The Underdogs: The Novel of the Mexican Revolution

On the Surface: The Transformation or Revelation of Demetrio Macias, Part III

Demetrio Macías Revealed

Cervantes:

“Are you tired of the revolution?”

Captain Solis:

“ ‘Tired? But am I disappointed? Perhaps!...I’d hope to find a meadow at the end of the road…and I found a swamp. My friend, there are facts and there are men that are pure poison…And that poison drips into your soul and turns everything bitter. Enthusiasm, hopes, ideals, joys…all comes to naugnt…. Then you have no other choice: either you turn into bandit just like them; or you disappear, hiding behind a mask of the most ferocious and impenetrable egotism’ ” (63-64).

Demetrio:

“ ‘In this same sierra with just twenty men I killed five hundred Federals.’ ”

“As Demetrio begins to tell that famous exploit, the men realize the danger they are facing. When did Demetrio Macias’s men ever say ‘we wont’t go there?’ (149-150).

Outnumbered, his new recruits have retreated, and his loyal comrades fallen, Demetrio, unyielding and alone, is shielded by his “ferocious and impenetrable egotism” in his concluding pursuit.

Edith