplicity moving from an idealist premise to that of a
strong political cause. Development of an ignorant and brutal attitude of the revolutionaries,
fostered by political ideas shows a very real threat of political brainwashing and how political
unrest can propagate within the personal lives of people4.
The book connects the events of the story to the Mexican revolution by interweaving
several important historical characters from Mexican Revolution into the storyline to add to
its authenticity. However since the book is a work of fiction, the events cannot be taken as
reliable historical record. The book however is a very interesting one and emotionally
engaging. It is able to captivate the author into the main premise of the story and how the
main characters are affected by the Mexican Revolution. The relation of the events of the
story to the Mexican revolution further helps to attract the attention of the author. The
mention of real historical characters who were involved in the Mexican revolution also makes
the book credible in context to its historical connectedness5.
The story can be read by the youth of any age and its main premise can be passed
along by them in the form of peer discussions. Retelling the story, the teller can pass along an
4 Azuela, Mariano, and Gustavo Pellón. The Underdogs: with Related Texts. Hackett Publishing, 2006.
5 Zivley, Sherry Lutz. "The Conclusions of Azuela's The Underdogs and Hemingway's For Whom the Bell
Tolls." The Hemingway Review 17, no. 2 (1998): 118.

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anecdote of hoe civil unrest can affect the lives of people, even if the unrest is in the form of
a revolution for greater good. From the accuracy of some key historical incidents and
historical characters associated with the Mexican revolution, it can be assumed that the author
consulted historical sources to write the book6.
The historical sources are mostly recounted as a text, within the premise of the story
of the novel, with the characters and the events being interwoven into the main storyline. The
author however did not provide any bibliography to refer to the historical and academic
materials from which the historical records were taken. This also affects the possibility of
validating the sources used by the author. The materials (historical facts and the story of the
novel) were presented very well, in the form so a work of fiction, that is easily readable and
understandable for a wide range of readers. Moreover, by interweaving the historical events
into fictional story helped to bring to life the horrors and absurdities of war and civil unrest
that the author wanted to portray in the novel7.
The flow of the story and the events were also well organized, relating the events to
real incidents and timeline of the revolution to the story of the novel, showing how the main
characters were effected at the different stages of the incident. Te book is written in simple
terms without using any academic jargons and complex concepts or ideas that can confuse the
reader and serves towards providing a more generalized knowledge for a generalized
audience and therefore not a viable source of academic literature. The book therefore is
suggested for a general read for the general student rather than for a professional specialist8.
6 Franco, Rafael Olea, ed. Mariano Azuela y la literatura de la Revolución Mexicana. Vol. 18. El Colegio de
Mexico AC, 2017.
7 Azuela, Mariano, and Gustavo Pellón. The Underdogs: with Related Texts. Hackett Publishing, 2006.
8 Azuela, Mariano. The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican Revolution. Modern Library Classics, 2002.

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In the book, the behavior and reactions of the central characters closely portrays the
excitement that could be expected of the original event of the Mexican revolution, including
the insecurities, pride, guilt, revenge and retribution. The book was therefore was able to
convey the feeling of people in the actual historical event by describing those very same
reactions among the central characters of the novel. Even though the book is a work of fiction
not a source of historical information, the story still interweaves several events and characters
involved in the Mexican revolution and therefore can help to promote understanding if the
historical event through a fictional context9.
Conclusion
The novel is a beautiful combination of post revolutionary literature, fiction and
historical event related to Mexican revolution that can help to understated and appreciate how
an act of war or civil unrest can affect the lives of the common people.
9 Gollnick, Brian. "The regional novel and beyond." The Cambridge Companion to the Latin American Novel
(2005): 44-58.

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References:
Azuela, Mariano, and Gustavo Pellón. The Underdogs: with Related Texts. Hackett
Publishing, 2006.
Azuela, Mariano. The underdogs. Penguin, 2013.
Azuela, Mariano. The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican Revolution. Modern Library
Classics, 2002.
Franco, Rafael Olea, ed. Mariano Azuela y la literatura de la Revolución Mexicana. Vol. 18.
El Colegio de Mexico AC, 2017.
Robe, Stanley Linn. Azuela and the Mexican underdogs. Vol. 48. Univ of California Press,
1979.
Zivley, Sherry Lutz. "The Conclusions of Azuela's The Underdogs and Hemingway's For
Whom the Bell Tolls." The Hemingway Review 17, no. 2 (1998): 118.

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