The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela was certainly a powerful read with its portrayal of the harsh realities of war and revolutions. As someone who knew virtually nothing about the Mexican Revolution before reading this novel, this book certainly opened up new perspectives for me.
At first, it was certainly an overwhelming read for me since I tend to be on the "overly sensitive" side (hence why I usually just stick to watching rom-coms). Regardless, narratives like these are crucial for one to learn about and understand the historical struggles and realities that many before us faced. Mariano Azuela certainly used vivid imagery to describe the actual battle, but also to describe its aftermath and psychological impacts. I found the latter to be particularly helpful as it really allowed me to connect with the characters' emotions. We also see how the revolution leads to feelings of fear and anger amongst the characters which while brings them together, also becomes the very force that leads to their destruction.
Throughout this reading, I couldn't help but think about the various instances of brutality and war that we've witnessed in the past year from Ukraine to Syria; this keeps taking me back to the quote that "war is not a thing of glory, nor a game of glory. War is a thing of death, death, and death." Underneath the "idiotic" (pardon my language) power struggles amongst certain leaders/countries/actors etc, there are families and lives being ruined. While I understand (or at least try to understand) the complexities of global politics, I always find it deeply saddening how a few years from now, the forthcoming generations would read about the atrocities that are occurring today and would discuss our inability to actually prevent such large-scale loss of lives in another literature or history class like we are today.
Besides that, one quote that really caught my attention was: "War is like love; it always finds a way of surprising you." This metaphor very well captures the idea of how, like love, war comes about unexpectedly and can change someone's life in its entirety. Both things can lead one down unexpected paths and likewise, with unexpected outcomes. This quote very well represents the way war unexpectedly affected Demetrio's life, especially given his initial reluctance towards joining the revolution. Likewise, love also came unexpectedly to Demetrio with his feelings for Camila and Elisenda; yet again, this same love led him on a journey toward his death.
You point to some of the complexities here... war as both a "thing of death" and "like love." Perhaps that explains why some of the characters here can't seem to get enough of it? Why else do they get involved?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, do you have a question for us? And please add the label "Azuela," and any other labels you think appropriate for the themes your post has covered.
Hi Chanya, That quote you included about war being like love is great. I forgot about that part in the book. One could even argue that Camilla’s feelings for Luis caused a war within herself since it changed and evolved throughout the novel and caused her a lot of distress and pain.
ReplyDelete