The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela as a Reflection of the Mexican Revolution

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The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela as a Reflection of the Mexican Revolution

In 1910, the first social upheaval of the 20th century was unleashed in Mexico. Known as the Mexican Revolution, its historical importance and impact inspired an abundance of internationally renowned South American authors. Mariano Azuela is one of these, whose novel, "The Underdogs" is often described as a classic of modern Hispanic literature. Having served as a doctor under Pancho Villa, a revolutionary leader of the era, Azuela's experience in the Revolution provides The Underdogs with incomparable authenticity of the political and social tendencies of the era between 1910 and 1920. The Underdogs recounts the living conditions of the Mexican peasants, the corruption of the government troops, and the revolutionary zeal behind the inspiring causes of the revolution. In vivid detail and honest truth, Azuela reveals the actuality of the extent of turmoil that plagued Mexico and its people during the revolution. However, before one can acknowledge The Underdogs as a reflection of the Mexican Revolution one must have an understanding the political state of Mexico prior to the Revolution and the presidents who reigned during it.

The history of political instability in Mexico and its need for revolution is very complex and dates back to the colonization of Mexico by the Spaniards in the 1500s. However, many aspects of the social situation of Mexico when the Revolution broke out can be attributed to the thirty-year dictatorship of President Porfrio Diaz, prior to 1911. The Revolution began in November of 1910 in an effort to overthrow the Diaz dictatorship. Under the Diaz presidency, a small minority of people, primarily relatives and friends, were in ...

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...vel, The Underdogs powerfully epitomizes the extent of poverty the Mexican people were living in, the corruption of the government troops and the pandemonium's they inflicted on the lives of peasants, and the revolutionary spirit and uprisings that stemmed from such conditions. After centuries of living in repressed poverty under unstable and unjust political stipulations, the Mexican people could no longer sit back and be dictated under the rulers who lacked any interests besides their own. The Mexican Revolution was the starting point for political, social, and economic reforms which have been slowly making progression in Mexico since the start of the Revolution. Through The Underdogs, one relives the struggles of the Mexican people to revolutionize a country that had been in a desperate state for centuries.

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