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The Indian In The Works Of Gregorio Lopez Y Fuentes

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The Indian In The Works Of Gregorio Lopez Y Fuentes

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Content This dissertation has been
microfilmed exactly as received 70-8521
DeANDA, Joseph, 1921-
THE INDIAN IN THE WORKS OF GREGORIO
LOPEZ Y FUENTES. [Portions of Text in
Spanish].
University of Southern California, Ph.D., 1969
Language and Literature, modem
University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan
THE INDIAN IN THE WORKS OF GREGORIO LOPEZ Y FUENTES
by
Joseph DeAnda
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Spanish)
August 1969
UNIVERSITY O F SO UTHERN CALIFORNIA
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA S 0 0 0 7
This dissertation, written by
J o sep h De Anda
under the direction of h.X.S .. Dissertation C om
mittee, and a pproved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by The G radu
ate School, in partial fulfillm ent of require
ments of the degree of
D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y
Dean
D a te A u gu st 1969
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
Chairman «
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION ..............................
PART I
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN AS A LITERARY FIGURE
IN MEXICAN LITERATURE
II. THE INDIAN AS A LITERARY FIGURE IN THE
PERIODS OF COLONIZATION, INDEH2NDENCE,
REFORM, AND REVOLUTION ..................
The Portrayal of the Indian in Literature
in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth
and Nineteenth Centuries
The Indian in Mexican Literature in the
Nineteenth Century and Pre-Revolutionary
Years of the Twentieth Century
The Indian in the Novel of the Revolution
of 1910
PART II
THE INDIAN IN THE WORKS OF
GREGORIO LOPEZ Y FUENTES
III. THE AUTHOR.............................. .
Life
Literary Style
IV. THE INDIAN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE
REVOLUTION ................................
Chapter Page
V. THE INDIAN AND THE AGRARIAN PROBLEM .... 97
The Land Question in Mexico
Tierra
El indio
The Agrarian Reform as Seen
in Milpa. Potrero v Monte
VI. EDUCATION AND THE INDIAN.................. 139
Rural Education in Mexico
The Educational Issue in El indio
"Quetzalcoatl"— Story of a Rural Teacher
VII. LIFE IN AN INDIAN VILLAGE................ 158
VIII. THE FUSION OF TWO CULTURES................ 204
Los neregrinos inmoviles
The Pilgrimage of Two Groups
IX. INDIANISM IN OTHER WORKS OF LOPEZ Y
FUENTES.................................. 244
Huasteca
Arrieros
La siringa de cristal
Cartas de ninos
X. CONCLUSION........................... 263
BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................... 274
iii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Gregorio Lopez y Puentes has earned a distinguished
place for himself in Mexican letters. His major novels,
Tierra, El indio and Peregrinos inmoviles. have elicited
words of praise from discriminating critics of Hispanic
American literature in the United States and Latin America.
His novel El indio won the Mexican National Prize for
Literature as the best novel of 1935, and shortly after
wards the American version in English appeared gaining
recognition for its author in this country. A second
English version appeared in England under the title They
that Reap and was also generously praised by British
critics. A German version of El indio appeared subse
quently, thus making this novel about the Mexican Indian
available to an even greater number of readers.'*'
1
Ernest Herman Hespelt, "Introduction," to El indio
(New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1940), pp. 12-19.
1
Throughout his literary career, Lopez y Puentes was
also a well-known journalist and an editor of El GrAfico
and El Universal. Mexico City newspapers. Besides being a
novelist and journalist, Lopez y Puentes was also a poet.
It was as a novelist, however, that he gained national and
international fame. He is considered by many critics as
one of the outstanding novelists of the Mexican Revolution
along with such famous authors as Mariano Azuela, Martin
Luis Guzm£n and Jos£ Rub^n Romero. Azuela*s Los de abaio.
Guzman*s El Aguila v la serpiente. and El indio are the
Mexican novels which have been translated most often and
A
have gained the most international recognition. Lopez y
Puentes* contribution to universal literature, El indio.
along with his many other literary accomplishments, places
him among Mexico*s celebrated men of letters.
In spite of Lopez y Puentes* prominence as an
author, his novels have not been the subject of many
studies. Professor Seymour Menton published his Master*s
thesis, Las novelas de Gregorio L6pez v Fuentes. but it
was published privately and the book is no longer available.
^Manuel Bedro Gonzalez, Trayectoria de la novela en
Mexico (First edition; Mexico: Botas, 1951), pp. 96, 267.
Furthermore, Professor Menton assures me by letter that
he does not consider the study a very complete one inasmuch
as it was written over twenty years ago and Lopez y Fuentes
has since published a number of novels.
Professor Richard H. Armitage*s Ph.D. disserta
tion, "Problems of Modem Mexico in the Novels of Lopez y
Fuentes," is a careful and well-done study. James C.
McKegney*s dissertation, "Female Characters in the Novels
of Jos£ Rub^n Romero and Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes— a Com
parative Study," is the only other Ph.D. dissertation about
this author that has been completed. Alejandro Arratia was
preparing his doctoral dissertation entitled "Gregorio
Lopez y Fuentes, novelista de la Revolucion mexicana" at
New York University in 1956. Another doctoral dissertation
being prepared in 1944 at the University of Rierto Rico was
Deusdedit Marrero*s "La Revolucion mexicana en las novelas
de J. R. Romero y Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes." There is no
record, however, of these dissertations having been com
pleted. A number of Master's theses have been written
which focus on the Revolution as presented in Lopez y
Fuentes* novels or on his presentation of Mexico's social
problems.
4
Research reveals, however, that a study dealing
exclusively with the indigenismo in Lopez y Fuentes* works
has not been done. Yet Lopez y Fuentes was the creator of
the modern indigenista novel in Mexico. His best known
novel is El indio and there is some reference to the
Mexican Indian in practically all of his novels. Ernest
John Yorba*s Master*s thesis written at the University of
Southern California in 1943 is entitled "The Indian in Con
temporary Mexican Literature as Portrayed in the Works of
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes." The thesis, which is general in
nature, does not include a study of the Indian*s mentality,
his mythology and religious philosophy, his social atti
tudes, family and community life, and many other facets of
Indian life which are present in Lopez y Fuentes* works.
A doctoral dissertation dealing with the Indianist
character of Lopez y Fuentes* works has not yet been writ
ten. In my opinion, a study giving the philosophical,
mythological and historical background of the Mexican
Indian, his status in Mexican society, and his social,
religious and moral values should prove useful in the
interpretation of Lopez y Fuentes* work.
My study of the Mexican Indian will be limited to
those facets of Indian life to which Lopez y Fuentes
alludes in his novels. Any attempt to present a broader
study of the Indian would require several volumes and much
of the material would not be pertinent to Lopez y Fuentes*
works. I shall deal only with the social and economic
problems, the aspects of family and community life, and
the religious, moral and social values of the Mexican
Indian which Lopez y Fuentes presents in his novels.
This study, it is hoped, will contribute to a
better understanding of the author’s works and at the same
time will encourage others to make further studies in the
field of the indigenist novel which has such an important
place in Mexican and Latin American letters.
In order to view Lopez y Fuentes* presentation of
the Indian in proper perspective, a historical review of
the literature which refers to the Mexican Indian from the
time of the discovery and conquest up to and including the
years of the Mexican Revolution is essential. Chapter II
reviews that period. The first part of Chapter II deals
with the Indian as he was presented in Mexican literature
in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
It is followed by a discussion relative to the presentation
of the Indian in nineteenth century literature, with
6
special emphasis on the Romantic Novel. Finally, Chap
ter II includes a review of selected novels of the Mexican
Revolution by writers other than Lopez y Fuentes, giving
special attention to the way in which the Indian is pre
sented in those novels.
The central part of the study is devoted to Lopez
y Fuentes* treatment of the Indian in his works against the
historical background of the different traditions, customs,
beliefs and mentality of the Indian as described by im
portant historians, sociologists, anthropologists and
educators. Comparisons between Lopez y Fuentes* works and
those of other novelists will also be made. The purpose of
these comparisons is to show that Lopez y Fuentes* descrip
tion of Indian life is fundamentally sound and truthful.
It is my belief that this author is foremost among the
writers who have described Mexican rural life, particularly
as it pertains to the Indian.
While not all of rural Mexico is Indian, it is cer-
3
tainly true that practically all of Indian Mexico is rural.
^Carlos A. EchAvano Trujillo, "La mentalidad de la
poblacion indigena de Mexico," in Hechos v nroblemas del
Mexico rural (Mexico: Seminario Mexicano de Sociologia,
1952), p. 23.
7
Furthermore, since Mexico continues to be an agricultural
country, in spite of increasing industrialization, a knowl
edge of rural Mexico is indispensable if one is to under
stand Mexican society. Lopez y Fuentes* contribution in
this area is important.
Lopez y Fuentes was a master of the language and a
stylist. His literary work was always that of the artist,
never that of the mere propagandist or reformer. As a
result, the majority of Lopez y Fuentes* novels and short
stories have become classics.
PART I
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN AS A LITERARY FIGURE
IN MEXICAN LITERATURE
8
CHAPTER XI
THE INDIAN AS A LITERARY FIGURE IN THE PERIODS
OF COLONIZATION, INDEPENDENCE, REFORM,
AND REVOLUTION
The Portrayal of the Indian in Literature in
the Sixteenth. Seventeenth. Eighteenth
and Nineteenth Centuries
Discovery and Conquest
The actual discovery of America and the descrip
tions of the land and its inhabitants which were sent to
Europe by the various chroniclers stirred the imagination
of European humanists, products of the Renaissance who
found substance in Columbus' narrative for two great
Renaissance themes: "Natural man happy and virtuous" and
1
"Nature luxuriant and paradisiacal." Among these human
ists was Pedro Martir de Anglerla who in his Decades
•^Enrique Anderson Irabert, Spanish American Litera
ture. Tr. from Spanish (Detroit: Wayne University Press,
1963), p. 12.
9
10
referred to the Indians as natural beings living an idyllic
2 /
life without the vices or evils of Europe. Martir de
Angleria reached this conclusion after reading the narra
tions of Christopher Columbus, who in his Carta del descu-
brimiento said of the Indians, "la gente de estas islas
andan todos desnudos, hombres y mujeres, asI como sus
3
madres los paren." To this Columbus added, "No tienen
hierro ni acero ni armas ni son para ello. No porque no
sea gente bien dispuesta y de hermosa estatura, salvo que
4
son muy temerosos a maravilla." In his Diario del descu-
brimiento. Columbus again praised the physical grace and
beauty of the natives."*
Following Columbus* initial contribution, the next
important literary documents were the Cartas de relacion
in which Hemln Cortes informed the emperor, Charles V, of
his adventures in the New World, at the same time describing
its inhabitants. As Anderson Imbert points out, these nar
ratives led to the Europeans' reaffirmation of the utopian
2 ~
Etedro Henrlquez Urena, las corrientes literarias
en' la America Hisndnica (First edition in Spanish; Mexico:
Fondo de Cultura Econ6mica, 1949), p. 19.
3Ibid.. p. 12. 4Ibid.
5Ibid.. p. 13.
11
g
dream of the "noble savage."
Moctezuma, Cuauhtemoc and other indigenous rulers
were to become literary figures in the works of Spanish and
Latin American writers soon after the conquest of the
Aztecs. The history of the conquest of Mexico itself be
came one of the most widely diffused literary themes in
Latin American and Spanish literature. The theme was
widely used in epic poems of the sixteenth century and
again gained prominence in the Romantic literature of the
nineteenth century. Cortes* Carta de relacion de la con-
quista de Mexico^ and Bernal D£az del Castillo’s famous
O
Historia verdadera de la conquista de Mexico were the two
works to which most writers referred for documentation when
treating the theme themselves.
Diaz del Castillo describes the last two Aztec
emperorsOf Moctezuma he says :
g
Anderson Imbert, op. cit.. p. 14.
^Hem£n Cortes, Cartas de relaci6n (Second edition;
Mexico: Ediciones Porrua, 1963).
Q
Bernal Dfaz del Castillo, Historia verdadera de la
conquista de Mexico (First edition; Mexico: Espasa-Calpe,
1955).
12
Era el gran Montezuma de edad de hasta cuarenta anos
y de buena estatura e bien proporcionado, e cenceno,
e pocas cames, y la color ni muy morena, sino propia
color e matiz de indio, y trala los cabellos no muy
largos, sino cuanto le cubrian las orejas, e pocas
barbas prietas e bien puestas e ralas, y el rostro
algo largo e alegre, e los ojos de buena manera, e
mostraba en su persona, en el mirar, por un cabo amor
e cuando era menester gravedad; era muy polido e lim-
pio, ban£base cada dia una vez, a la tarde.
The last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtemoc, protagonist of
dozens of poems, novels and plays in nineteenth and twen
tieth century Mexican literature, is described by Bernal in
this manner:
... el Guatemuz era mancebo y muy gentil hombre para
ser indio y de buena disposicion y rostro alegre, y aun
la color algo m£s que tiraba a bianco que a matiz de
indios, que era de obra de veinte y cinco o veinte y
seis anos, y era casado con una hermosa mujer, hija del
gran Montezuma, su tlo. - * - 0
Francisco Lopez de Gomara never visited America.
Nevertheless, his Historia general de Indias and Historia
de la conquista de Mexico are so well written that he is
? considered by some critics to be the classical chronicler
of the discovery and conquest of the New World. Angel del
Rio, referring to Lopez de Gomara, states, "No estuvo nunca
^Ibid.. p. 191.
10Ibid.., p. 412.
13
en America, a pesar de lo cual puede ser conslderado como
el cronista cl£sico del descubrimiento y conquista del
/ 11
Nuevo Mundo, despu^s de Bedro Martir."
The Colonial Bariod
One of the best known chroniclers of the Colonial
Iteriod is Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, author of Sumario de
la natural historia de las Indias and General v natural
historia de las Indias. Alberto M. Salas in his book Tres
12
cronistas de Indias points out that Oviedo adopted a
highly unsympathetic attitude toward the Indians. Salas
states that Oviedo met Indians from many parts of America
but that:
... ante todos estos indxgenas, Oviedo no experimento
ninguna simpatxa. Como la mayor parte de los hombres
de su 6poca, parece llevado por el t£cito concepto de
que lo que se aparta de las costumbres habituales del
europeo, y mds particularmente del espanol, afecta el
sentido moral, recayendo ®hqel campo del vicio, del
pecado o de la aberracion.
^ Antoloexa general de la literatura esnanola.
Vol. I (New York: Dryden Press, 1954), p. 356.
12
Alberto M. Salas, Tres cronistas de Indias (First
edition; Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econ6mica, 1959).
13Ibid.. p. 119.
14
Salas points out that since Oviedo was concerned
with maintaining the repartimiento and encomienda systems,
he justified the existence of these institutions by attack
ing the Indians as dirty, cowardly, degenerate, lazy,
stupid and ungrateful creatures who committed suicide out
of boredom and to deprive the Spaniards of their ser-
14
vices. For Oviedo the Indians were not the graceful,
nude natives Columbus described living an idyllic life as
Martir de Anglerla believed.
According to Salas, Father BartolomA de las Casas,
motivated by his desire to seek justice for the Indians,
took the opposite point of view from the one held by
Oviedo. Salas quotes from Las Casas* Brevisima historia
de la destruccion de las Indias:
Todas estas universas y infinitas gentes, a todo
genero crio Dios las mas simples, sin maldades ni
dobleces, obedientIsimas, fidellsimas a sus senores
naturales y a los cristianos, a quien sirven: Mas
humildes, mAs pacientes, mAs paclficas y quietas: sin
rencillas ni bullicios, no rijosos, no querellosos,
sin rencores, sin odios, sin desear ven^anzas que hay
en el mundo. Son asimismo las gentes mas delicadas,
flacas y tiernas en complision, y que menos pueden
sufrir los trabajos, y que mAs facilmente mueren de
cualquier enfermedad. ... Son tambiAn gentes paupArri-
mas, y que no menos poseen ni quieren poseer de bienes
14Ibid.. p. 120.
15
temporales, y por esto no soberbias, no ambiciosas,
no cobdiciosas.
Another famous chronicler who rose to the defense
of the Indians was Fray Toribio de Benavente (Motolinla).
Even though Motolinla defended Cortes for his Christiani
zing mission, he became the protector of the Indians to
such a degree that at one point he advised the Indians not
to obey the Spaniards when ordered to work on public pro-
16
jects. In his Historia de los indios de Nueva Espana.
Motolinla depicts the Indians as victims of the encomende-
ros who exacted tribute from them and subjected them to
17
forced labor in the mines and encomiendas.
Among other missionaries who were also historians,
the name of Fray Bernardino de Sahagun is prominent. In
the prologue to his famous work, Historia general de las
cosas de la Nueva Espana. Sahagun explains that in order to
treat an illness, one must know the causes of the malady.
It was, therefore, necessary for him to learn about the
gods of the Mexicans in order to be able to cure them of
15Ibid.. p. 278.
-I (Z
Josi FemAndez Ramirez, Vida de Fray Toribio de
Motolinla (Mexico: Ediciones Porrua, 1944), p. 36.
17Ibid.. pp. 193-195.
16
1 8
their idolatry. The result of his research was the first
of the twelve books which comprise the Historia general and
which treats of the gods and goddesses of the Aztecs. The
second book deals with the festivals in honor of the gods,
the third with the Mexican theories on death and life after
death. The fourth book deals with astrology, the fifth
with the Aztecs' manner of making predictions. In the
sixth book, Sahagun wrote about Aztec rhetoric and phi
losophy. The other six books deal with the Mexicans*
customs, their government, the merchants, arts and crafts,
vices and virtues and way of life, as well as with the fowl
and fauna of Mexico. The last book is entitled "La con-
* 19
quista de Mexico."
Evidently as the Indians would relate the history
of the Mexicans to Sahagun, he became convinced of their
former greatness for he writes:
AprovecharA mucho toda esta obra para conocer el
quilate de esta gente mexicana, el cual aun no se ha
conocido. ... Fueron tan atropellados y destruldos
ellos y todas sus cosas, que ninguna apariencia les
Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, Historia general de
las cosas de la Nueva Espana. Vol. I (Mexico: Ediciones
Borrua, 1956), p. 27.
^ Ibid.. p. 28.
17
quedo de lo que eran antes. Asi estAn tenidos por
bArbaros y por gente de bajxsimo quilate— como segun
verdad, en las cosas de policia echan el pie delante
a muchas otras naciones que tienen gran presunci6n de
politicos, sacando fuera algunas tiranias que su
manera de regir contenia— . ®
Sahagdn praises the Aztecs further when he writes:
Del saber, o sabiduria de esta gente, hay fama que
fue raucha como parece en el libro decimo donde, en el
capitulo XXIX, se habla de los primeros pobladores de
esta tierra, donde se afirma que fueron perfectos
filosofos y astrologos y muy diestros en todas las
artes mecAnicas de la fortaleza, la cual entre ellos
era mAs estimada que ninguna otra virtud, y por lo que
subian al ultimo grado de valer.^l
Sahagun gives further proof of his high esteem for
the Indians by writing:
De lo que fueron los tiempos pasados, vemos por
experiencia ahora que son hAbiles para todas las artes
mecAnicas, y las ejercitan; son tambien hAbiles para
aprender todas las artes liberales ... cuan fuertes
son en sufrir trabajos de hambre y sed, frio y sueno,
cuan ligeros y dispuestos para acometer cualesquiera
trances peligrosos.22
Barhaps the best account of the mythohistories of
the Aztecs is Fray Diego de DurAn*s Historia de los indios
de Nueva Espana e islas de Tierra Firme which, although
finished in 1581, was not published until 1867 after JosA
FemAndez discovered the manuscript in the National library
2QIbid.. p. 29.
22Ibid.. p. 31.
21Ibid.. p. 30.
18
23
of Madrid. It is a fascinating account of the origins
of the Aztecs and their pilgrimage to their promised land.
In addition to the Spanish chroniclers, Mexico also
had its mestizo historians such as Hernando Alvarado
Tezozomoc and Fernando Alva Ixtlilxochitl, the latter
writing in Nahuatl of the legends and literature of the
Mexicans.^
Another important Spanish chronicler of Mexico is
Francisco Cervantes de Salazar noted for his Cronica de la
Nueva Espana. He is reputed to have invented the legend of
Cortes* burning of his ships in order to compare him to the
25
Greco-Roman heroes.
Alberto M. Salas states that the chroniclers saw
26
the Indian through European eyes. At times the Indian
was idealized and at times vilified. However, it appears
that seldom was he depicted truly objectively and realisti
cally by the chroniclers.
23
Fray Diego Dur^n, The Aztecs. Tr. by D. Heyden
and F. Horcasitas (New York: Orion Press, 1964), p. xxi.
24
Anderson Imbert, op. cit.. p. 58.
25Ibid.. p. 35.
26
Salas, op. cit.. p. 119.
19
The theme of the conquest of Mexico inspired a
number of epic poems of the late sixteenth and early seven
teenth centuries. Juan de Escoiquis wrote Mexico conquis-
tada. which comprises three volumes. According to the
Argentine writer, Alda Cometta Manzoni, his Indians are
copied from Ercilla's and she believes that since the
author was never in America, his characters lack authen-
27
ticity.
Another Spaniard who exploited the theme of the
conquest was Gabriel Lobo y Lasso de la Vega in his poem
Cortls valeroso. Perhaps there is some validity to Aida
Cometta Manzoni*s insistence that this poet could not have
given a true picture of the Indian since he also was never
28
in America. Nevertheless, we have seen that some writers
who were in America did not depict the Indian in a truly
realistic manner either.
Perhaps the best known of these "poemas de la con-
quista" is Bernardo de Balbuena*s la grandeza mexicana.
^Aida Cometta Manzoni, El indio en la poesia de
Amlrica Espanola (Buenos Aires: J. Torres, 1939), p. 80.
28Ibid.., p. 66.
20
We find that Balbuena praises Spain and the conquerors as
well as the beauties of the City of Mexico. He makes bare
mention of the Indians whom he calls "gentes Extranas"
although admitting their valor by later referring to them
29
as "bArbaros valientes." The only other time that he
alludes to the Indian, he refers to him as "el indio
« t.30
feo.
In El Bernardo, although Balbuena again sings the
praises of Cortes, one notices a certain admiration for
Moctezuma and the Aztec Qnpire as well as a recognition of
31
the injustices committed by Cortes.
Francisco de Terrazas in his unfinished work Nuevo
Mundo y conquista relates the history of the conquest of
Mexico and of the cruelty and avarice of the Spaniards who
32
set out to enslave the Indians to work in the gold mines.
Antonio Saavedra Guzman also relates the history of
the conquest in El peregrino indiano. The poet paints
29
Bernardo de Balbuena, Grandeza mexicana v frag
ment os del Siglo de Pro v El Bernardo (Mexico: Ed. de la
UNAM, 1941), pp. 22-23.
30Ibid.. p. 148. 31 Ibid., p. 206.
Cometta Manzoni, on. cit.. p. 107.
21
idyllic scenes and "noble savages" such as the inhabitants
of Cozumel:
Era apazible gente, nunca vsada
al vso militar, guerras ni dano,
Mansa, apazible, honesta, bien mirada,
Sin malicia, doblez, ni mal ni engano ...
Guzmin also praises Cortes and the other conquerors for
their Christianizing efforts. The Indian maiden is as
highly idealized a heroine as any in the Spanish literature
of the period. Moctezuma*s court is described as very
luxurious. XicotAncatl, Tlaxcalan chieftain, who figures
as the protagonist of several Indianist works of the nine
teenth century, is introduced in the poem. All the Indian
women are of an extraordinary beauty and the men are fear
less, astute, and diligent. In short, Guzman presents an
idealized Indian much as we will see him in the novels of
the Romantic period.
The theater.— The missionaries used theatrical
representations as a means of Christianizing the Indians in
Mexico, as is pointed out by Jose Rojas Garciduenas in the
q q
Antonio Saavedra Guzman, El peregrino indiano
(Mexico: "El Sistema Postal," 1880), p. 62.
22
34
Prologue of his book, Autos v coloquios del Sielo XVI.
Very few of the dramatic works of the sixteenth century
have been preserved. The Indian as a character does not
appear in the Autos in the collection referred to here.
Motolinia reports that in observance of Saint
John*s day, the 24th of June, 1538, four different autos
were presented in Tlaxcala. These autos were: "La Anuncia-
cion del nacimiento de San Juan Bautista a Zacarlas"; "La
Anunciacion del arcAnge1 Gabriel a la Virgen"; "La Visita-
cion de Nuestra Senora a Santa Isabel"; and "La Natividad
de San Juan." Indian elements such as dances and comical
sketches were incorporated into these presentations. On
the same occasion, the auto "La caida de Nuestros Primeros
Ehdres," an allegorical play depicting the fall of Adam
and Eve, was presented in the Mexican language by the
Indians.
Another theatrical work which Rojas Garciduenas
believes to be the work of Motolinia is "El coloquio de la
nueva conversion y bautismo de los cuatro reyes de Tlaxcala
34
H (Mexico: Ed. de la UNAM, 1939).
35
Fray Toribio de Benavente (Motolinia), Historia
de los indios de la Nueva Espana (Mexico: Editorial Salva
dor Chdvez Hayhoe, 1941), Tratado I, cap. 15, pp. 92-95.
23
en la Nueva Espana.'1 The theme of this coloquio is the
Christianization of four Indian kings: Xicot£ncatl, Maxis-
36
catzin, Zitlalpopocatzin and Tehuexolotzin.
The only known playwright of the Mexican theater of
the sixteenth Century whose works have been preserved is
Hernln Gonzalez de Eslava. The colloquy in which there is
37
an allusion to the Indians is "De los siete fuertes."
In this allegory there are seven forts built as a defense
against the Chichimeca Indians. Since the seven forts are
the sacraments, while the Chichimecs are the temptations,
the Indians represent evil forces.
The theater of Sor Juana In£s de la Cruz.— There
are several Indian characters in Sor Juana*s villancicos.
Among them is the Indian who uses the Tocotin mestizo, a
mixture of Spanish and mexicano in the "Villancico a
3 8
San Bedro Nolasco." There are also those who use this
3 6 ~
Jos£ Rojas Garciduenas, El teatro de Nueva Espana
en el siglo XVI (Mexico: 1935), pp. 183-221.
37Ibid.*, p. 143.
38
Sor Juana In£s de la Cruz, Obras comnletas.
Vol. II (Villancicos v letras sacras) (First edition;
Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1952), p. 41.
24
39
Tocotin sonoro in the "Villancico a la Asuncion" and the
"Villancico a San Jos£."4® The speech that these Indian
personages use is the result of Sor Juana*s imagination but
quite possibly reflects what she had heard the Indians say.
Her Indian characters in these villancicos are presented
sympathetica1ly.
The "Loa para el Auto Sacramental de El divino
41
Narciso." is an allegory in which the beautiful Indian
maiden is "America" and her Indian suitor is the "Occident."
They are persuaded by the Spanish lady "Religion" that the
God of the Catholics is the time one after being defeated
by the Captain General who represents "Zeal." Previously
there is an Aztec rite in which Huitzilopochtli. God of
Seeds, is eaten in a type of bread kneaded out of cereals
and blood. This is supposedly the Devil*s imitation of the
Christian communion.
The theater of Sor Juana was written in the seven
teenth century, but the nineteenth century again sees
Indian personages in the Mexican theater.
39Ibid.. II, 16-17. 4QIbid.. II, 142.
4^Ibid.. Ill (Estudio Liminar), lxxii-lxxiii, 1-10.
The Eighteenth Century
The eighteenth century has three great humanists
who write in Latin. They are the Jesuits Diego Jos4 Abad,
Francisco Javier Alegre and Rafael Landxvar. They all
went to Italy when the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico.
Only Landlvar is of interest, because in his poem Rusti-
catio mexicana there are allusions to the Indians. Landx-
var refers to the Indians' skill as hunters and praises
their abilities, thereby challenging the belief, held by
many Europeans and creoles of that period, that the Indians
42
were stupid.
Aside from Landlvar*s poem, it appears that the
only other literary works in the eighteenth century of an
Indianist character are the histories of Mexico prior to
the conquest. Francisco Javier Clavijero wrote his His-
toria antieua de Mexico which gives the history of the
Indian groups who occupied the Valley of Mexico prior to
the Aztecs. He also presents the political and military
life of the Aztec Empire and ends his account with the
^Cometta Manzoni, op. cit.. p. 118.
26
43
history of the conquest of Mexico.
In 1768 the Prussian Abbot Cornelius DeEauw had
attacked America as weak and the Indians as "degenerate
44
brutes." Consequently, states Anderson Imbert, Clavijero
wrote his Ancient History of Mexico "with the intention of
45
refuting the idea of a degenerate America."
Another historian of ancient Mexico was Mariano
Fernandez de Echeverrla y Veytia who never finished his
Historia antigua. which relates the history of the first
settlers of Anahuac, the legend of Quetzalcoatl, the Toltec
civilization accomplishments and the coming of the Chichi-
46
mecs.
As previously noted, the Indian was an important
figure in the literature of the sixteenth, seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. Nevertheless, it is evident that of
the different genres mentioned, the Chronicles had the
greatest influence because through them, America and its
/
Carlos GonzAlez Rana, Historia de la literatura
mexicana (Ninth edition; Mexico: Porrua, S.A., 1966),
p. 101.
Anderson Imbert, on. cit.. p. 111.
45Ibid.. p. 112.
46
Gonzalez Itena, op. cit.. p. 104.
inhabitants became known in Europe thus giving rise to
speculative theories about the relationship of the American
Indian to old myths such as the "Golden Age" of the Ancient
Classics. The need for brevity has made it impossible to
refer to the many polemics which arose between those who
defended the Indians against their detractors. One example
of this is Las Casas* denunciation of the Spaniards in his
desire to protect and seek justice for the Indian, which
led to the birth of the "Black Legend," used effectively
47
against Spain by its enemies.
A study of the Romantic literature of the nine
teenth century in Mexico in the next section will reveal
the importance of the Chronicles as sources and inspiration
for a great many literary works based on the history of the
conquest of Mexico as well as on the exploits of legendary
warriors such as Xicot£ncatl and Cuauhtemoc.
^Hubert Herring, A History of Latin America
(Second edition, revised; New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1963),
p. 176.
28
The Indian in Mexican literature in the Nineteenth
Century and Pre-Revolutionary Years of the
Twentieth Century
The Beriod of Independence
At the end of the eighteenth century, reports Julio
Jimenez Rueda,^ the Bishop-elect of Valladolid (Morelia),
D. Manuel Abad y Quiepo, in an official report to the King
of Spain on January 11, 1799, proposed a series of measures
in favor of the Indians and castas which called for the
distribution of lands to the Indians and the dispossessed
castas as well as the abolishment of the tributes which
were at that time exacted from these classes which occupied
the lowest rung in the social ladder. The Bishop's recom
mendation predated by over a century the doctrine of
agrarian reform of the Mexican Revolution.
Despite Abad y Quiepo*s forward-looking proposals
for land distribution, he published the edict in the Gazeta
de Mexico on September 28, 1810 which excommunicated Father
Hidalgo after the latter had initiated the struggle for
48 ,
Julio Jimenez Rueda, Letras mexicanas en el
sielo XIX (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1944),
pp. 79-80.
29
independence. This edict initiated the g^nero politico in
49
Mexican literature. Among the outstanding "political
writers" are included Agustin Pomposo Fernandez de San
Salvador, Francisco Severo Maldonado, FernAndez de Lizardi
(El Bensador mexicano), and Juan Wenceslao Barquera, Andres
Quintana Roo, Jos£ Maria Cos and Ignacio Lopez Rayon.
Their essays either in favor of or against the Insurrec
tionists were printed in the form of pamphlets or in news
papers such as la Gazeta or El Diario in Mexico City, El
Despertador Americano and El Telegrafo of Guadalajara and
several others.
Another interesting case, similar to Abad y
Quiepo*s in that he also reversed his political viewpoint,
is that of Severo Maldonado. Originally a leading voice
in favor of the struggle for independence, he later opposed
Father Hidalgo and became a defender of the Spaniards.^
Maldonado is of interest to us here, because in his efforts
to defend the Spanish cause, he attacked Clavijero, the
49Ibid.. pp. 79-81. 5QIbid.. pp. 84-87.
C *i
Luis G. Urbina, La vida literaria de Mexico v la
literatura mexicana durante la Guerra de Independencia
(Mexico: Ediciones Borrua, 1965), pp. 280-281.
30
defender of the Indians in the eighteenth century. Luis G.
Urbina quotes one of Maldonado’s essays in which the latter
repudiates Clavijero’s claim that the indigenous Americans
had built a great civilization. Maldonado states that one
could only consider the Mexicans ilustrados if one compared
them to the savages of the Islas v de Tierra Firme. He
enumerated all the aspects in which he considered the Aztec
civilization deficient. He stated, for example, that the
Aztecs were completely lacking in knowledge of the sciences
and liberal arts. With the arrival of the Spaniards,
claimed Maldonado, life in the New World began to flourish
as the Spaniards put into practice their knowledge of
mineralogy, metallurgy, cattle breeding, agriculture, in-
52
dustry and commerce along with their other skills.
During the period of Independence, three Mexican
poets, who were involved in the struggle to free Mexico,
concerned themselves with Mexico’s Indian past. The three
are Andres Quintana Roo, Manuel Sanchez de Tagle and Fran
cisco Ortega.
In their patriotic poems, these poets glorify the
Aztec Empire and condemn the injustices committed by the
52Ibid.. pp. 282-284.
31
Spanish conquerors. Typical of these poems is Quintana
53
Roo's "Dieciseis de septiembre" in which he condemns the
oppression of the original Mexicans by the Spaniards and
advocates independence from Spain. A similar poem, in
which there is an allusion to the Indians, is sAnchez de
Tagle's "A la derrota del ejArcito espanol que invadio el
Territorio de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Francisco
Ortega also alludes to the Aztecs in his poem "A Iturbide
en su coronaciAn.
The intensified interest in the Indian as a liter
ary personage is explained by Aida Cometta Manzoni who
states that after 1810 Latin American literature acquires
a new quality inspired in revolutionary ideals.
Enardecidos los Animos por el ambiente caldeado de la
Apoca, nace un repudio violento hacia Espana. ...
En cambio, surge una entusiasta simpatla por el in-
digena de America, simpatla que se extiende sobre todo
al Incario y llega hasta el imperio de Moctezuma, pre-
cisamente porque ambos, Incas y Aztecas, representan
la mAs alta civilizacion americana, y, por consi-
guiente, constituyen el esplritu de AmArica en su ex-
presiAn mAs e l e v a d a . 5 6
53
Antologia del Centenario. Vol. I (Compiled by
Luis Urbina, Bedro Henrlquez Urena, and NicolAs Rangel)
(Mexico: Imp. de M. LeAn Sanchez, 1910), p. 190.
54Ibid.. II, 612. 55Ibid.. II, 628.
56
Cometta Manzoni, on. cit.. p. 130.
32
However, the Argentine writer continues, the poets of the
Independence Bariod were only involved in evoking the
ancient civilizations and deploring their destruction by
the Spaniards. They discovered in the glorification of the
ancient indigenous civilizations a literary theme to ex
ploit. Nevertheless, they appeared to ignore the miserable
conditions under which their Indian contemporaries con
tinued to exist. Certainly the Indian was used to fill the
ranks of the liberation armies, but the Independence Revo
lution was made for the benefit of the wealthy criollos.
and the masses of Indians and mestizos did not benefit
materially from it. They continued to be exploited as
cruelly as before Independence was achieved. The literary
idealization of the Indian did not extend to granting him
social and economic emancipation."*7
In Mexico, to commemorate the Centenary of the
original insurrection, there appeared in 1910 the Romancero
58
de la guerra de independencia which compiled poems that
used the "independence" theme and which were written from
57Ibid.. p. 131.
CO
Romancero de la guerra de independencia. 2 vols.
(Mexico: Agtieros, 1910).
33
the middle of the nineteenth century up to that year. Many
of these poems praise the valor of the Indian soldiers in
the War of Independence. Joaquin Gomez Vergara contributed
the ode to "La batalla de Zacoalco." The poet begins by
relating the formation of an army by members of the clergy
and the wealthy to combat the insurgents led by Jos£
Antonio Torres:
Torres manda alii hacer alto,
Y las indigenas bandas,
Entre el bosque de huizaches
Que flores mil embalsaman,
En un instante se pierden
Y grande silencio guardan
A los tiros espanoles
La sangre insurgente mancha
La seca arena, y las hondas
Por los indios agitadas
Producen roncos silbidos
Y a miles las piedras mandan. 9
Jos£ Baon Contreras, who wrote a series of histori
cal romances with an Indianist theme in 1871, is repre
sented in the Romancero de la guerra de independencia by
the romance "la muerte de Pedro Ascencio." In the ballad
Peon Contreras relates that this Indian military leader in
the forces of Vicente Guerrero had a nobility which
59Ibid.. I, 28-29.
34
consisted of deeds of honradez and herolsmo and not simply
fin
one that is kept in pergaminos. Rafael Ruiz Rivera in
the poem "Hidalgo" also praises the heroic spirit and valor
of the Indians while making an allusion to the valor of the
ancient Aztecs:
En sus suenos de patriotas,
han mirado y han creido
que Cuauhtemoc va a su lado
seguido de aquellos indios
que en una noche obscurisima
llorar hicieron, rendido,
al mas bravo capitin
que produjera aquel siglo
de aventuras y de arrojos.
Rafael Ruiz Rivera also wrote the ode to "Morelos."
In the poem, Morelos reminds his compatriots that they are
the descendants of Cuauhtemoc and they must follow the
examples of bravery and heroics set by the great Aztec
62
warrior.
Whereas even a cursory examination of Mexican his
tory will reveal that the Indian continued to suffer as
much misery, deprivation, humiliation and economic exploi-
63
tatiou as before the Independence movement, writers
60Ibid.. I, 142. 61 Ibid., II, 30.
62Ibid.. II, 78-79.
^Herring, op. cit.. p. 302.
35
increasingly sang the praises of the ancient Aztecs. This
is even more evident when one examines Mexican Romantic
literature.
The Romantic Period
Poetry.— One of the first of the Romantic poets to
exploit the theme of Mexico's Indian past was Ignacio
Rodriguez GalvJ.n. Probably his best known poem, considered
by Menendez y Belayo "la obra maestra del romanticismo
£L/t
mexicano, " is "Profecia de Guatimoc." The idealization
of the Aztec rulers, particularly Cuauhtlmoc, became a
major literary theme, and the latter is the protagonist of
countless poems, novels and dramas in Mexican literature.
In Rodriguez Galvan's poem, the Mexican emperor appears in
the poet's vision or dream. The soles of Cuauhtemoc *s feet
are burned. This allusion to his torture appears re
peatedly in the literary works by Jose Iteon Contreras,
Ramon Lopez Velarde, Jose Santos Chocano, Irineo Faz and
others in which Cuauhtemoc appears as a principal charac
ter. The poet has previously censured the Spaniards for
64 ~
Gonzeiez Pena, on. cit.. p. 153.
36
destroying the Aztec civilization. Now the emperor also
laments the passing of his empire and the miserable condi
tion in which the once proud Aztec now lives.^ Rodriguez
Galvin also wrote "La vision de Moctezuma" in which the
66
emperor prophesies the arrival of the Spaniards.
Another poet who used the Indianist theme was Jose
Joaquin Resado. In 1854 he published "Los Aztecas." One
of the poems in the series is "El rustico y el monarca."
The event related is that of a peasant who approaches the
monarch, Moctezuma, in order to warn him of the anger of
the gods and of the approaching arrival of strangers who
will conquer his empire.^
Also following the Indianist tradition established
by Rodriguez Galvin was Jose Maria Roa Barcenas who pub-
68
lished the Levendas mexicanas in 1862. These include
"Xochitl o la ruina de Tula," "La princesa Eapantzin,"
^ Poesla romlntica (Mexico: Ed. de la UNAM, 1941),
pp. 41-52.
66 /
°Concha Melendez, La novela indianista en Hisnano-
amlrica (Second edition; Rierto Rico: Universidad de
Rierto Rico, 1961), p. 73.
^ Antologia de poetas mexicanos (Second edition;
Mexico: La Academia Mexicana, 1894), pp. 127-130.
68
Melendez, op. cit.. pp. 93-94.
37
"El casamiento de Netzahualcoyotl" and the "Emigracion de
los Aztecas" toward AnAhuac. This last poem relates the
pilgrimage of the Aztecs who travelled until they dis
covered the eagle perched on the cactus with the snake in
its beak. The legend then describes the "Fundacion de
Mexico."^
Continuing the "gAnero de poesla indlgena" initi
ated by Rodriguez Galvan, Besado and Roa Barcenas, JosA
Eteon Contreras published the Romances historicos mexicanos
which include: "la ruina de Atzapotzalco," "El senor de
Ecatepec," "Moctezuma," "Xocoyotzin" and "El ultimo
Azteca.
Beon Contreras sings the praises of Cuauhtemoc in
"A1 conquistador de AnAhuac— oda a CortAs":
Si pudo a Moctezuma
Con su ingenio veneer, aun le esperaba,
Tranquilo el corazon, fuertes las manos,
El hiroe de los hAroes mexicanos
Mas CuauhtAmoc no cede; airado empuna
La sangrienta macana, que se embota
Del castellano en la acerada cota.^l
^ Boemas patrioticos v folkloricos (Corridos de la
Revolucion) (Mexico: Coleccion Lira, 1957), p. 109.
^Gonzalez Bena, on. cit.. p. 232.
71
Antologla de poetas mexicanos. p. 376.
38
There are countless poems which praise the valor
of Cuauhtemoc to whom writers have attributed the most
highly desirable virtues. For example, one small anthology
alone contains poems by Ramon Lopez Velarde, Miguel Lopez
de Heredia and Jos£ Santos Chocano, all of whom glorify the
72
last Aztec emperor. Practically every anthology of Mexi
can poetry will contain one or more odes to Cuauhtlmoc, and
the study of Mexican literature of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries quickly reveals the enormous importance
that the deeds of the last Aztec emperors and the story of
the conquest of the Aztec empire have had as literary
themes.
The romantic novel.— It is impossible, because it
would require a separate study, to comment upon all the
Mexican Romantic novels in which Indians figure prominently
as personages. It must be remembered also that novels with
an Indianist theme appear throughout the nineteenth century
after 1826 and not only during those years which literary
historians have arbitrarily designated as the "Romantic
Bariod." Only the most frequently cited of the novels
^ Boemas patrioticos v folkloricos. pp. 23, 90, 88.
39
dealing with Mexico’s Indian past will be considered in
this section. Romantic writers in all countries looked
toward the past for inspiration. Mexican Romantic writers
found inspiration in Mexico’s ancient civilizations and in
the periods of conquest and colonization. The Romantic
novels which they produced have a historical basis but
frequently added are romantic intrigues and love affairs
which are purely fictional.
The first novel of this type to appear is ZicotIn
cat 1. an anonymous work published in Philadelphia in 1826.
Antonio Castro Leal states that its author based his novel
on the Historia de la conquista de Mexico by Antonio de
73
Soils. Its protagonist is the captain of the Tlaxcalan
troops at the time of Cortls* arrival. The Indians are
depicted as noble, honorable and courageous, the Spaniards
as cruel, immoral and unnecessarily violent.^
Netzula by Josl Marla Lafragua appeared in 1832.
It deals with the last years of the reign of Moctezuma and
73
Antonio Castro Leal, "Estudio preliminar,” in
La novela del Mlxico colonial. Vol. I (Mexico: Aguilar,
1964), p. 17.
^"Xicot Incat 1," in La novela del Mexico colonial.
I, 79-177.
40
also relates the sad fate of two Indian lovers, Netzula
and Oxfeler who die at the hands of the Spaniards. The
Indian personages are endowed with fine qualities and great
virtue by the author.^
Crescencio Carrillo y Ancona published his Historia
de Welinna in 1862. The theme is the conversion of the
Indians in Yucatan. Interspersed are a series of battles
leading to the conquest of Yucatan, love affairs and human
76
sacrifices.
Another novel which deals with the conquest of
Yucatan is La cruz v la esnada by Eligio Ancona. It dif
fers slightly from the other novels of this genre as the
protagonist is a Spaniard who has fled from an unhappy love
affair in Spain only to find that his Spanish fiancee has
followed him to America disguised as a man. The novel is
filled with the intrigues and complications typical of
Spanish Romanticism.^
Jos£ Maria Lafragua, Natzula in Biblioteca de
autores mexicanos. Vol. XXXIII (Mexico: Imp. Agiiero, 1901),
pp. 265-306.
^^Melendez, op. cit.. pp. 145-146.
^ Ibid.. pp. 103-105.
41
Inspired by Bernal Diaz del Castillo*s account of
the conquest of Mexico, Eligio Ancona wrote his best-known
novel Los mlrtires del AnAhuac which was published in
78
1870. Ancona views the conquest from the Aztec point of
view. He takes an anti-Spanish attitude presenting the
Aztecs as the unfortunate victims of the cruelties and
injustices of the Spaniards. There is a tragic love affair
between Tizoc, who dies valiantly in the defense of his
country, and Geliztli, daughter of Moctezuma, who is des
tined to suffer all types of torments. As in Xicot^ncatl.
the Indians in this novel are generously endowed with
virtues while the Spaniards are quite the opposite since
they possess only undesirable qualities.
Xicot£ncatl appears again in Irineo Eaz* Amor v
suplicio.^ The protagonist is Cuauhtemoc who is Xicot£n-
catl's rival for the love of a Tlaxcalan princess. The
conquest of Mexico is related in the second volume, at the
end of which is told the account of Cuauhtemoc*s torture
and death.
7ft
Eligio Ancona, Los mArtires del AnAhuac in La
novela del Mexico colonial. I, 403-616.
^Irineo Eaz, Amor v suplicio. 2 vols. (Mexico:
Tip. de J. Rivera, 1873).
42
Other novels concerned with Mexico’s Indian past
are La flecha de oro (1878) by J. R. Hemdndez and Dona
Marina (1883) by Irineo "Saz. The action in Hernandez1
novel develops in pre-Cortesian times. Dona Marina has
La Malinche as a protagonist and is set in the period
80
before and after the conquest of Mexico.
One of the best known of the Indianist novels of
the latter part of the nineteenth century is Eulogio Raima
y Raima’s la hiia de Tutul-Xiu published in 1884. It also
goes back to pre-Cortesian times and relates incidents
surrounding the wars between the kingdoms of Mayapan and
Ikmal. ^
During the Romantic period, the novel evoked
Mexico’s Indian past and idealized its great figures, above
all Cuauhtemoc. The story of the conquest of Mexico was
retold many times in historical romances, legends and
novels. While usually the writers were pro-Indian, this
sympathy for the indigenous culture and people, it has been
pointed out, was due principally to a repudiation of all
80
Meldndez, op. cit.. p. 101.
81Ibid.. pp. 106-110.
43
that was Spanish after independence was achieved, and not
actually because of a desire to achieve social justice for
the contemporary Indian who continued to live under miser
able conditions. The Indian as a person, living in the
nineteenth century, is extremely rare in Mexican nineteenth-
century literature. Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, himself an
Indian, did have Indian realistic personages in his novels.
The Bsriod of Reform
The Reform movement of the mid-nineteenth century
attempted to limit the power of the Church, to redeem the
masses economically and to educate them so that they could
82
form an integral part of the nation. Altamirano, as one
of the leading reformists, was a strong believer in practi
cal education and work as redeeming factors in the reha
bilitation of the Indian. The character who illustrates
this belief is the Indian blacksmith, Nicolas, one of the
83
principal characters in El Zarco. The author describes
him as educated, honest, generous and hardworking. He
82
John S. Brushwood, Mexico in its Novel (Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1966), p. 82.
^Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, El Zarco (Fifth edi
tion; Mexico: Espasa-Calpe, 1958).
44
represents the good citizen, while the bandit, a criollo.
is the rascal who nevertheless wins the girl with whom the
Indian had fallen in love. The Indian blacksmith has so
many virtues and such few defects that it is probably fair
to say that he is too perfect— an idealized figure. La
navidad en las montanas^ is another of Altamirano*s novels
with two important Indian characters, an old and respected
leader of an Indian community and his equally virtuous
wife. While these characters are also somewhat idealized,
they seem more convincing than the blacksmith of El Zarco.
If one remembers, however, that Altamirano was above all
85
a Romantic, his idealized Indians are consistent with the
characteristics of the literary school of which he was a
part.
" Borf irismo"
In general terms it may be said that the ideals of
Hidalgo and Juirez were forgotten during the long Dfaz
dictatorship. It was now believed impossible to incor
porate all elements of society into national life and
^Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, Navidad en las monta-
nas (Mexico: Coleccion Nova-Mex, 1957), pp. 62-63.
85
Brushwood, op. cit.. p. 94.
45
"the Indian came to be regarded officially as a burden to
86
be borne with the least possible effort." This is not to
say that the Indian and mestizo were ignored, for they were
exploited mercilessly in the haciendas by foreign and
creole hacendados. The brutal exploitation of the peon
became an important literary theme as the Revolution of
1910 approached. The novel of the Revolution will be dis
cussed in the last part of the chapter.
Tomochic by Heriberto Frias has been called an
indigenist novel. Although Gonzalez Bana states that this
87
novel deals with a Yaqui Indian uprising, and Manuel
Bedro Gonzalez repeats what had previously been stated by
88
GonzAlez Bana, the tomochitecos who rose in rebellion
were not actually Indians but criollos. natives of a vil-
89
lage in Chihuahua. The federal forces were sent to sup
press the rebellion, and so highly did the tomochitecos
86Ibid.. p. 118.
87
Gonzalez Bena, op. cit.. p. 227.
88
Manuel Badro Gonzalez, Travectoria de la novela
en Mexico (First edition; Mexico: Botas, 1951), p. 80.
89
Heriberto Frias, Tomochic (Fifth edition; Mexico:
Librerla de la Vda. Ch. Bouret, 1911), p. 57.
value their beliefs and independence, that it became
necessary to kill practically every one of them in order
to end the uprising. Frias was an officer in the federal
forces, and when he published his account of the events in
his book, it was judged anti-administration by the Diaz
regime. Frias was accused of revealing military secrets
90
and he was subsequently discharged from the army. The
ruthlessness of the federal forces in suppressing the
rebellion is condemned only implicitly by the author who
expresses great admiration for the courage of the rebels
who were willing to die for their beliefs. This novel,
it is thought, had considerable influence on later Revolu-
91
tionary novels.
Whereas the Indian is not the central figure in
Tomochic. Frias does concern himself with Mexico*s Indian
past in his Leyendas historicas mexicanas (1899) written,
according to the author, for the purpose of "... populari-
zar los m&s bellos episodios y las m^s curiosas costum-
bres de las primeras razas que habitaron el suelo de mi
^Brushwood, op. cit.. p. 155.
^Manuel Bedro Gonzalez, op. cit.. p. 80.
47
92
patria." These levendas comprise thirty-seven narrations
set in the Pre-Hispanic period and eight "cuentos histori-
cos nacionales" set in the first years after the conquest.
These were the years in which the Aztecs and Spaniards were
attempting to learn to co-exist. In some of these narra
tions, such as "La maldicion," the author censures the in
justices committed by the Spaniards against the conquered
Aztecs."la enamorada de Cuauhtemoc" relates the story
of an Andalusian embroiderer who falls in love with Cuauh
temoc. Other stories such as "La maravilla de la conver
sion" and "Albor de Aurora" deal with the conversion of the
Indians.94
Los cientxficos.— A great deal has been written
regarding the cientxficos. the liberal intellectuals who
became so influential during the Diaz regime. They be
lieved that Mexico*s future lay with the white man, that
95
the Indian was useful only as a burden bearer. One of
92 / /
Heriberto Frias, Levendas historicas mexicanas.
in la novela del Mexico colonial. I, 1001.
9^Ia novela del Mexico colonial. I, 1021.
94Ibid.. I, 1001-1055.
95
See Herring, op. cit.. p. 341.
48
the leading cientificos. along with Justo Sierra and Jos6
Yves limantour, was the historian Francisco Bulnes. In
96
his book El oorvenir ^e las naciones hispanoamericanas.
he speaks of three races: (1) the race that eats wheat
(principally Europeans), which he considers superior be
cause they consume larger quantities of phosphorus which
nourishes the brain; (2) that race which eats rice (mostly
Orientals); and (3) the Anerican Indian, who consumes corn.
The two latter races, Bulnes states, are backward and lack
ing in initiative because they are desfosforados. Bulnes
states that the Indian is highly effective as a "beast of
burden" since he has had so many centuries in which to
97
develop that particular ability. In the second part of
the book, Bulnes advocates European immigration as a solu
tion to Mexico1s economic problems. He recognized the
evils of the latifundio system as it existed prior to the
Revolution of 1910. Bulnes stated that only by immigration
could agriculture be "democratized" and become truly pro-
QO
ductive in Mexico. According to Bulnes, the latifundista
98(Mexico: Imprenta de Mariano Nava, 1899), p. 13.
9^Ibid.. p. 30.
98Ibid.. pp. 274-280.
maintained the peon embrutecido in a state of semi-slavery.
This meant, stated Bulnes, that the Indian was kept in an
ignorant, superstitious, illiterate and alcoholic condi
tion. Bulnes believed that only industrialization could
99
take the Indian out of the hacendadofs clutches.
The Revolution was approaching. In 1909 Mariano
Azuela, who was later to write the best known of the novels
of the Revolution, Los de abaio. published Mala verba, in
which he exposed many of the evils of the "hacienda" system
during the dictatorship. Manuel Etedro Gonzalez finds the
novel significant in another respect:
Hay todavxa otro interesante aspecto en esta obra que
es necesario destacar. Hasta su aparicion, el indio
mexicano figuraba en la novela--cuando figuraba— como
mera comparsa y a titulo de elemento decorativo que
anadxa color local y nada mils. Kara la generacion de
los realistas y naturalistas ... lo mismo que para sus
predecesores, el indio casi no existxa. Es en Mala
verba en donde por primera vez, hace acto de presencia
con categoria de tema artxstico central en una novela
de fuerte envergadura.
Azuela never identifies the characters as Indians but in
several places speaks of their race, as for example:
"Dijdrase el canto de muerte no de un hombre, sino de una
^ Ibid., p. 74.
■^Manuel Bedro Gonzdlez, op. cit.. p. 134.
raza entera, enferraa de siglos de humillacion y de amar-
,,101
gura."
The war of independence and the desire to be free
of Spanish domination, culturally as well as politically,
resulted in an intensified interest in Mexico's Indian
past. The Indian as a literary personage was given renewed
emphasis. However, the poets of the period of Independence
were content to praise the ancient indigenous civilizations
and their political and military leaders. Some poets did
praise the valor of the Indian soldier during the war of
liberation, but they continued to ignore the Indian's
miserable existence in the nineteenth century.
The glorification of Mexico's Indian past was con
tinued enthusiastically by the poets and novelists of the
Romantic period. During the period of the Reform, a few
novelists such as Altamirano, presented contemporary
Indians as literary figures. Those Indian personages were
still somewhat idealized. It was not until the beginning
of the twentieth century that the Indian emerged as a con
vincing and realistic personage in Mariano Azuela*s Mala
■^Mariano Azuela, Mala verba (Third edition;
Mexico: Ed. Botas, 1937), p. 36.
51
verba. The field was now ready for the emergence of the
Novel of the Revolution which would reflect that period of
tremendous social upheaval in which the Indian would figure
often as a central figure.
The Indian in the Novel of the Revolution
of 1910
The Revolution of 1910 had numerous objectives.
In the political sphere, the objectives were to eliminate
Diaz* dictatorship, restore collective and individual
liberty and to restore freedom of speech and effective suf
frage. The economic objectives were the nationalization of
the riches of the subsoil, the destruction of the "hacienda
system" in agriculture, greater emphasis on industry as
well as greater control of foreign investments. Another
major objective was to reduce the tremendous political,
educational and economic influence of the Church which had
survived despite the Reform laws of the 1850*s. In the
educational field, the goal was compulsory public education
and educational reforms. Great importance was given to the
need to incorporate the Indian into the national life of
Mexico by means of his economic and cultural rehabilita
tion. The other stated goal was to extend to workers
52
the right to form unions, the right to strike, as well as
102
other rights that workers had in other countries.
In view of the wide attention given to the problems
of the Indian by the Revolution, it seems logical that
writers should now seek to rediscover the values of in
digenous culture which still survived in Mexico. Novelists
who previously had sought inspiration in European litera-
103
ture now "rediscovered" Mexico. The country "est£ de
moda entre los suyos."^^
Since the Revolution was made by, and at least in
theory for, "los de abajo"— Indians and mestizos— the
characters of the new novel, whether as individuals or as
a collective mass, are Indians and mestizos. In fact, the
entire navelistic production of the twentieth century is
impregnated with an Indianist quality. The indigenous,
whether it be man, nature, or the customs, traditions and
Manuel Radro Gonzalez, op. cit.. p. 312.
Ibid.. p. 94.
■^^Xavier Icaza, La Revolucion mexicana v la lite-
ratura (Mexico: Conferencias del I&lacio de Bellas Artes,
1934), p. 33.
■^Alda Cometta Manzoni, El indio en la novela de
America (Buenos Aires: Editorial Futuro, 1960), pp. 13, 65.
53
values that it depicts, is precisely what gives Mexican
106
literature its peculiar flavor.
As stated previously, before the Revolution writers
were usually satisfied to describe life among the Indians
of the pre-Cortesian era or of the period of conquest.
The Indian of pre-Revolutionary Mexican literature was a
somewhat exotic figure. Following the Revolution, however,
the Indian was depicted realistically with all of his
characteristics, whether good or bad.^®^
In the present chapter, the Indian, as depicted by
representative authors of the "Novel of the Revolution, "
as a soldier and active participant in the Revolution, as
well as a recipient of its benefits, will be studied. An
analysis of the novels of Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, who of
all the novelists of this genre has given the greatest
emphasis to the Indian, will form the central part of this
study. Therefore, Lopez y Fuentes* novels are not dis
cussed in this chapter. Instead we will see the Indian in
some of the novels of Mariano Azuela, Martin Luis Guzman,
106 ~
Antonio Magana Esquivel, la novela de la Revolu-
cion. Vol. I (Mexico: Biblioteca del Instituto Nacional de
Estudios Hist6ricos, Impreso en los Talleres Gr^ficos de la
Nacion, 1964), p. 63.
^^Brushwood, op. cit.. p. 25.
Francisco Urquizo and Mauricio Magdaleno.
Although written in the post-Revolutionary period,
the novels dealing with Mexico's Indian past such as Ermilo
Abreu Gomez' Quetzalcoatl and Canek; Monterde's Moctezuma.
el de la silla de oro and Moctezuma II: and Antonio Mediz
Bolio's En la tierra del faisAn v del venado are beyond
the scope of the present study and will not be discussed.
These novels are either poetic stories based on legends,
or historical novels bearing no resemblance to the novel of
the Revolution. Also excluded are such well-known indige-
nist novels as Rojas GonzAlez' Lola Casanova: Miguel Angel
MenAndez' Nayar; ChAvez Camacho's Cajeme: Ram6n Rubin's
El callado dolor de los tzotziles: and Miguel N. Lira's
Donde crecen los tenozanes. since these are not novels of
the Revolution either. The many excellent novels dealing
with the Mexican Indian written by Bruno Traven are not
discussed as it has never been determined that his novels
form part of Mexican literature. Traven's true identity
remains a mystery. His novels have been written in English
or German and then translated into Spanish. Manuel Bedro
GonzAlez comments that none of the histories of Mexican
55
108
literature include Traven as a Mexican novelist.
109
Magana Esquivel finds that one of the character
istics of the Novel of the Revolution which is closely
allied to the Indianist theme is man*s struggle against
nature and some attention will be given to this aspect of
the novel.
Mariano Azuela in his famous novel Los de abaio.
in which he describes the life of the downtrodden Mexican,
seems to have had the Indian foremost in his mind. We find
a typical Indian rancheria described early in the novel:
Cuando atardecio en llamaradas que tineron el cielo
en vivxsimos colores, pardearon unas casucas en una
explanada, entre las montanas azules. ...
Eran unos cuantos pobrxsimos jacales de zacate,
diseminados a la orilia del rxo, entre pequenas semen-
teras de maxz y frijol reciAn nacidos.
En las bocas oscuras de las chozas se aglomeraban
chomites incoloros, pechos huesudos, cabezas desgrena-
das y, detrAs, ojos brillantes y carrillos frescos. ^
The protagonist of the novel is an Indian:
En su caballo zaino, Demetrio se sentla rejuvene-
cido; sus ojos recuperaban su brillo metAlico peculiar,
^®®Manuel Bedro GonzAlez, op. cit., p. 317.
too
Magana Esquivel, op. cit.. p. 25.
110
Mariano Azuela, Los de abaio (Sixth edition;
Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econfimica, 1967), p. 17.
56
y en sus mejillas cobrizas de indlgena de pura raza
corrla de nuevo la sangre roja y caliente.
Demetrio*s forces request information from an old
villager who betrays them by misinforming them regarding
the whereabouts of the federal troops. Later Demetrio*s
men find the old man and take revenge. Azuela says that:
"El viejo levanta su cara indlgena llena de arrugas y sin
112
una cana. Dentro reconoce al que la vlspera los engah6."
Azuela*s metaphors include the following allusion
to Eancho Villa by Soils: "Si, el Aguila azteca, que ha
clavado su pico de acero sobre la cabeza de la vlbora
Victoriano Huerta."^3
Nature is given indigenous characteristics in the
following simile: "De lo alto del cerro se vela un costado
de la Bufa, con su crest6n, como testa empenachada de
_ ,,114
altivo rey azteca."
Azuela alludes to the Aztecs in other descriptions
of nature such as this one:
Vanse destacando las cordilleras como monstruos
alargatados, de angulosa vertebradura; cerros que pare-
cen testas de colosales Idolos aztecas, caras de
m ibid.. p. 50.
113Ibid.. p. 67.
112
Ibid.. p. 59.
114Ibid.. p. 72.
57
gigantes, muecas pavorosas y grotescas, que ora hacen
sonreir, ora dejan un vago terror, algo como presenti-
miento de misterio.-^
We find also that the typical soldier is described as
having "rostro de bronce y dientes de marfil" or as "un
116
soldado de rostro renegrido."
The following passage gives us an image of an
Indian rancheria comparable to the paintings of Siqueiros,
117
Orozco, or Rivera who immortalized the Revolution in
graphic form:
Cuando los soldados llegaron a una rancheria y se
arremolinaron con desesperacion en torao de casas y
jacales vacios, sin encontrar una tortilla dura, ni un
chile podrido, ni unos granos de sal para ponerle a la
tan aborrecida came de res, ellos, los hermanos
pacificos, desde sus escondites, impasibles los unos
con la impasibilidad petrea de los xdolos aztecas, m£s
humanos los otros, con una s6rdida sonrisa en sus
labios untados y ayunos de barba, veian como aquellos
hombres feroces, que un mes antes hicieran retemblar
de espanto sus miseros y apartados solares, ahora
salian de sus chozas, donde las homillas estaban apa-
gadas y las tinajas secas, abatidos, con la cabeza
caida y humillados como perros a quienes se arroja de
su propia casa a puntapies.
•^Azuela, Los de abaio. p. 89.
116Ibid.. pp. 74, 101.
^■^See Manuel Radro Gonzdlez, op. cit.. p. 99; and
Icaza, o p . cit.. pp. 36-37.
^■^Azuela, Los de abaio. p. 126. |
58
Azuela*s novel has become a classic since it so
vividly illustrates how small groups of Indians under
anonymous leaders formed the backbone of the revolutionary
armies. How these armies grew, how they acquired ammuni
tion, pillaged and acquired a taste for fighting, which
119
became a habit not to be denied, is masterfully de
scribed in this novel which more than any other has
120
revealed to the world the reality of the revolution.
General 0bregon*s army was composed chiefly of
Yaqui Indians and they were perhaps the best of the Revolu
tionary soldiers. Frequent allusions are made to these
legendary warriors, the Yaqui Indians of Sonora, in the
121
novels of the Revolution. One of Azuela*s personages is
quoted by Edmundo Valad£s:
La verdad es que los yaquis lo hicieron todo.
iMalditas alimanas! Los habla entre las ramas de los
huizaches, detr^s de los cercados, metidos hasta el
Frank Tannenbaum, Peace by Revolution (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1933), p. 119.
120
Berta Gamboa de Camino, "The Novel of the Mexi
can Revolution," in Renascent Mexico. Ed. by Herring and
Weinstock (New York: 1935), pp. 258, 260, 267.
121
Edmundo Valad^s, La Revoluci6n v las letras
(Mexico: Institucion Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1960),
pp. 50-52.
59
cuello en los vallados. iHervideros de jijos de ... !
Si se me figura que todavla aqui los traigo en los
calcetines. 22
Azuela describes the Yaquis as: "Hombres de rostros
requemados y terrosos, de miradas de fuego, con grandes
123
sombreros de zoyate, tapizados de santos."
In view of their formidable appearance, one can
understand why the Yaquis became known for their exploits
in battle and inspired fright among the general popula
tion. 124
Martin Luis Guzman was also impressed by the formi
dable Yaquis:
Raso, marchando dentro del marco luminoso, la fila
interminable de soldados yaquis, inconmovible. ...
Lucian al sol, cual si fueran de bronce, los pomulos
bruhidos; los sombreros, adomados de cintas y plumaje,
se movlan al ritmo felino de sus pasos. 5
It should be noted that the novelists of the Revo
lution at times depict even high-ranking figures as being
of Indian origin. Guzman describes the wife of a high-
ranking conservative held as political prisoner by the
122
Ibid.. p. 52, quoting Mariano Azuela.
123
Ibid.. quoting Mariano Azuela.
Ibid.
I O C
Ibid., quoting Martin Luis Guzmdn.
60
Revolutionaries:
La hora pat£tica era la cotidiana aparicion de
dona Amada Diaz de la Torre, que venia a ver a su
esposo. ... Su bello rostro de india, oculto en parte
por el sombrero sencillo, elegante, no acusaba huellas
de dolor ni de t r i s t e z a . ^ 6
The Indian did not only form the bulk of the Revo
lutionary forces, but he also comprised a large percentage
of Diaz* federal forces. Francisco Urquizo in Tropa
127
vieja records the army experiences of a young peasant
who is pressed into service by an hacendado who considers
the young fellow too rebellious to continue working as a
peon in his hacienda in the state of Durango. The novel
covers the period from 1910, shortly before the outbreak of
128
the Revolution, to the end of the decena tr^gica of 1913.
The protagonist, Sifuentes, is apparently a mestizo
rather than an Indian, because we find the following inci
dent in the novel. A major makes Sifuentes his assistant
and asks him where he is from. When Sifuentes replies that
126
Martin Luis Guzman, El aguila v la serniente
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1943), p. 125.
127
Francisco L. Urquizo, Trona vieia (Mexico:
Talleres Gr^ficos del Departamento de Riblicidad y Propa
ganda de la Secretaria de Educaci6n Pliblica, 1943).
128
See Henry B. I&rkes, A History of Mexico
(Revised edition; Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1950),
pp. 330-334.
61
he is from La Laguna, the major replies: "Magnlfico; me
gusta mis la gente del norte que toda esta bola de indios.
129
£No te gusta ser mi asistente?"
Nevertheless, one finds throughout the book allu
sions to the Indians who served in the federal army. When
Sifuentes boards a troop train for the first time he ob
serves : "Fuera de aquello, todos ellos pareclan enteramente
iguales; las mismas caras de indios requemados; todos en-
jutos, pelones al rape; uniformados hasta con el mismo
] on
gesto de resignaciin."
Apparently there were entire companies made up ex
clusively of Indians. One of Sifuentes* companions states:
"Tu crees que toda esa indiada de la Tercera y de
la Cuarta companxas, que apenas saben hablar en nuestro
idioma, son capaces de pensar en algo mis que en el
rancho y en sus viejas? Esos no entienden de nada ni
les importa nada. Si les llegan a dar a mis del rancho
un buen trago de mezcal, son capaces de morirse en la
raya matando a los otros indios que se atrevan a suble-
varse.
Sifuentes' companion believed the Indian to be
apathetic and unredeemable, but Otamendi, a radical news
paperman pressed into service because of his inflammatory
129
Urquizo, op. cit.. p. 265.
13°Ibid.. p. 39. 131 Ibid.., p. 130.
62
articles, apparently had more faith in the Indian and
exhorted the latter to rebel:
"iIndio infeliz! iLevantate y golpea! El tirano
caerd cuando tu brazo quiera. Hay aves que cruzan el
pantano y no se manchan; mi plumaje es de esos. ...
Gahcin— soldado, empuna tu fusil y apunta; apunta a los
tiranos. Sacude el yugo, pueblo infeliz, envilecido
y hambriento; y^rguete y raata. ... Pueblo: £que le
debes a Hidalgo? ^que le debes a Juarez? Nada le debes
a nadie, porque sigues sumido en„la ignominia. Nada te
mereces y por eso nada tienes."
In the conversation that takes place between
Otamendi and an Indian soldier, Urquizo cleverly and hu
morously depicts the pitiful ignorance and the basic inse
curity which the Indian feels when placed in an environment
outside of his own and which he finds hostile. Santiago
Ramirez attributes this insecurity to the many unpleasant
experiences which the Indian has undergone in mestizo
society. The Indian feels secure only among his own, par-
133
ticularly within his own family.
Otamendi trataba de platicar con el indio Calequi
y apenas se entendlan.
— ^Por que te dicen a ti Calequi?
— iQue?
132Ibid.. pp. 101-102.
1 ^
Santiago Ramirez, El mexicano: Psicoloela de sus
motivaciones (Third edition; Mexico: Editorial Pax, 1961),
pp. 74-76.
63
— iQue por que te dicen Calequi?
— iQuen sabe!
— ^De donde eres?
--De un rancho.
— iQue tan grande?
— Chiquito no m£s.
The poor Indian feels compelled to deny that he is an
Indian feeling that he will be better accepted if his com
panions believe that he is not an Indian:
— £Tu que clase de indio eres?
— Yo no so indio, no seas hablador.
— iRies entonces?
— Soy de la Sierra de Ixtldn, Estado de Oaxaca, de la
merita miel en penca.
— Eres de la tierra de Juarez.
— ^Cual Juarez?
--Don Benito.
— No lo conozco.
--^Como se dice en indio "que bruto eres"?
— £No te digo que no soy indio?
— Entonces que ieres espanol?
--Soy no mas tu padre, pa que te lo sepas, tal.
— No, no; no te saigas por la tangente.
— iQue gente?
--jNo te digo!, eres un animal.
— Ya te dije que soy tu padre.
--No mas eso sabes decir.
— Y tu no mas sabes preguntar. Pregunta y pregunta
como si fueras cabo, como si fueras sargento, como si
fueras coronel.
Although one of the objectives of the Revolution
was to emancipate the hacienda peon from the feudal
134
Urquizo, on. cit.. p. 139.
135Ibid.. pp. 139-140.
64
conditions tinder which he existed during the Diaz regime,
the peasant did not truly profit materially from the Revo
lution at the outbreak of hostilities. A friend writes
Sifuentes:
Que las cosas en los ranchos segulan igual: el mismo
trabajo, los mismos jomales, los mismos patrones.
La revoluci6n no habia sido nada m£s que una matanza
de gentes, sin provecho alguno; una explosi6n de odios
acumulados y vuelta otra vez a lo mismo de antes.
The Indian was a participant in the Revolution.
He supposedly was to reap the benefits of the new order.
Two novels— Mauricio Magdaleno’s El resnlandor and Mariano
Azuela's San Gabriel de Valdivias. comunidad indigena—
view the effects of the Agrarian Reform, product and objec
tive of the Revolution, upon the lives of the inhabitants
of two Indian villages.
Azuela1s novel chronicles the failure of the
Agrarian Reform program in the Indian community of San
Gabriel de Valdivias during the Calles regime.
Interwoven in the plot is the rebellion of the
137
cristeros. Ciriaco Campos, the young son of a
136Ibid.. p. 270.
^3^See Earkes, op. cit.. pp. 384-385. Also Hudson
Strode, Timeless Mexico (New York: Harcourt, Brace and
Company, 1944), pp. 279-281.
65
conservative and devoutly religious old Indian, Damaso
Campos, has just returned from serving with the federal
army which attempted to suppress the cristero. uprisings.
D&naso is a reactionary who is not enthusiastic about the
agrarian program which has distributed the land of the
hacendado. Don Carlos Valdivias, among the villagers.
Imbued with what might be called "slave psychology," Damaso
believes that it was better to have had the land in the
hands of Don Carlos, a gentleman, than in the hands of the
Agrarian leader, Satumino Quintana, a local former boot-
black who had risen high in party ranks through all types
of corrupt practices.
The novel portrays the sufferings of the Indian
community in its transition from latifundismo to agrarian
ism. The hacendado is replaced by the agrarian leader as
an exploiter of the Indians, inasmuch as Satumino Quintana
is making efforts to acquire the best lands for himself.
He has a whole retinue of "hangers-on" and pistoleros to
eliminate any opposition to his ambitions.
There are many interesting characters in the novel.
Among these is the local teacher, a drunken idealist who
declares to young Ciriaco: "Ya mataste al hacendado, ahora
66
138
te falta matar al lider." later in the novel, one of
the leader's men testifies at a meeting of the community in
the "Casa del pueblo" that the teacher has incited the
villagers to kill the agrarian leader. The agrarian leader
thus accuses the teacher of a threat to commit murder. Old
Damaso rises to the teacher's defense by stating:
Lo que el maistro dijo, lo dijo estando briago;
pero eso mismo nos dijo Satumino Quintana en sus
cabales, el dia que repartio los fusiles: "Son pa que
se defiendan y defiendan las tierras que les hemos
dado de quienquiera que pretienda arrebat^rselas."
Of course the one who is attempting to take their lands is
Satumino himself.
The agraristas. who have been brought from other
parts of the country, frequently receive the choicest lands,
because they support the agrarian leader in all his actions.
Therefore, a feud develops between the local villagers and
the "agraristas venidos quien sabe de donde, los que Satur-
nino Quintana trajo al reparto de las tierras, aborrecidos
140
por fuerenos." When there is finally a confrontation
between the villagers and the agrarian leader, these
138
Mariano Azuela, San Gabriel de Valdivias (San
tiago, Chile: Ed. Ercilla, 1938), p. 48.
139Ibid.. p. 93. 140Ibid.. p. 54.
67
fuerenos support the leader as a matter of expediency.
The Indians of San Miguel are depicted with their
vices as well as their virtues. They are hard-working and
skillful at cultivating the land. They are also brave when
it comes to defending their personal dignity and that of
their women. Young Ciriaco is in love with Juanita Gon
zalez who is quite coquettish and has caught Satumino * s
eye. Bad blood develops between Ciriaco and Satumino and
the former has to flee to the mountains. Satumino with
the aid of three of his bodyguards then forcibly rapes
Juanita in the presence of her brother, Felipe, who has
been tied to a tree by Satumino*s three henchmen. Juanita
herself avenges her dishonor by slaying the three henchmen
one by one while the agrarian leader is in the capital per
forming his duties as a diputado. It is rumored in the
village that Satumino is deliberately staying away because
of fear of Ciriaco.
The agrarian leader is a native of the region who
has risen to his present position by entering politics.
Thus the Indians are actually betrayed by one of their own.
The Indians of San Gabriel, while depicted as possessing
many fine qualities, also have a number of vices. They
68
are given to drunken orgies, they are still submerged in
ignorant superstition, such as a belief in witchcraft and
in ghosts, and they resort to the worst type of violence
to seek redress for their grievances.
Satumino boasts of all the men whom he has killed
to the son of the former hacendado. The young Valdivias
pretends to accept the new social order, but in reality is
conspiring with the clergy, the instigators of the cristero
rebellion, in order to destroy the agraristas. The local
army colonel is thoroughly corrupt for he sells arms to the
cristeros while pretending to be partisan to the interests
of the villagers.
The novel ends with the death of the young hacen
dado turned cristero and of the Agrarian leader, Satumino.
However, a note of ironic pessimism terminates the story
as the reader leams that the corrupt and hypocritical
Colonel is to become the new leader of the community. Once
again the Indian will be betrayed.
The Indians* distrust, not only of the creole but
of the mestizo as well, has become deeply ingrained in him
after four centuries of betrayal and exploitation.
*1/1
Ramirez, on. cit.. pp. 74-76.
69
Azuela is saying that the Revolution has not relieved this
situation. The Revolution has only intensified the
Indians* fear and distrust of outsiders. The lot of the
Indians of San Gabriel remains basically unchanged after
years of social revolution.
Mauricio Magdaleno*s El resplandor is a profoundly
bitter account of how the Otomi Indians in the village of
San Andres de la Cal, state of Hidalgo, are betrayed time
and again by whites and mestizos and, even more ironically,
by one of their own.
With the arrival of the white man, the Otomis
looked toward the Spaniards as liberators from the domina
tion of the imperialistic Aztecs. They soon discovered
that they had exchanged one oppressor for another who was
far more cruel and exploitative. Their lands were taken
from them and they were branded as slaves. Those who
managed to flee were either eventually killed by their
pursuers or died of hunger in the woods. Their fertile
lands became the property of the encomenderos. The Fuentes
family acquired the land which was to become the hacienda
known as "la Brisa." The Indians of the region were rele
gated to the arid, sterile land which produced only lime.
70
Hundreds of years passed and with the arrival of
the Revolution, one of its leaders, Cavazos, fills the
ranks of his army by raising the Indians* hopes with the
cry: "Vengo a traerles de comer, indios amolados.
The Indians joined the Revolution, only to have
their hopes frustrated once again. They returned to their
barren lands to eke out a living, verging on starvation,
selling the lime from their lands. They now engaged in a
dispute, frequently ending in bloodshed, with the Indians
of San Felipe over the fertile lands of "La Brisa," the
abandoned estate of the once-powerful Fuentes family.
When the Indians of San Andres learn that Saturnino
Herrera is returning to the village to supervise the Agrar
ian Reform, they rejoice believing that their suffering is
at an end. Satumino is one of their own, the son of a
local Indian and a creole girl. Satumino as a boy was
selected by the governor of the state to be educated in the
city. He has become an important figure in the Revolu
tionary government and now aspires to become governor. By
virtue of his marriage into the Fuentes family, he is now
■^Mauricio Magdaleno, El resplandor (Mexico:
Ed. Botas, 1937), p. 55.
71
the owner of "La Brisa."
Satumino uses the promise of agrarian reforms to
secure the labor of the Indians for his estate which is
soon flourishing. When Saturnino decides to seduce one of
the local girls, Lorenza, the Indians cooperate to such a
degree that they poison the girl's Indian fiance when he
attempts to prevent the rape of the girl.
Satumino is called to the capital and leaves the
estate in charge of his administrator, Felipe Rend6n.
There is an incident provoked by Rendon's cruelty and the
Indians rebel and kill the administrator, while Satumino*s
men retaliate by burning the Indians* houses. The Indians
are now herded into "La Brisa" where they are forced to
work for their new master in whose honor the village is to
be rebuilt and named Villa Herrera. A final ironic note
is introduced when the governor requests that the brightest
boy in the village be selected to attend school in the
state capital.
The novel is a powerful indictment of the ambitious
and greedy men who have become the agents of the Agrarian
Reform programs. Similarly Magdaleno illustrates how the
Revolution has failed to eradicate the social organization
72
of rural Mexico. The tradition and feudal order of pre-
Revolutionary days are perpetuated by the agrarian leader.
According to Magdaleno, the Indian is taught from
childhood to be constantly on the alert so as not to be
deceived or betrayed by the non-Indian. Lugarda, who
raises Satumino, gives him the following advice when the
latter is still a child:
— A los sehores nunca se les dice nada. ^Entiendes ?
Y mucho menos lo que se habla entre los tlacuaches.
Ni ellos te entenderlan ni tu a ellos. Se les ventea
la intencion, se les oye y se calla uno el hocico.
Los cristianos blancos nunca han admitido que un indio
diga nada. Cuando lo buscan a uno nunca es para bien.
iQue para donde vas? Pues voy para alia, senor amo,
y en la primera loma das la vuelta y jalas por el lado
contrario. iQue si sabes esto o aquello? Pues no,
senor amo, los indios no sabemos nada. iQue as! o
asado? Como su buena merced diga.^43
The Indians of San Andris, instead of uniting to
fight the oppressor, are in constant battle against the
Indians of San Felipe. Many deaths occur during these
violent encounters. Even after their latest betrayal, they
kill each other instead of opposing Saturnino and his
people.
Magdaleno depicts the Indian as the victim of his
own ignorance and superstition. The author appears to be
143Ibid.. p. 144.
73
very pessimistic regarding the Indian problem but never
theless articulates the ideals of the Revolution through
one of his characters, Bedroza:
El probleraa del indio, Saturnino, es el problema
de Mexico. ... Cuando se cumplan los ideales de
reivindicacion de los revolucionarios, no habr£ pobres
en Mexico. Lo que necesitamos es incorporar al indio
a la civilizacion! Ihra que tu lo sepas. 44
Badroza then tells the old Indian, Bonifacio:
— Tu no sabes nada! Bero ahora ver£s, cuando pongamos
la escuela para los indios! Por cada cueva de curas
dos escuelas! Ese es nuestro programa, el que vamos a
desarrollar con Saturnino! Escuelas para el indio,
guerra a muerte al cura, al latifundista y al alcohol,
los tres azotes de Mexico, como dijo el general
Calles!145
Nevertheless, the author appears to be saying, the
failure of the Revolution to achieve its objective to in
corporate the Indian into Mexican society is probably due
in great measure to the attitude of the middle and upper
classes— creoles and mestizos— regarding the Indian. When
the teacher arrives in San Andres, the merchant Vargas
tells another businessman:
— iQuien sabe, senor Esparza! iQuien sabe! Todas las
desgracias vienen de la ilustracion. Arr^nquelos usted
144Ibid.. p. 166. 145Ibid.. p. 167.
74
de su ignorancia y los tendril convert idos en un monton
de viboras. 4°
Two conservative gentlemen in feehuea state:
— Esta es la desgracia de Mexico, para que vean
ustedes.
— Si hubilramos hecho con los indios lo que los Estados
Unidos, no estarfamos como estamos!
--Solo nos salvaremos cuando se acaben los indios.
The novel of the Revolution abandoned traditional
literary themes copied from European literature to estab
lish a truly Mexican literature inspired in the land,
customs and traditions of Mexico. In its presentation of
the Indian, it differed radically from the idealized depic
tion of the Indian in the nineteenth century novel. Now
the novelist presented the Indian as a living and real
person with some good qualities as well as many vices—
a victim of many centuries of exploitation and betrayal by
whites and mestizos. The novelists of the Revolution
vividly illustrate the failure of the Revolutionary govern
ments to reward the Indian for his tremendous contribution
to the Revolutionary movement. These authors' disillusion
ment with the implementation of the Revolutionary programs
is very evident in their novels.
146Ibid.. p. 409. 147Ibid.., p. 243.
75
Among the novelists of the Revolution, Gregorio
Lopez y Fuentes concerned himself to a greater degree with
the Indian than did his contemporaries. Lopez y Fuentes
also laments the fact that the Indian has been defrauded of
his rewards as a revolutionary. However, Lopez y Fuentes
goes beyond this aspect of the Indian’s many tragic experi
ences to present a broader scope of Indian life and tradi
tions. He differs also from other novelists of the Revolu
tion in characterization and narrative technique. Other
similarities and differences between Lopez y Fuentes* work
and that of other novelists of the Revolution will be seen
in the chapters that follow.
PART II
THE INDIAN IN THE WORKS OF
GREGORIO LOPEZ Y FUENTES
76
CHAPTER III
THE AUTHOR
Life
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes was born on November 17,
1897, at the hacienda called "El Mamey" near Zontecomatlim
in the Huasteca region of the state of Veracruz. He died
of a heart attack on December 11, 1966, at the age of
seventy-four.^ Lopez y Fuentes spent his childhood in a
village consisting of a few Indian huts within the ha
cienda. His father, a farmer and cattle breeder, also
owned a grocery store whose clientele consisted of the
Indians of the region and of muleteers en route to other
parts of the country.
Lopez y Fuentes attended the local primary school
for several years. At the age of eleven he was sent to
■^Letter from Antonio Acevedo Escobedo, Jefe de
Departamento de Literatura, Instituto Nacional de Bellas
Artes, Mexico, D.F., August 21, 1968.
77
78
school in Chicontepec. From Chicontepec he would fre
quently journey home with the arrieros. He soon became
familiar with their colloquial expressions and learned much
about the psychology and customs of rural Mexicans from
them. He later recorded faithfully these customs of rural
Mexico in his novels.
In 1912 Lopez y Fuentes enrolled in the Escuela
Normal para Maestros in the nation*s capital. In 1914,
along with his fellow students, he fought against the
American invasion of Veracruz. later, he joined the anti-
Huerta forces, but when the conflict between Villa and
Carranza emerged, he became a partisan of the latter and
returned to the capital. When Carranza stepped down from
the presidency in 1920, Lopez y Fuentes turned to a liter
ary career.
While still a student, he published his first poems
in the literary review Nosotros which was founded at the
Escuela Normal para Maestros in 1914. Later in the same
year, he published his first book of poetry in the modern
ist style, La sirinea de cristal. In 1922, while he was a
professor of literature at the Escuela Normal, he published
his only other book of poems: Claros de selva.
79
Finding that his true talent was not as a poet,
Lopez y Fuentes turned to the novel. His first novel
El vagabundo appeared in El Universal Ilustrado in 1922.
Two years later his second novel El alma del poblacho
appeared. In the meantime, he had turned to journalism.
He went to work as a substitute reporter for El Universal
in 1924 and rapidly became a successful journalist. In the
same year, 1924, he began to publish a column entitled
"La novela diaria de la vida real" in El Gr^fico. This
"novela diaria" consisted of a fictionalized version of
some event of the day: a robbery, a suicide, a crime of
passion or a similar occurrence. The column, which enjoyed
great popularity, continued for five years. On October 1,
1926, he was named "redactor de planta" of El Universal
Grcifico. In 1934 he was named "jefe de redaccion" of this
evening paper.
Extremely well-liked and respected by his co
workers, he encouraged and oriented budding young reporters.
Named "director" of El Universal Gr£fico on February 2,
1937, he built up the newspaper into the leading evening
2
paper of Mexico City. In 1948 he became director of
^"Murio don Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes," El Universal
(Mexico, D.F.), December 12, 1966, Sec. I, pp. 1, 8, 15.
80
El Universal, a position which he occupied until he retired
in 1951.
The first of Lopez y Fuentes* works to gain him
recognition as a novelist was Campamento in 1931. The fol
lowing year he published Tierra. followed by ;Mi general?
(1934), and El indio (1935), which won the National Prize
of Literature. In succeeding years he published Arrieros
in 1937; Huasteca in 1939; Cuentos camnesinos de Mexico
in 1940; Acomodaticio in 1943; Feregrinos inmoviles in
1944; Cartas de ninos in 1947; Entresuelo in 1948; and
Milpa. notrero v monte in 1951.
His book Cuentos campesinos de Mexico served as a
reader in the fifth and sixth grades in Mexican schools for
a number of years. Because of his experience and training
as an educator, the Ministry of Education later invited him
to write another textbook. His book Cartas de ninos: El
c a m p o v la ciudad was written to be used as a reader in the
fifth grade. In February of 1959, Lopez y Fuentes was
named by the federal government as one of the "vocales
fundadores de la Comision Nacional de los Libros de Texto
3
Gratuitos." This commission was presided over by the
■*"La muerte de Lopez y Fuentes enluta las letras
nacionales," El Universal. December 13, 1966, Sec. I, p. 15.
81
novelist, Martin Luis Guzman. Lopez y Fuentes was active
in the commission until his death.
Present at his funeral on December 12, 1966 were
such renowned literary figures as Agustin Yanez, Minister
of Education, Martin Luis Guzman, Jos4 Gorostiza and
Alfonso Caso. The historian, Arturo Amaiz, in his eulogy,
stated:
... la muerte inesparada de Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes
enluta las letras nacionales. Educador, editor,
periodista, valeroso luchador por las causas del pueblo
en los ahos intensos de la lucha revolucionaria ...
periodista de primer rango, Lopez y Fuentes tuvo oca-
sion de asomarse y de vivir muy de cerca la realidad
politica y social del Mexico contempor£neo. La honra-
dez de su pluma y la limpieza de su intencion lo
hicieron respetable. Al frente de uno de los m£s im-
portantes periodicos de M&xico--El Universal— supo
interpretar la vida del pais con bondad y espiritu
generoso.
One of his former classmates at the Escuela Normal
para Maestros, Profesor Sanchez of Veracruz, also eulogized
Lopez y Fuentes as a man "cuya vida fue ejemplo de talento,
discrecion y modestia.Thus did his colleagues remember
Lopez y Fuentes.
Lopez y Fuentes was married to Maria de los Angeles
Oropeza. The couple had two sons, Angel Lopez Oropeza,
4Ibid. 5 Ibid.
82
an attorney, and Gregorio Lopez Oropeza, a doctor. His
widow and sons live in Mexico City.
Since childhood Lopez y Fuentes gained knowledge of
Indian traditions, customs and legends, particularly those
f L
of the Nahuatl and Otomi Indians. He was, therefore, well
prepared to become the creator of the modem indigenista
novel in Mexico.
The modern indigenista novel differs from the nine
teenth century indianista novel in that the latter dealt
with the Indian as an exotic element— a figure in the past,
usually idealized, while the indigenista novel treats the
Indian as he is today. The indigenista novel attempts to
describe the true reality of Indian life. It deals with
the Indian's idiosyncracies, his problems, his sufferings,
and the Indian's struggles to overcome them. All this is
done by the novelist to dramatize the injustices committed
against the Indian, in an attempt to secure social justice
for the aborigine who has occupied the lowest level of
7
society in the Anericas since the time of the conquest.
^Manuel Pedro GonzAlez, Trayectoria de la novela
en Mexico (First edition; Mexico: Botas, 1951), p. 260.
^See Aida Cometta Manzoni, El indio en la poesia
de America espanola (Buenos Aires: J. Torres, 1939), p. 20.
83
With the publication of El indio in 1935, Lopez y
Fuentes created the modem indigenista novel in Mexico.
Manuel Bedro Gonzalez states:
A L6pez y Fuentes le cabe la gloria de haber iniciado
la novela "indigenista" ... mexicana. Antes de £l se
habian publicado algunas tentativas que no alcanzaron
resonancia ni lograron despertar interns por el tema en
otros autores. Lopez y Fuentes, por el contrario, echa
los cimientos del g£nero ... que en el momento actual
es la variante novelistica m£s y mejor cultivada en
Mexico. ... De El indio ... arranca el interns por este
tipo de novela y su cultivo con cierta dignidad ar
tist ica. °
His second novel of this type is Baregrinos in-
moviles. An analysis of these two novels together with a
detailed study of Tierra. which deals with the agrarian
problem and is, in fact, a synthesis of the history of the
Revolution of 1910, will occupy a major part of this study.
It will be seen, however, that many of Lopez y Fuentesf
other novels and short stories make frequent allusions to
the Indian.
Literary Style
As regards the Mexican novel, Lopez y Fuentes be
came an innovator in narrative technique with his first
O
Manuel Badro GonzAlez, op. cit.. p. 259.
84
9
important novel, Camnamento. In this novel he dispensed
with all the elements which had been considered essential
until then for a we11-constructed novel. No plot is nar
rated, the characters are all anonymous, and there is no
love interest. Nevertheless, the author gathered all the
important aspects of Revolutionary life and presented them
in a series of vignettes within the time limit of one
night.
The technique of presenting his characters as
anonymous, representative types was also used by the author
in El indio. iMi general? and in the second part of Bere-
grinos inmoviles.
Some of Lopez y Fuentes* most important novels,
principally El indio and Los peregrinos inmoviles. are dis
tinguished by the historical allegory which they contain.
Tierra is fictionalized history. In El indio. one finds a
synthesis of Mexico*s history in a presentation of the
events which occur in one Indian village. Tierra presents
the history of the Revolution of 1910 and the Agrarian
Revolt led by Zapata, all compressed into a brief novel
9Ibid.. p. 252.
85
of fewer than two hundred pages. Los peregrinos inmoviles
symbolizes the confrontation of Hispanic and indigenous
cultures with its disastrous effects on the Indian. The
second part of the novel relates the events which occur
during a pilgrimage made by a group of Indians. The
pilgrimage parallels the wanderings of the Aztecs on their
journey to the Valley of Mexico.
In his first novels Lopez y Puentes employs a very
concise and simple style. At times he uses extremely short
sentences, reminiscent of Azorln's style. Nevertheless,
the novelist, with great skill, is able to convey a great
deal of meaning and give the reader an excellent descrip
tion of Mexican life with great economy of words. This
suggests that his work is the result of much polishing and
careful planning. In Campamento. the author describes a
soldier who has been killed:
Era superviviente de las primeras andanzas del
jefe. Refranero y gran narrador de episodios. Bero
a esas cualidades iba unida la inconveniencia del
peligro. Quien lo rehuia se echaba un lance provocado
por el calificativo de cobarde. Segun 61, todo hombre,
para serlo, necesitaba jugarse la vida en todo mo
ment o.10
"^Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Campamento (First edi
tion; Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1931), p. 24.
86
The author achieves brevity by the use of ellipti
cal sentences:
Tenia ya tres meses de molienda, mal pagado y mal
comido. Por la noche, hasta ya tarde, envolviendo
piloncillo. Antes del amaneces, a levantarse para
pegar los caballos a la yunta. Despues, a meter lena.
Luego, a cortar cana. Mas tarde, a dar de beber a los
animales, otra vez a envolver piloncillo. El Canaveral
sin tener para cuando terminar.H
The idea of the monotony of Mexican rural life is
conveyed by this slow, steady rhythm of simple statements.
At times the description is merely suggestive--
impressionistic, leaving much to the reader’s imagination:
Bramidos. Chocar de comamentas. Golpes de pezu-
nas. Todo confundido en un trotar todavla azorado.
Bramidos nost^lgicos hacia los sitios predilectos por
sus mejores pastos.
Lopez y Puentes* later novels differ somewhat in
descriptive technique. Much of his prose reaches a poetic
quality, evoking, at times, striking images. To achieve
such effects, Lopez y Fuentes made extensive use of the
simile:
... m£s allS l, como estampillas pegadas en un piano
verde, los sembrados de cana; algunas arboledas—
11
Gregorio L6pez y Puentes, Tierra (Mexico: Edi
torial Mexico, 1933), p. 22.
Gregorio Lopez y Puentes, ;Mi general? (Mexico:
Ed. Botas, 1934), p. 24.
87
lunares velludos--como queriendo alcanzar las nubes
con los brazos.
... los caballos ... crlnes al vlento como melenas
de muier, colas en alto a manera de espigas de
cana.^
The following is a reference to a group of children
playing around an open fire: "Cogidos por las manos, eran
como una guirnalda de inocencia que giraba en tomo del
fuego.
The artistry of the poet-novelist reached its
esthetic perfection in Los peregrinos inmoviles. He pro
duced remarkable images by combining unusual metaphors and
similes:
... la meseta, sostenida por rampas a manera de anchos
pectorales, declives como brazos caldos y en tension,
columnatas toscas remedando muslos hinchados por el
esfuerzo.^
Una vlbora de lumbre se retorcio entre las nubes
y vino a morder ... a uno de los grandes arboles.
13
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Milpa. potrero v monte
(Mexico: Ed. Botas, 1951), p. 15.
14Ibid.. p. 21. 15Ibid.. p. 29.
16 /
Gregorio L6pez y Fuentes, Los peregrinos inmovi
les (Mexico: Ed. Botas, 1944), p. 12.
17Ibid., p. 98.
88
The language which Lopez y Fuentes used is a simple
and correct Spanish with an occasional sprinkling of Indian
terms or of popular speech for greater effectiveness. Only
in dialogue, and then only rarely, did the author reproduce
the colloquial speech of uneducated people. One particu
larly memorable character created by Lopez y Fuentes is the
refranero of Arrieros. Through this character, the author
reproduces innumerable popular sayings which the muleteers
use and which were heard by Lopez y Fuentes in his child
hood. Arrieros is the novel in which the author made the
most extensive use of costumbrismo although the Cuentos
campesinos and many of his other works also depict the
traditions and customs of rural Mexico.
All of Lopez y Fuentes* novels are concerned with
Mexico*s social problems. The problem of militarism is
treated in iMi general? The land question is the theme of
Tierra. Huasteca deals with foreign investments. The
matter of political opportunism and chicanery is presented
in Acomodaticio. The problems in education are discussed
in El indio and the short story "Quetzalc6atl." The reli
gious question arises in Tierra and in El indio. The
racial problem is the central issue of El indio. Baregrinos
inmoviles and Tierra.
The present study is limited to the racial problem.
However, the questions of agrarian reform, of religion and
of education as they relate to the racial problem are also
treated. A comparison of the many facets of Indian life
and traditions and customs as depicted by Lopez y Fuentes
with the presentation of the same topics by anthropolo
gists, sociologists, historians, educators and others are
being made. I believe that such a comparison reveals that
Lopez y Fuentes' depiction of the Indian is fundamentally
truthful and accurate.
CHAPTER IV
THE INDIAN'S PARTICIPATION IN THE REVOLUTION
It should be noted that the Indian never willingly
resigned himself to the inferior social and economic posi
tion which he has occupied since the time of the conquest.
During the Colonial Period there were periodic Indian up
risings. In the War of Independence, the Indian, seeking
to better his lot, became willing "cannon fodder." During
the Diaz dictatorship, the Indian's position was worse than
at any time since the conquest. The Revolution of 1910
provided hope for the enslaved Indian and he joined and
collaborated enthusiastically with all Revolutionary
1
groups.
Lopez y Fuentes records this revolutionary fervor
of the Mexican Indian in the words of one of his charac
ters, "el general":
■^Carleton Beals, Mexican Maze (Philadelphia: J. B.
Lippincott Company, 1931), pp. 196-197.
90
91
Y que calor puso la raza en el movimiento apenas
iniciado. De las rancherxas de indios se me enviaban
dinero, alimentos, forrajes. Pueron mi almacen pre-
cioso durante aquellos dxas. Todo ello, sin necesidad
de hablar de las finalidades, de los propositos y del
programa del movimiento. Si no me equivoco, entonces
no tenxamos ni programa, ni propositos, ni finalidades.
A nosotros como a los indios, nos guiaba el instinto
propio de los pdjaros, una orientacion subconsciente.
The Indians' hospitality and courtesy toward
strangers have been manifested since Moctezuma received
O
Cortes with a great number of valuable gifts. Carleton
Beals has found unequalled hospitality among Mexico's
4 / .
Indians. One of Lopez y Puentes* anonymous personages
refers to this Indian hospitality in relating his war ex
periences, and states: "Me arrastri por el monte. Fui a
dar a la casa de unos indxgenas. Ellos me cuidaron hasta
„5
sanar."
As stated in Chapter II, the Yaquis are legendary
fighters who have inspired fear in the hearts of all
2
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, ;Mi general! (Mexico:
Ed. Botas, 1934), p. 50.
q
Moists Saenz, "Contrast," in The Genius of Mexico
(New York: J. J. Little and Ives Company, 1931), p. 14.
^Beals, op. cit.. pp. 114-115.
^Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Campamento (Madrid:
Espasa-Calpe, 1931), p. 56.
opponents. They were particularly fierce in fighting
against Diaz* forces as they suffered greater injustices
under his regime than at any previous time in Mexico’s
history. In the 1880’s the Yaqui lands in Sonora were con
fiscated from them and assigned to wealthy Creole hacenda-
dos. The Yaquis under the leadership of Cajeme took up
arms and retreated to the mountains where they defeated
every array sent after them until they were subjugated by
starvation. Cajeme was captured and executed. Then
Governor Ramon Corral and his successor, Luis Torres, sold
the Yaquis as slaves at $75 per head to the owners of
henequen plantations in Quintana Roo where they were
C .
treated with merciless cruelty.
The Yaquis, cruelly harassed during the Diaz
regime, threw in their lot with Madero who supplied them
with arms. They also formed the greater part of the armies
of 0breg6n and later of Calles. The tall, war-loving
Yaquis were the most striking of all the Revolutionary
soldiers.^ They were, in a sense, the decisive factor in
Henry B. Earkes, A History of Mexico (Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1950), p. 296.
'Beals, op. cit.. p. 177.
93
the Revolution as they constituted the greatest part of
0breg6n's troops, which eventually defeated Villa in 1915,
thus ending the major part of the fighting in the Revolu-
O
tion. In later years these same warriors fought under
/ 9
Obregon against Carranza and in 1923 against De la Huerta.
Lopez y Fuentes had a school child sing the glories
of the Revolutionary soldier, giving special emphasis to
the Yaquis:
... al paso, tocando su tambor mon6tono, van bajando
los yaquis, dispuestos a cavar sus loberas y sin que
la muerte les altere el musculo m£s delgado de sus
rostros de piedra. A todo correr, tendidos sobre sus
caballos, los soldados del norte dan sus cargas de
caballerla, sin importarles para nada los que caen al
son de las ametralladoras. Abriendo mangana con sus
reatas vaqueras, los colonches se lanzan sobre las
posiciones enemigas y lanzan las piezas de artilleria
como si se tratara de reses bravas. Los hombres del
istmo ... se dirigen al centro con el arma bajo el
brazo. Los soldados del sur, despu£s de haber afilado
sus machetes en las peleas contra el tigre, trepan ya
por las serranlas. ... Otros, descendientes de los
antiguos comanches, parecen haber resucitado a sus
abuelos. ... Y de todos rincones del pals, los revolu-
cionarios avanzan, cantando. ^
Lopez y Fuentes admired the stoic indifference of
the Yaquis in the face of danger, which he attributed to
Q
Ihrkes, on. cit.. pp. 353-354.
9
Beals, op. cit.. p. 177.
~^;Mi general?, pp. 63-64.
94
the Indians' belief that those who died in battle would
live like gods in a paradise reserved for them. Alfonso
Caso informs us that the belief about which Lopez y Fuentes
writes was a part of the Aztec religion. The Aztecs be
lieved that where a man's soul went after death was not
determined by his conduct in this life but by the manner
in which he died and by his occupation in life. Warriors
who died in combat were privileged ones who would live a
life "of pure delight" in the eastern paradise of the
1 1
sun. Lopez y Fuentes states that the Yaquis had retained
the belief of the Aztecs:
Algunos indios yaquis, rendidos tambidn, permanecen
enhiestos, con los brazos cruzados sobre el pecho,
inmoviles. Earecen estatuas no terminadas. A sus
pies, las mujeres arrullan a sus hijos y miran todo
con indiferencia heroica. No hubo combate, pero, de
haberlo, no cambiarxan de actitud. i Para que inmu-
tarse? ^Eara que eludir el peligro? Su creencia es
la de que quienes mueren as£ van a dar al sitio c6modo
de divinidad donde los valientes son atendidos como
dioses.
Carleton Beals believes, moreover, that this "stark impreg
nable character" of the Yaquis has been greatly determined
11
Alfonso Caso, The Aztecs: People of the Sun.
Tr. of El pueblo del Sol by Lowell Dunham (Norman, Okla
homa: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958), p. 58.
12
Campamento. p. 52.
95
by the great physical obstacles which they have had to
battle constantly in the Sierras which they inhabit.
In spite of the fact that the Indians formed the
backbone of the Revolutionary armies, they did not escape
mistreatment and abuse during and after the Revolution.^
Lopez y Fuentes deplores the centuries-old mistreatment of
the Indian in relating the incident of the Indian guide in
the novel of the Revolution, Campamento. The author
describes the guide*s feet as raw and bleeding because one
of the officers has had his horse step on the guide's heels
all day, supposedly in an attempt to keep the Indian moving
but actually more as a form of cruel joke. When the troops
make camp for the night, the Indian quietly lies down apart
from the others. He is dying of tuberculosis. Suddenly
he has a hemorrhage and dies without having uttered a
single complaint. The "agitator” hears of the guide's
death and makes the following comment:
Se le reventaron los pulmones racialmente debili-
tados por tantos siglos de sufrimientos: la pesima
^Beals, o p . cit.. pp. 182-183.
Frank Tannenbaum, Peace by Revolution (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1933), p. 181.
96
alimentacion, los hogares insalubres, el litigo del
encomendero y luego del hacendado, la carga.^
The agitator wants to avenge the Indian*s death but changes
his mind and continues:
— La revoluci6n se estd haciendo con sangre de
indio .».
— Lo digo por ese indio que acaba de morir despan-
zurrado por la fatiga y por la brutalidad. Lo digo por
los millares de indios que han quedado en los caminos,
aplastados por el peso de las impedimentas, como bes-
tias de carga.
— Lo digo porque todos los beneficios que pregona la
revolucion no parecen comprender al indxgena, que sigue
siendo el mulo de la llamada gente de razon.
— Sx, companeros; tengo la razon, y aunque no lo
parezca, en vista de que soy indio, porque a ellos, ni
eso se les concede: tener razon. £Se pregonan ideas
avanzadas? Pues ponerlas en pr£ctica sobre la marcha.
... De una vez tratarlos como a iguales, o dejar el
arma a un lado del camino, y que las cosas sigan en el
mismo estado.-^
The reader is made aware of the indignation which
the author felt at the injustices perpetrated upon the
Indian particularly in view of the tremendous contributions
which the latter made in the Revolutionary struggles.
•^Camnamento. p. 83.
^ Ibid.. pp. 84-85.
CHAPTER V
THE INDIAN AND THE AGRARIAN PROBLEM
The Land Question in Mexico
Intimately related to the land problem is the
Indian question. It is time that the question of the
agrarian reform is not limited to any particular racial or
social group in Mexico. Yet the Indian's traditions and
history place him in a particularly intimate relationship
with the land which he inhabits.’ 1 '
In Mexico the struggle for land dates back to pre-
Cortesian times. Agriculture has always formed the basis
of the Mexican economy and, since almost 90 per cent of
Mexico's land is unsuitable for agriculture because of
2
climatic or geographical conditions, the struggle to
•''Frank Tannenbaum, Peace bv Revolution (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1933), pp. 16-17.
2
Ernest Gruening, Mexico and Its Heritage (New
York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1928), pp. 111-114.
97
98
possess the available arable land has made the agrarian
question of fundamental importance in most of Mexico’s
civil wars and revolutions.
In order to view the agrarian problem in its proper
perspective, let us examine in broad terms the background
of the land question and its relationship to the Indians
of Mexico. Prior to the conquest, the calpulli. a communal
form of land ownership, was the basic form of land divi-
4
sion. Even though the calpulli was communal, it was
divided into parcels of land, each of which belonged to a
family that developed it independently of the rest. This
form of ownership existed among the Aztecs, the Acolhua
and the Texcocano.3 The conquest of the New World trans
formed the agrarian organization to the detriment of the
Indian. Lands wrested from the natives were distributed in
enormous tracts to reward the services of the conquerors.
These grants were known as encomiendas or repartimientos.
3Ibid.. p. 129.
4
Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude. Tr. by
L. Ksmp (New York: Grove Press, 1961), p. 141.
3Lucio Mendieta y Nunez, ’ ’ The Balance of Agrarian
Reform,” in The Annals of the American Academy of Political
and Social Science. Vol. 208 (March, 1940), p. 121.
99
The Indians inhabiting the lands were required to work for
and to pay tribute to the encomenderos. Those who resisted
£
were slaughtered or reduced to chattel slavery. The
encomendero was also duty-bound to serve the Indians*
physical and spiritual well-being. Unfortunately, the
encomenderos were far more interested in the land and the
riches which the land produced than in the welfare of the
Indians. Inevitably the system resulted in the seizure of
Indian lands and the Indians themselves were reduced to
poverty and servitude. The encomienda system was finally
abolished in the latter part of the eighteenth century.
By then, most of the best land was in the hands of great
landowners and the Church.^
During the administration of Viceroy Antonio de
Mendoza, in an effort to relieve the plight of the Indians,
who had a number of missionaries pleading their cause, the
Crown granted to each native village a tract of land for
collective use retaining the original system of communal
ownership. Appropriate measures were taken to prevent
g
Henry B. Parkes, A History of Mexico (Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1950), p. 33.
^Hubert Herring, A History of Latin America
(Revised edition; New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1963), p. 190.
100
Spanish encroachments. In later years, it was found easier
to protect the Indians, surrounded by large latifundios and
with no possibility of increasing their property in order
to satisfy their growing needs, to relocate them to other
areas. The Indians were resettled in congregaciones. Each
community was granted an eiido which consisted of one
square league of farm and pasture land. Government was
entrusted to the native caciques and indigenous customs
g
were rigorously followed.
However, the hacendados whose lands surrounded the
eiidos continued to enlarge their holdings at the expense
of the eiidos during the colonial period. The Indians
became obliged to work for the great landowners at miser-
g
able wages.
A serious blow was dealt to the e i idos with the
passage of the Ley Lerdo in 1856. This law was intended to
reduce land holdings by the Church and prohibited corporate
land ownership. Since the eiidos had the character of
civil corporations, it was necessary to divide the communal
g
Lesley Byrd Simpson, Many Mexicos (Fourth edition;
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pp. 98-
102.
9 *
tfendieta y Nunez, op. cit., p. 122.
101
property of the villages among family heads. The Indians
soon found themselves selling their individual holdings for
a mere pittance either to satisfy debts or through lack of
foresight.^
During the Diaz regime, surveying companies were
formed presumably to establish the true boundary lines of
public lands which were to be colonized. The net result
was that these companies succeeded in gaining one-fifth of
the land. Consequently enormous land holdings were formed.
As land became concentrated into fewer huge land holdings,
the number of Indian small land holders decreased. They
were forced into a system of peonage. Here the peon became
a serf in constant bondage. This was the situation as the
11
Revolution of 1910 broke out.
Lopez y Fuentes' novel, Tierra. deals with the life
of these peons in a large sugar cane hacienda during the
Diaz regime. The novel then traces the course of the
Revolution and the agrarian revolt led by Zapata from 1910
to 1920.
10Ibid.. p. 125.
102
Tierra
The first chapter of the novel is entitled "1910"
and it is perhaps the significant one for this study. In
the first chapter we find described the conditions under
which the Indians lived while the "hacienda system" was the
prevailing organizational structure for Mexican agricul
ture. The hacendados. who had the entire legislative,
judicial and executive machinery of the nation controlled,
were constantly increasing their land holdings at the ex
pense of the Indian eiidos or of the ranchero. the owner
of a small plot of land. Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama de
scribes the operations of the hacendados:
A esto hay que agregar otras formas de despojo ...
compra o cohecho de los municipes o de los jueces que
intervenlan en esos asuntos de tierras; cambio de
linderos al arbitrio del poderoso terrateniente, que
contaba con la docil complacencia de las autoridades
y con el apoyo de la fuerza publica; robo o extravlo
de los titulos de los pueblos; en fin, toda esa serie
innumerable de maniobras a que acude la codicia de los
grandes senores cuando no encuentran el freno de
autoridades que sepan cumplir con su deber.
De este modo y por efecto de continuar usurpacio-
nes, las haciendas se fueron extendiendo m£s y m£s,
a expensas de los pueblos circunvecinos. ^
1 o
Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama, la revolucion agraria
del sur (Mexico: n.p., 1960), p. 58.
103
Tierra begins with a scene in which the peons in
Don Bernardo Gonzalez* hacienda are putting up a new fence
to expand the limits of his land. The peasants discuss the
litigation involved:
Tambien hablan de lo que en los ultimos dias ha
constituxdo el tema de las conversaciones ... que el
patron gano el litigio sobre los terrenos de la canada.
iY que terrenos!
--Pero cuando ha perdido el amo un litigio por terre-
nos ? - o
— Dejense de cosas: siempre llueve donde hay lodo.
While clearing the brush to put up the new fence,
a young Indian is bitten by a snake and although the "straw
boss” is at first opposed to such a salvaiismo. an old peon
amputates the young man's finger with his machete in order
to prevent the spread of the poison when it becomes obvious
that the infection is potentially mortal. The young chap
dies and the author describes the wake which is held in
one room, while in an adjoining room an Indian woman is
giving birth to a child. The Indian accepts life and death
with resignation as he views it as a cycle which is inevi-
14
tably repeated and whose course he is unable to influence.
13 /
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Tierra (Mexico:
Ed. Mexico, 1933), p. 11.
■^Carleton Beals, Mexican Maze (Ihiladelphia: J. B.
Lippincott Company, 1931), pp. 117-118.
104
When the child is born, the father is overjoyed
for it is a boy.
--Y fu£ hombre!
Se oye el aviso, dado con toda esa alegria que
contrasta con la noticia desconsoladora— apreciacion
general--de cuando el parto ha dado una mujer. ^
The sadness occasioned by the birth of a female child may
be understood if one takes into account the inferior posi
tion held by women among most Indian groups which indicates
that the female child will lead a life of suffering and
16
repression.
Lopez y Fuentes also describes the Indian burial
rite:
El cadaver es preparado para que se le conduzca al
camposanto. Lo envuelven en el petate que habia per-
manecido en un rincon. Lo atan por los extremos y por
en medio, como se hace con los cad^veres que en alta
mar son arrojados al agua. El tubo es colocado y atado
en una tabla. Lo cargan entre cuatro, y asi emprenden
el camino del camposanto. La mujer lleva una cera,
rompiendo la marcha. Los que van atrAs pueden ver las
p&lidas plantas de los pies, saliendo por un extremo
del petate.^
The author stresses the life-death cycle and its
acceptance by the Indian by saying of the woman who has
^ Tierra. p. 24.
1 f t
Verna Carleton Millan, Mexico Reborn (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1939), p. 154.
17Tierra. p. 25.
105
just given birth: "Manana ya andari. entregada a sus que-
haceres de casa. De aqu£ a ocho d£as ya ir£ al campo.
18
As£ son." The great physical and mental endurance of the
Indian is frequently commented upon by students of the
Indian.^
The practice of selecting a mate for their children
is practiced among practically all Indian groups in Mexico.
Among the Aztecs it was always the parents of the boy who
would select a wife for him. The parents of a girl could
not take the initiative in finding a husband for their
20
daughter. Today the customs vary from group to group,
but there are tribes in which the parents select the future
21
husband for their daughter a few hours after she is born.
The exchanging of gifts between the families of the engaged
couple is a custom practiced by most Indian groups.
•^Ibid., p. 24.
^See Ramon Beteta, "Social Forces in Mexican
Life," in Genius of Mexico (New York: J. J. Little and
Ives, 1931), p. 36.
^Fray Bartolom£ de las Casas, Los indios de Mexico
v Nueva Espana (Mexico: Porrua, S.A., 1966), p. 149.
^Millan, on. cit., p. 154.
106
Lopez y Fuentes reproduces this custom in the
novel. Antonio HernAndez, one of the principal characters
in the novel, becomes engaged at the age of ten to Marla
Itetra, daughter of the local curandero. who "practicaba la
medicina campirana, mediante el conocimiento curativo de
22
hierbas, no sin auxiliarse con la hechicerla pantelsta."
The many superstitions and the practice of the art of
witchcraft among Mexico's Indians have been written about
a great deal. The use of medicinal herbs has been a common
23
practice among the Indians since the time of the Aztecs.
Therefore, we are made aware that the curandero of the
novel followed ancient customs.
The administrador of the hacienda has a son, Fran
cisco, who also covets Marla Betra. The administrador had
not selected a wife for his son as he considered such a
practice "propia de indios" and he did not want to iden
tify with the Indian who occupied the lowest strata of the
^ Tierra. p. 29.
23
See Eablo Gonzalez Casanova, "The Indian Heri
tage," in The Genius of Mexico, pp. 50-51. Regarding use
of herbs, see Gruening, Mexico and Its Heritage, p. 533,
and Victor W. von Hagen, The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of the
Americans (Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1961),
pp. 109-114.
107
social scale. When Francisco insists on marrying Maria
Petra, the administrador intervenes and promises certain
benefits to Antonio*s father so that Antonio will give up
his claims to the girl. Antonio resists the pressure
exerted upon him, but eventually, when both he and his
father are forced to perform the hardest chores and are
threatened in other ways, he is forced to relinquish his
claim on the girl. The girl then marries Francisco.
There is an attempt made on the administrator's
life, and immediately suspicion falls on Antonio, who along
with his father is cruelly whipped by Francisco and the
patron. Antonio is then sent to serve in Diaz* army.
The practice of lashing the Indians was considered
the most effective manner for keeping the Indians humble
and servile. Fear of the whip prevented insubordination of
any kind. "In 'the good old days* of Diaz the Indian who
had been lashed learned to kneel and kiss his master's hand
24
in gratitude for the whipping."
Also widespread was the practice of sending
24
Hudson Strode, Timeless Mexico (New York: Har-
court, Brace and Company, 1944), p. 212.
108
25
malcontents to serve in the army. Lopez y Fuentes states
that in Antonio’s case:
Como otros muchos muchachos de la hacienda de don
Bernardo Gonzalez, Antonio va a prestar sus servicios
de soldado, envios con que el patron se congratula ante
el Jefe Politico. Se le considera amigo del gobierno
al ceder de sus trabajadores algunos que vayan a ser el
sostin de las instituciones. Otros han sido enviados
por manifestarse inconformes con seguir trabajando en
la hacienda. Otros por convenir asi a los intereses
del amo, por ejemplo; en la disputa de propiedades. ®
Practically every book which attempts to describe
hacienda life during the Diaz period will comment on the
"tienda de raya." Whetten quotes Luis Cabrera whose
description of it is based on personal experience:
The "tienda de raya" is not simply an abusive prac
tice on the part of the hacendados; it is an economic
necessity in the system of management of the hacienda;
one cannot conceive of an hacienda without a "tienda
de raya" . . . the "tienda de raya" is the place where
the hacendado gives merchandise on credit to the peon,
which is considered as a benefit for the laborer; but,
at the same time, it is the bank of the hacendado.
The salary complements which I have already mentioned
constitute a liberal concession which the hacendado
extends with his right hand; with his left, that is,
through the "tienda de raya," the hacendado collects.
The supplementary salary which he paid the laborer;
all that the peon gained when he received corn, pulque,
o c
Diaz Soto y Gama, op. cit., p. 58; Tannenbaura,
op. cit.. p. 177.
26
Tierra. p. 32.
109
and living quarters, he returns over the counter of
the "tienda de raya." '
The peon was kept in a state of debt so that he
could not leave the hacienda. Lopez y Fuentes describes
the same type of situation when he states: "Manana es dla
de *tianguis' en la rancherla. ... Bero de cuanto hay en
la tienda de raya, solo en la tienda puede adquirirse, bajo
amenaza de castigo para quien vaya a comprar en el 'tian-
28
guis.*" Tianguis was the name which the Aztecs gave to
the market place.
The Indians have been used as beasts of burden
29 *
since pre-Columbian times, and Lopez y Fuentes describes
how the Indians perform the task of cargador:
Algunos de los peones todavla estln llegando, car-
gados con una minima parte de la cosecha. £Por que
hablan de regresar con las espaldas libres? La carga
les sirve para tomar el ritmo de la marcha. Llegan en
formacion, la espalda en arco, la cabeza doblada. ®
The Indians have either authentic Indian names or
have taken the name of Don Porfirio:
“ ^Nathan L. Whetten, Rural Mexico (Chicago: Univer
sity of Chicago Press, 1948), p. 104.
^^Tierra, p. 33.
29
Tannenbaum, op. cit.. p. 5.
^^Tierra. p. 34.
110
Van pasando. Nombres de indlgenas autenticos. '
Nombres vulgares. Apellidos tornados de lo que rodea
el hogar. Cuatzintla: el que vive junto al arbol.
Tepeixpa: el que vive frente a la montana. Los Por-
firios D£az abundan. ... El nombre del Presidente es
muy vulgar entre los indlgenas . ■ * ■
Under the hacienda system the peon was always in
debted to the patron. Frequently the Indians were openly
cheated because of their ignorance, servility and fear.
They might be charged two or three times for the same item.
"Uno que te doy, uno que me debes y uno que te apunto,
32
suman tres." With this ironically humorous statement,
Diaz Soto y Gama sums up the shameless frauds perpetrated
upon the intimidated Indian.
In the novel, Lopez y Fuentes parallels Diaz Soto
y Gama's remark when he has the clerk at the tienda de raya
say to one of the peons: "Un peso que te doy, es un peso
que me debes; y otro peso que te apunto, £no hacen en
33
total tres pesos?"
Debts were hereditary and if a peon attempted to
flee in order to escape mistreatment without having paid
^ Ibid.. p. 35.
32 ,
Diaz Soto y Gama, op. cit.. p. 62.
^ Tierra. p. 36.
Ill
the debt contracted either by himself, his father or his
grandfather, he was pursued like a criminal and returned to
34
the hacienda.
In the novel, Lopez y Fuentes relates the experi
ence of the Indian, Urbano Tlahuica, who is returned to the
hacienda after having escaped. He requests that only
one third of his pay be given to him so that he can liqui
date his debt. All his pleading is useless. He is forced
to buy things at the store. He cannot refuse to take the
items offered him, because the employee would charge them
to his account even if he did not take them.
During the Diaz dictatorship, most Catholic priests
were allied intimately with the hacendado.
The church became active and indispensable in the
maintenance of industrial feudalism. On the "hacien
das" the priests, less the servants of God than of
the owner, preached meekness and submission to the
victims of the overseers’ brutality, consoling the
bleeding Indian by portrayal of the happiness that
would be his in the next world. From the pittances
which these wretches received from their heart-breaking
toil, the curate extracted his tithe, the money passing
in many cases directly from employer to priest. The
consolations of religion were an essential part of the
successful administration of the plantations.
34 /
Diaz Soto y Gama, op. cit.. p. 63.
35
Gruening, op. cit.. p. 211.
112
When the priest arrives in the hacienda, he bap
tizes babies and marries couples en masse. Don Bernardo,
aware of the importance of religion in the maintenance of
the status quo, is properly respectful toward the priest
in front of the workers:
Le besa la mano al sacerdote. No le han importado
el altar, ni los santos, pero en cambio si le importa
su politica: dar a conocer su reverencia por el cura,
pues le conviene que sus peones, tomandolo como
ejemplo, respeten y teman al sacerdote. °
Once the two are behind closed doors, they drop all
pretenses:
— Ah, curita, tragon de polios! ;Ya vino otra vez a
explotar mis pobres indios!
--^Pobres? Y por qui£n est£n asl? iHacendado negrero!
... Se rlen con carcaiadas sordas. El cura saca una
botella. 7
Often lacking an adequate drinking water supply and
to compensate for an inadequate and monotonous diet, the
Indian has always consumed alcoholic beverages, above all
pulque, in great quantities. This has been true since pre-
38 /
Cortesian times. Lopez y Fuentes illustrates how this
weakness for alcoholic drink on the part of the Indian
O ^
Tierra. p. 45. ^7Ibid.
O O
Gruening, op. cit.. pp. 537-540.
113
was effectively exploited by the hacendado to help his
peons to forget their miserable lives:
En obsequio de los trabajadores, el patron ha man-
dado instalar expendios gratuitos de aguardiente y de
tepache. Que se emborrachen siquiera, ya que por
atender las exigencias del amo se quedaron sin sembrar
a tiempo, sin limpiar oportunamente sus labores y, en
resumen, sin cosechar nada, porque al venirse encima
el tiempo de lluvias lo poco que se habia logrado se
perdio en la m a t a . ^ 9
The alcohol puts the Indian into a state of eu
phoria in which all his problems are easily solved:
Se alegran con el aguardiente y se olvidan que los
va a maltratar el hambre. No importa. Las trojes del
amo estAn repletas. La hacienda ya les vender^ el
maiz y el frijol que ellos mismos cultivaron. Si no
tienen dinero, ya les darA a cuenta de trabajo. Si
sube la cuenta en la tienda de raya, jque mAs da!
^Acaso no tienen las insolubles cuentas heredadas de
padres a hijos?^
In answer to a visitor’s question as to why there
is no school on the premises, the hacendado. Don Bernardo,
replies:
— iNi pensarlo, mi querida Agustina! Ia escuela me los
echarxa a perder. iQui^n los aguanta sabiendo leer y
escribir! Lo primero que se les ocurriria: pedir
tierras y aumento de jornal.^-*-
39Tierra. p. 56. 40Ibid.
41Ibid.. p. 57.
114
In the year 1911, Antonio Hernandez returns from
the army to inform the peons of Maderofs insurrection in
the North of Mexico. Soon Antonio has formed a small army
composed of Indians who flee the haciendas to join the call
of "Tierra y Libertad" propagated by Zapata.
Madero succeeded in overthrowing the Diaz govern
ment, but the entire governmental bureaucracy of the Diaz
regime remained intact. The hacendados kept their lands.
Tannenbaum comments:
The old clique controlled the army. It controlled
the national and state legislatures. It controlled
the governors; even the new governors named by the
Revolution but slightly reflected a revolutionary view
point . ^
There is a character in the novel, an ex-Porfirista
who now calls himself a Revolutionary, who arrives at Don
Bernardo's hacienda. He is waging a campaign as a candi
date for the National Congress. Don Bernardo, who now
finds it convenient to support the Madero government, pro
poses the formation of the "Francisco I. Madero Club" and
accepts its presidency when it is offered to him. The
hacendado and the candidate talk of effective suffrage and
^Tannenbaum, op. cit.. pp. 151-152.
115
democracy and pay lip service to the ideals of Madero,
Orozco and Zapata. Of course, to the peasant all those
abstractions meant nothing. They wanted to see concrete
changes.
The talk of suffrage meant nothing to them. They
were ignorant of it. . . . What they wanted was land,
the abolition of serfdom, the abolition of the "tienda
de raya." The people wanted land, water and schools:
simple and elemental demands that had no bearing upon
the political ideals of the Madero group.
In the novel the peons ask themselves: "Bueno,
lY que hemos ganado nosotros?" The hacendado continues to
order them to abandon their work to go and do his.
Habfan sonado con que al triunfo de la revolucion
maderista quedarian en libertad para consagrarse a sus
propias ocupaciones: sembrar a tiempo, escardar en su
oportunidad y recoger los frutos antes de que, por
atender trabajos ajenos, se echaran a perder exi la mata
o fueran devorados por los animales del monte.^
The Indians attempted to console themselves by reminding
each other that they were getting better treatment from the
authorities for fear of reprisals from Revolutionary
leaders such as Antonio.
Madero, prior to succeeding to the presidency,
asked Zapata to lay down his arms, promising that the Plan
43Ibid.. p. 150. 44Tierra. pp. 75-76.
116
of San Luis Pot os x, which called for the return of the
lands to the Indian villages and to small landowners, would
be carried out. Zapata was ready to disband his forces
when he learned that Victoriano Huerta, an opponent of
Madero's, had been appointed as commander-in-chief of the
federal troops in the South by the Porfirista provisional
president De la Barra. Immediately Zapata realized what
he had suspected before--that the revolution was not over.
45
It was just beginning.
The Zapata forces continued fighting the federal
forces in Morelia, Guerrero and other southern states. In
the novel, Zapata explains to Antonio that Article 4 of the
Plan of San Luis Potosx called for the return of the land
to the Indian villages and for indemnification for damages
suffered as a result of being dispossessed from the lands.
— Bero el senor Madero nos sale ahora con que hasta
dentro de algunos anos podr£n cumplirse esas promesas
hechas a los campesinos. Nos sale con que debemos
entregar las armas, que don Porfirio ya se fu£, que
para dar garantias estan los federales. iComo si
nosotros hubi^ramos peleado solo para quitar a don
Porfirio! lY las tierras? £Van a seguir en manos de
los ricos? lY nosotros vamos a seguir de esclavos
^ Edgcumb Pinchon, Zapata the Unconquerable (New
York: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1941), pp. 215-240.
117
de los terratenientes ? Varaos a luchar otra vez y
hasta recuperar las tierras que nos han quitado. °
Antonio then receives orders from Zapata to organ
ize guerrilla forces to combat the federal troops. Lopez
y Fuentes describes the peasants' reaction to the new call
to arms:
De cuanto le ha dicho el general, ha sacado en
claro que, para recuperar las tierras robadas a los
pobres es necesario pelear.
Asx lo explica a sus hombres. Elios esparcen por
el rumbo las primeras noticias de las finalidades de
la nueva revolucion. Los peones, en el campo, comentan
la nueva: RevoluciAn agraria, la lucha por la tierra.
El trabajo resulta menos duro. La tierra toda es una
promesa de bienestar. Zapata deja de ser un general
para convertirse en una bandera.
iTierra! Todos quieren luchar por la recuperacion
de las tierras. La gran ambicion, poseer un pedazo de
tierra, mueve de entusiasmo hasta a los ninos. '
There can be no doubt about the great enthusiasm
with which the Indians joined Zapata in the fight to re
cuperate their lands:
El gran mensaje de reivindicacion justiciero daba
sus frutos, y los campesinos, acogi£ndolo con entu
siasmo, se aprestaban a recobrar las tierras de sus
mayores, cuya restitucion habxan estado solicitando en
vano durante siglos, de gobiernos incomprensivos y de
jueces prevaricadores.
A A A * 7
Tierra. p. 85. Ibid.. p. 88.
^Dxaz Soto y Gama, op. cit.. pp. 109-110.
118
Since the Indians did not have arms, they resorted
to the most logical means of acquiring them. After every
encounter with the federal troops, they would pounce
49 /
greedily upon the guns of the fallen. Lopez y Fuentes
faithfully depicts the Indians' manner of procuring arms
in the novel:
Con cada partida zapatista de hombres armados, va
un enjambre de individuos inermes. Son los "zopilo-
tes," los que desean formar parte de las columnas
revolucionarias, pero que no tienen armas. A la hora
del tiroteo, del combate ... los "zopilotes" se lanzan
vorazmente sobre el campo de la lucha y antes que pro-
curar la prenda de algvin valor, toman el arma y los
cartuchos del federal caido. Con ese solo hecho han
quedado convertidos en soldados. En ocasiones es tan
grande el entusiasmo, que aun no se decide el encuentro
y los "zopilotes" ya est^n en el campo. Uhos logran
apoderarse de una carabina, otros caen muertos con las
manos vacias. _n
Es ese el sistema de aprovisionamiento de armas.
During the years 1912-1913, the Zapatistas ran
sacked some of the haciendas and the federal troops burned
some of the rancherias in reprisal. The Huerta coup
succeeded in overthrowing the Madero government. In 1914,
Huerta was overthrown by the revolutionary armies of Villa
and Carranza in the north and Zapata in the south. Villa
49
ELnchon, op. cit.. p. 189.
^Tierra. p. 89.
119
broke with Carranza and together with Zapata briefly occu
pied the capital. Finally Carranza, with the aid of
Obregon's forces, triumphed over Villa. In 1919 the
federal government sent General Ihblo Gonzalez to defeat
Zapata. Zapata was tricked by Colonel Guajardo who pre
tended that he had deserted the federal forces in order to
join the agrarian army. In spite of Zapata's suspicious
nature, Guajardo by his actions was able to convince the
agrarian leader of his commitment to the agrarian cause.
Once Guajardo had gained Zapata's confidence, he was able
to ambush and assassinate him at the hacienda of San Juan
51
Chinameca. All these events are faithfully recorded in
the novel. Zapata was killed by Guajardo's men as he was
arriving to confer with his assassin. Guajardo, after
receiving the ransom money which the government had offered
for Zapata's life, was assassinated himself by the brother
of a young girl whom Guajardo had dishonored. Zapata was
murdered but he continued alive in the heart and imagina-
52
tion of Indian Mexico.
■^Ihrkes, op. cit.. pp. 321-367.
■^Knchon, op. cit.. pp. 331-332.
120
Lopez y Fuentes writes:
Existe la seguridad de que Antonio Hernandez est£
bien muerto; pero nadie sabe donde se halla enterrado.
En cambio del general Zapata todos saben donde est£
enterrado; pero nadie, en el rumbo, cree que ha
muerto. ^
The novelist informs us that Zapata has become a legend to
the Indians of Morelos and that occasionally someone will
report seeing him on a moonlit night atop his famous
charger, "Relampago."
In order to understand better the Indians1 devotion
to Zapata, it is important to emphasize the latter1s com
plete commitment to the Agrarian cause. Articles 6 and 7
of Zapata^ Plan de Ayala provided that:
. . . the lands, woods and waters tom from the vil
lages by legal trickery and tyrannical force hereby
are immediately restored to the possession of their
rightful owners. . . . And all villagers who so have
lost their lands are hereby instructed to enter upon
them and hold them with arms in hand. . . . Moreover,
by reason of the fact that in this state there exist
vast numbers of peones whose ancestors once were free
landowning villagers but who now can show no title to
their ancient allotments, it is decreed that one third
of the lands, woods and waters of the haciendas exist
ing in this state shall be appropriated without in
demnity and divided among these landless for their
rightful use.
53Tierra. p. 182.
Pinchon, on. cit.. pp. 252-253.
121
Article 8 called for the confiscation of the entire land-
holding of any hacendado who should be opposed to this
procedure. It called for compensation to be paid to widows
and orphans of those who died in the struggle for land.
Article 9 stated that:
All those military chieftains who arose in arms at
the call of Don Francisco Madero . . . and who now
shall oppose the present plan with armed force, shall
be adjudged traitors— not only to those who defend it
but to the whole Mexican p e o p l e .^5
Pinchon reports that Zapata declared after hearing the last
clauses of the Plan read: "Amigos, you have heard the plan.
You may take it or leave it, but even if I fight alone, to
the day of my death I will fight to make it a fact."^^
Zapata's guerrilla tactics were so clever and suc
cessful that the Indians in Morelos, Guerrero, Puebla and
other southern states began to believe that he was invin
cible. When Carranza offered a hundred thousand pesos
reward for Zapata's head, the offer aroused laughter among
the people.
Zapata already had passed into legend. Like Eancho
Villa, he bore a charmed life. Always leading every
critical charge where he personally was in command,
55Ibid.. p. 253. 56Ibid.. p. 254.
J
122
he never had suffered more than a scratch. His first
famous exploit of roping out of the hands of rurales
the machine gun aimed at his heart, he had duplicated
a hundred times since. . . . Get Zapata? Yes, after
you have assassinated the whole Army of the South. And
then, maybe he* 11 be the one to escape.-*'
After such exploits, one can understand why the
Indians refused to believe that Zapata had died.
It should also be pointed out that whereas practi
cally every Revolutionary leader enriched himself eventu
ally, Zapata was incorruptible, one might say. Madero, in
an effort to get Zapata to lay down his arms, attempted to
bribe him by offering him a substantial hacienda. Zapata
58
indignantly refused the offer. He was fighting the
hacendados and the last thing in the world that he wanted
was to be one himself. Carranza, after Villa*s defeat,
tried the same trick— a hundred thousand pesos and an
59
hacienda. Zapata did not even consider the offer.
At one time during his campaign against the
Carranza forces, Zapata seized the silver mine at Huautla
in Guerrero. He had silver pesos marked with the insignia,
"La Republica de los indios ... Tierra y Libertad" made by
57Ibid.. p. 317.
59Ibid.. p. 307.
58Ibid,., p. 219.
123
the mine employees who were Zapatistas in spirit. With
these pesos, he was able to obtain supplies from ships
calling at Acapulco. These silver pesos came to the atten
tion of certain entrepreneurs in San Francisco who wanted
to obtain a concession to exploit the silver mines in the
south where they had previously operated during the Diaz
regime. These businessmen offered to finance Zapata*s
fight to become independent and establish a free Indian
Commonwealth. Zapata, knowing that he would be forced to
give them concessions, politely refused the offers of help.
He was perfectly aware that any acceptance of financial
help from foreign investors would mean the loss of inde-
. 60
pendence.
Pinchon states that although Zapata was a mestizo,
he identified completely with the Indians. His dream had
always been to recuperate the land for the Indian villages
and small landowners as illustrated in the following poem
by Jose Munoz Cota:
Desde niho se daba cuenta
que a su padre despojaba
la injusticia del patron.
60Ibid.. pp. 311-314.
124
£Es que la tierra no es suya?
La que su padre labro;
la que toda su familia
empapa con su sudor..
Zapata, nino, predica
del jornalero la union
y recuperar la tierra
que la codicia quito.
--No seas tonto, dijo el padre;
todo lo puede el senor,
todo lo tienen los amos,
el indio solo el dolor.
--Entonces, dijo Zapata
con extrana decision:
He de ser hombre y la tierra
yo le quitar£ al patron.
Tierra ends on an optimistic note. The year was
1920. In that year the beginning of the agrarian reform
62
was made during the new Obregon administration. This
beginning of change in the organization of Mexican agricul
ture is discussed by the campesinos as the novel ends. The
Indians were hopeful that Zapata's dream would at last be
realized.
61 / /
Eoemas patrioticos v folkloricos (Corridos de la
Revolucion) (Mexico: Coleccion Lira, 1957), pp. 74-75.
62
Ihrkes, op. cit., pp. 373-374.
125
El indio
In El indio. the question of the Agrarian Reform
appears again. The Indians in the remote village described
by Lopez y Fuentes in the novel hear only vague rumors of
the Revolution that is taking place among the gente de
razon. But the Indians notice that some changes are occur
ring :
Bor el temor, o bien porque ni los funcionarios ni
los hacendados reclamaban los tradicionales servicios,
los naturales ya no tuvieron faenas, ni trabajos for-
zados en las haciendas y, mucho menos, volvieron como
semaneros.
later a Revolutionary group stops at the village.
They demand that the Indians provide fodder for the cavalry
and tortillas for the soldiers. Soon afterward, twenty of
the young men of the village are armed by one of the rebel
chiefs so that they can act as guides. The young men never
return to the village.
Time passes and a new Revolutionary government has
come to power. The dinutado for the district visits the
village, presumably to aid the victims of a recent smallpox
/ • Q
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, El indio (Second edi
tion; Mexico: Ed. Botas, 1937), p. 204.
126
epidemic. Actually he is there to enlist the services of
the village men for the construction of a road which sup
posedly is intended to link the village with the rest of
the region and to facilitate the transporting of products
from the Indian rancherlas to the market in the nearest
large town. later, the Indians discover that the road does
not reach the village. A school is also built in the dis
trict. Eventually a young Indian, who speaks the native
language as well as Spanish, is assigned as teacher in the
district. The young teacher, who has been educated in the
city, becomes aware of the sad plight of his fellow
Indians. He realizes that having a plot of land does not
necessarily mean progress. Besides, the teacher notices
that the Indians are cultivating the worst lands, those
not coveted by the greedy hacendados:
;Y que antes no hubiera pensado en los suyos! El
oyo decir muchas veces, en el pueblo, que los campe-
sinos habian recibido tierras para su mejoramiento
economico, y al entrar nuevamente en contacto con los
de su raza se convencxa de que las tierras no lo son
todo. Muchas tribus, como la suya, posexan sus tierras
desde tiempos remotos y, sin embargo, continuaban en
la pobreza y en la ignorancia.
^ Ibid.. p. 248.
127
The young teacher noticed the tremendous difference
between the fertile fields which the hacendados possessed
and the tiny plots cultivated by the Indians in the hills.
Besides, the Indians lacked the time to cultivate their own
lands as they were compelled to work for the hacendados or
the authorities. Of course, the Revolution had relieved
the Indians of forced labor in the haciendas. As the dipu-
tado tells the Indians:
En cuanto a recibir por la fuerza jomales para ir
a trabajar a los hacendados, nada de complacencias,
pues que "nadie est£ obligado a prestar servicios per-
sonales,
miento.
Nevertheless, although not now forced to work for the
hacendados. most campesinos had to work for them in order
to subsist. Gruening makes these comments regarding the
first few years of the Agrarian reform:
Some land was distributed during Carranza's four years
in power. But it little benefited the recipients.
Rarely were they left in undisturbed possession. When
they had land, they lacked water. Or they lacked
seeds, tools, and above all wherewith to live on till
the harvest.^
in su justa retribucion y su pleno consenti-
65Ibid.. p. 217.
66
Gruening, op. cit.. p. 144.
128
The teacher becomes aware that he is not making any
progress in the literacy campaign among the Indian children.
He realizes that the villagers* economic betterment is
paramount at the moment. Besides, he is informed that the
villagers continue to be victims of pre-Revolutionary prac
tices :
Sus hermanos le confesaron que subsistxa para ellos
la contribucion personal, abolida legalmente. ... Le
dijeron que las tierras recibidas no habxan mejorado
para nada su situacion economica, tanto por la faIta de
recursos para cultivarlas debidamente, como por la
falta de tiempo en vista de las exigencias de las
autoridades. ... Le habxan dicho que muchas veces te-
nxan que regalar sus productos porque, debido a la
falta de medios de transporte, no podxan venderlos:
luego era necesaria una via de comunicacion, pero no
como la que tendieron en el valle para unir quien sabe
que lejanos lugares ... sino un camino que fuera la
salida de las tribus, aisladas por el viejo temor
racial. '
The young Indian teacher denounces the local au
thorities, who had been collecting illegal taxes and
forcing the Indians to work without pay, to the governor.
The governor rectifies the situation immediately. The
teacher then decides to take a group of villagers to the
city to request better lands, tools and arms to defend
themselves from those who might be opposed to the Indians
67E1 indio. pp. 250-251.
129
occupying the lands.
In the first years of the Agrarian reform, many of
the hacendados refused to recognize the laws pertaining to
land distribution. They considered that even a foot of
68
land taken from them was robbery. The hacendados would
arm their most trusted employees into "white guards" in
order to combat the agraristas. Verna Carleton Millan
reports visiting a village, Santa Marfa Tepeji, where the
villagers had been victims of these "white guards":
Here as in most regions, the Indians lead lonely
isolated lives, huddled within their fragile houses;
that spirit of social solidarity and community spirit
which records prove was an active factor in pre-
conquest days has been completely destroyed by the
Spaniards. Curiously enough, however, the past few
years have seen a revival of this spirit. . . . The
struggle for land here has been unusually bitter; we
heard tale after tale of peasants routed out by force
from the little plots to which they had legal right;
others have been assassinated as they worked in the
fields and their widows forced to yield their rights to
local politicians who claimed the land. For years the
community has suffered one outrage after another at the
hands of terrorists, paid by these same politicians or
by the wealthier landowners, who sweep down upon the
cornfields at night, white-robed figures of destruction
in the murky darkness, to bum the crops of recalci
trant peasants and often to murder them. Under the
sting of these experiences, the peasants have begun to
throw off their former apathy, and for the first time
^Gruening, op. cit., p. 144.
130
are beginning to band together in defense of their
rights. The new rural school teachers . . . have
aided this movement considerably.^
In the novel, the teacher obtains good land, arms
and government support for the villagers. The Indians,
once armed, are new men:
Grecian otros hombres: jtal animo prestan una arma
entre las manos y una orden superior! Caminaban
airosamente. Eh la carretera miraron cara a cara a
los blancos que encontraban.^0
Several encounters occur between the Indians and
the guardia blanca. However, the villagers are now sup
ported by the local politicians who need them to demon
strate popular support during electoral campaigns and at
other times when it becomes necessary to exhibit mass
support for the Revolutionary government.
In spite of the fact that the novelist illustrates
the advantages received by the villagers in the way of
lands and the elimination of personal contributions and
forced labor, the novel ends on a somewhat disillusioning
note. At the end of the novel, it is obvious that the
^Millan, op. cit.. pp. 121, 131. More on the
"white guards": Tannenbaum, op. cit.. p. 219; Gruening,
op. cit.. p. 144.
^ E1 indio. p. 258.
131
Indian has exchanged one master for another as the vil
lagers are now pawns in the politicians' hands. The Indian
teacher, recognized as a leader by experienced politicians,
plans to take advantage of the Indians' trust in order to
further his own political ambitions.
The Agrarian Reform as Seen in
Milna. Potrero v Monte
Lopez y Puentes continued to be concerned with the
agrarian question, and in his last novel, Milpa. potrero v
monte. published in 1951, he again makes a number of allu
sions to many of the failures of the Agrarian Reform.
These failures were due in a great many instances to the
manner in which the land distribution programs were imple
mented. By the time this last novel of Lopez y Puentes was
published, ex-president Cardenas had distributed millions
of hectareas to the villages and had started the giant
cooperative or collective farming projects such as the one
71
in La Laguna.
Considerable social and economic progress has been
made in Mexico as a result of the Revolution of 1910.
<
^Millan, op. cit.. pp. 127-147.
132
Nevertheless, a great many Mexican intellectuals feel that
the ideals of the Revolution have been betrayed.
Many things have gone wrong since the beginning of
the Agrarian Reform. During Carranza1s administration some
lands were distributed, but the peasants lacked water or
seeds or the means to live while they waited for the har
vest. They were forced to go back to work for the hacen-
72
dados or else shift for themselves as best they could.
Obregon's administration was an improvement. However, the
peon's economic status did not improve. Beginning in 1925,
the Agrarian Reform was carried out with more efficiency.
The legislation, although mild, was bitterly fought by the
hacendados. Their principal objection was to losing their
73
serfs rather than a few acres of their vast estates.
Once the difficulty with the hacendados began to
diminish, politics became the great impediment in carrying
out the agrarian reform. Politicians used the people's
legitimate desire for land to further their own political
ambitions. Lopez y Fuentes refers to this practice in
Milpa. potrero v monte. Odilon, a small property owner,
72
Gruening, op. cit.. p. 144.
73Ibid.. pp. 143-145, 154.
133
appeals to the presidente municipal:
--No seria posible, senor presidente, dar garantias al
campo? Los lideres, al servicio de los politicos, se
han metido a comisarios ejidales, y est£n torciendo la
buena intencion de los legisladores, al invadir las
tierras, preferentemente las cultivadas, por lo que son
pocos los agricultores que se aventuran a sembrar, pues
no tienen seguridad de que cosecharitn. ... Yo tengo la
amenaza de una invasion porque el diputado quiere qui-
tarnos estas vegas para d£rselas a sus partidarios.7^
The presidente municipal replies that those are matters of
"alta politica" which he intimates that he cannot touch.
There is talk about a government project to build
a dam. One of the agricultores states:
— jSistema de riego! Para que los influyentes se que-
den con las tierras expropiadas. ... Claro, con las
obras sube el valor: jNegocio f£cil! Y luego dicen:
iQue vision tiene para los negocios el senor Minis-
tro ... ! Todos los que aprovechan el secreto se en-
riquecen. '■*
Lopez y Fuentes elaborates on his own opinions in
the words of one of his personages:
El Presidente Municipal temia al politico que le
dio el puesto; el politico solo era tin lugarteniente
del cacique de toda la sierra; sus dominios, como los
de un reyezuelo, llegaban hasta la tierra caliente,
dominios con que se cobraba dudosos servicios a la
^Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Milpa. potrero v monte
(Mexico: Ed. Botas, 1951), p. 65.
75Ibid.. p. 76.
134
Revolucion. Por su voluntad, habia individuos armados
que compraban reses robadas ... asx como otros mane-
jaban a los campesinos para amenazar con invasiones a
los terratenientes, no sin el poderoso argumento de dar
tierras a los pueblos. ... Lo que la Revolucion supuso
que era una sencilla dotacion de tierras, se habia con
vert ido en chicana de politicos.
El cacique, a su vez, no era m&s que otro eslabon,
aunque m£s pesado, en la gran cadena de la alta poli-
tica.76
As already stated, even after the lands were dis
tributed, the peons were forced to continue working for the
hacendados as the only alternative to starving. Tannenbaum
reports that in 1933, more than twenty years after the
Revolution started, the traditional wage of 25 centavos
daily persisted in Guerrero, Oaxaca, Hidalgo and other
77
states. Lopez y Fuentes writes about the Indians’ sad
economic plight after years of Revolutionary governments:
Ya con su chalate ensillado, Solares, el agente de
las maquinas de coser, todavia tuvo tiempo de murmurar
un poco a la vista de la peonada que llegaba a iniciar
la cosecha.
Eran indigenas de la sierra, descalzos, vestidos
de manta, con el morral de los alimentos del mediodia
colgado de un hombro, con un pizcon en la muneca y un
huingaro apoyado en el antebrazo.
--Ustedes no saben— decia el agente a Olilon ...
— que el gobierno destina fuertes cantidades para
76Ibid.. p. 78.
77
Tannenbaum, op. cit.. p. 212.
135
remediar la vida de estos hermanos; millones para ense-
narles a leer y a escribir, millones para combatir sus
enfermedades, millones para crearles trabajo mas remu
nerative . Es uno de los mejores negocios en el mundo
oficial de las buenas intend one s. ^
Lopez y Fuentes again refers to the pitifully low
wages paid to the Indians when he states: "Odilon no nece-
sitaba de la fuerza, pero otros terratenientes los obli-
gaban, por medio de las autoridades, a trabajar tierras
79
ajenas, jy que jomal!" Such was the plight of the
Indian after years of Revolutionary governments!
The complicated legal process by which the land
distributions were made also lent itself to much chicanery
on the part of unscrupulous lawyers and officials. For one
thing, the hacendado. if dissatisfied with the actions of
the agrarian officials, could appeal to the courts for an
amparn or injunction against state and federal authori
ties.80
Lopez y Fuentes relates the experiences of the
Cabrera brothers whose lands were expropriated and dis
tributed among the peasants of the region. Everything
78
Milpa. potrero v monte, pp. 30-31.
lb id.. p. 31.
80
Gruening, op. cit.. p. 147.
136
might have ended there, but some clever lawyers, anxious to
exact a good fee from the Cabreras, convinced the brothers
that they should appeal to the authorities. The Cabreras
spent all of their money on lawyers' fees, but their
hacienda was returned to them. The matter did not end
there, however. One fine day, a diputado who wanted to
become governor advised the peons that they could recuper
ate the Cabreras' hacienda. For his services, the diputado
exacted a fee from each peon. The politician then told the
campesinos that the matter had been settled by the highest
authorities and that they could occupy the hacienda "a como
diera lugar." The trouble that ensued when the peons
attempted to occupy the hacienda led to three deaths, in
cluding one of the Cabreras. The latter had some influ
ential friends in high places and managed to evict the
campesinos. The latter were not willing to concede defeat
either, stating:
--Bero esto no se queda asx— ... Vamos a quejarnos
para que despues no se nos culpe, porque si no se nos
hace caso, ya ver£n como los muelles pueden mas que
las leyes. ...
— Y para eso peleanos. ... g^
Se fueron refunfunando su disgusto.
^Hlilpa. potrero v monte, p. 153.
137
To determine whether or not the Agrarian Reform has
succeeded in Mexico is not the purpose of this study. It
is important, however, to point out the disillusion which
Lopez y Fuentes experienced in the direction which the
Agrarian Reform had taken. When he wrote Tierra in 1932,
the author apparently was still optimistic that Zapata's
dreams would be realized. By the time he published El
indio in 1935, Lopez y Fuentes had serious doubts that the
land question and the racial problem in Mexico would be
solved. By 1951 he pointed out many of the failures of the
Agrarian Reform in Milpa. potrero y monte. Lopez y Fuentes
shared the views of Mariano Azuela and Mauricio Magdaleno
with respect to the Agrarian Reform. We saw in Chapter II
that Azuela and Magdaleno illustrated very dramatically in
their novels the betrayal of the Indian by the Agrarian
leaders and the failure of the Agrarian Reform to provide
a better standard of living for the average campesino.
Lopez y Fuentes points out, in a more restrained manner,
the same failures of the Revolutionary governments to pro
vide a better life for the peon, whether Indian or mestizo.
Lopez y Fuentes, however, delved far more deeply into the
psychology of the Indian and into the history of the entire
138
race than did any other writer of the Mexican Revolution.
His more penetrating analysis of this aspect will be shown
when El indio and Peregrinos inmoviles are discussed later.
CHAPTER VI
EDUCATION AND THE INDIAN
Rural Education in Mexico
Far more significant than either the agrarian or
labor movements resulting from the Revolution has been the
rural educational movement. It is a movement which
attempts to reach the spirit of the people and open the
modern world to them without destroying the culture they
have retained. Regarding the educational movement in post-
Revolutionary Mexico, Tannenbaum states:
The educational movement is the broadest effort of
the Revolution. Its aim is to reach even the most iso
lated communities and bring to them the values imbedded
in the rural school. I have seen schools among the
fire-worshipping Huicholes in the Sierra de Nayarit,
among the sturdy and stubborn Chamula Indians in Chia
pas, among the Maya Indians in the tropical forests of
Southern Yucatan, and among the Trique Indians in
Oaxaca. Everywhere . . . one may find a little school.
It may be poor, it may be inadequate . . . but it is
there.
^Frank Tannenbaum, Peace bv Revolution (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1933), p. 263.
139
140
Beginning with Obregon*s administration in 1920,
real efforts were made to carry knowledge to the remotest
Indian villages in an effort to incorporate the Indian into
the National culture. More rural schools were built in the
o
period 1920-30 than ever before existed in the country.
In the years following the Revolution, the Indian
proved to be the most persistent of the Mexican revolution
ists. Zapata, by his unbending demands for land for the
Indian, forced upon the people of Mexico the belief in the
redemption of the Indian. The agrarian revolt was not only
one which fought for land but for social and cultural
equality. Intellectuals came to regard the Indian as per
haps the most important element in the nation. The rural
educational program was a result of this new evaluation of
the Indian and the recognition of the need to incorporate
him into National life."*
Jos£ Vasconcelos in the early twenties became the
leading exponent of the need to "redeem the Indian, educate
the masses." He was greatly instrumental in convincing
2
Carleton Beals, Mexican Maze (Philadelphia: J. B.
Lippincott Company, 1931), p. 191.
3
Tannenbaum, op. cit.. p. 266.
141
educated Mexicans to accept this belief. Not only did they
come to believe that the Indian was as good as the white
man, but also that his cultural patterns were also as good
as the white man's and were worthy of being preserved.
Therefore, the guiding philosophy of rural education has
been not to destroy and substitute existing values but to
add to them and enrich them.
The Department of Education, through experience,
realized that in remote Indian villages, reading and
writing were often of little importance. What the com
munity needed was to evoke a spirit of unity and a vitali-
zation of life in the village.
The educational program has been beset with many
problems since the beginning. Often the Indians resisted
the idea of keeping the children in school when they were
needed in the fields. The Indians, moreover, did not co
operate with the educators simply because they resented
intruders in their midst. Another problem has been the
language barrier. Few teachers knew even one of the forty
different Indian dialects that are spoken in Mexico. The
mestizo and white have also opposed the education of the
Indian for social and economic reasons. A more enlightened
142
Indian cannot be exploited as easily as an illiterate one.
The teachers have had a difficult mission to perform, often
having opposition from the general community as well as
from the Indians. More than one rural school teacher has
lost his life as a result.4
Actually the primary function of the rural school
has not been to instruct the children but to instruct the
community on how to solve its problems. Rafael Ramirez,
former head of the Department of Rural Education, has
described the functions of the rural school as follows:
Wherever a rural school is functioning, it is there
to serve the entire community and is considered respon
sible for the solution of its problems. In general
these problems are those of social disorganization,
poverty, apathy, discomfort, ignorance, fanaticism,
superstition, uncouthness, and, perhaps, of most im
portance, social injustice. To be sure, the rural
school is teaching reading, writing and arithmetic to
the children, but this is not its principal function.
. . . When a rural school is established, it takes for
its task the reorganization of the whole community . . .
and begins to teach it, not simply to read and write,
but to live a more adequate rural life.5
The rural school became a socializing institution.
It concerned itself with such social services as health
4Ibid.. pp. 267-274.
^Rafael Ramirez, "The Federal Program of Education
in Mexico," in The Genius of Mexico (New York: J. J. Little
and Ives Company, 1931), p. 113.
143
and sanitation, postal service, road making, organization
of centers of recreation and introduction of water to the
6
community.
In addition to the rural schools organized into a
system called the "Circuit© Rural, " the government has
organized Indian schools in Chihuahua, Chiapas and in
Mexico City known as the "Casa del Estudiante Indlgena."
In these educational centers, Indian young men are con
stantly under the influence of their teachers. There are,
in addition, fifteen regional normal schools for the train
ing of rural teachers.
The "Misiones Culturales" consist of a group of
teachers of the normal schools who travel about the country
conducting four-week intensive courses in agricultural
activities, rural crafts and teaching techniques for rural
teachers.
Other institutions within the rural education pro
gram are the agricultural schools in different parts of the
Republic. Agricultural specialists are trained in the
principal school at Chapingo.
6Ibid.. p. 114.
144
Finally there are the Rural Improvement Missions
which at one time were operating in Paracho, Michoacan and
Actopan, Hidalgo. The people who comprised the personnel
of these missions attempted to raise the level of living
among the Otomis, one of the poorest and most backward
7
Indian groups in Mexico.
The Educational Issue in El indio
Lopez y Fuentes presents his theories regarding the
incorporation of the Indian into Mexican life through the
educational process in El indio. The professor, who visits
the abandoned Indian village along with other functionaries,
discusses his educational theory with the alcalde:
— Otros consideran que el problema puede ser resuelto
por medio de la escuela. Fundar escuelas por todas
partes. Y hasta se ha dicho que ya se ha logrado
mucho, pero es que en la ciudad se confunde, en la sola
palabra "campesino," al indio y al mestizo, sin pensar
que £ste, por su lengua, y por su inclinacion, estci
con nosotros, mientras que aqu£l est£ mAs alia de una
fuerte barrera, la del idioma y sus tradiciones. Los
que sostienen esta idea han creado la palabra "incorpo-
racion,"solo que para ello hace falta algo mas que la
escuela.
7Ibid.. pp. 114-123.
O
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, El indio (Second edi
tion; Mexico: Ed. Botas, 1937), p. 68.
145
The mayor replies that those are sentimental ideas,
and that if the Indian is educated, there will not be any
one left to till the soil. The mayor believes the Indian
incapable of following a rational, peaceful plan of action.
Why else have they fled to the mountains? To this argu
ment, the teacher replies that the Indians have been be
trayed by the white and the mestizo so many times that they
have become completely suspicious of any act on the part of
the latter. The teacher continues:
— Mi teoria radica en eso precisamente, en reinte
grates la confianza. jComo? A fuerza de obras bend-
ficas, pues, por fortuna, el indio es agradecido;
tratindoles de distinta manera; atray^ndolos con una
proteccion efectiva ... y, para ello, nada como las
vias de comunicacion, pero no las que van de ciudad a
ciudad, por el valle, sino las que enlacen las ranche-
rias; las carreteras ensenan el idioma, mejor que la
escuela; despu^s el maestro, pero el maestro que
conozca las costumbres y el sentir del indio, no el
que venga a ensenar como si ensenara a los blancos.
Con ello labrar&n mejor la tierra, la que ya tienen,
o la que se les d£.^
In El indio. the author reports that certain
changes occur in the village after the Revolution. One of
these changes is the construction of a school, equidistant
to different towns and villages. The first teacher who
9
Ibid.. pp. 69-70.
arrives in the village soon realizes that the students will
have to be segregated into two groups. The criollo and
mestizo children who speak Spanish will comprise one group,
while the other one will be formed by the Indian children.
The teacher informs the authorities that the Indian chil
dren must have a teacher who knows their language. The
authorities balk at the idea of having an additional
teacher, claiming lack of funds in the budget. Seeing that
he can not convince the authorities of the need for a
teacher who can speak the Indians' language, the teacher
at first attempts to learn the indigenous language. Since
he is unable to learn the native language, he then attempts
to teach the Indian children to speak Spanish. He is frus
trated in the latter attempt also, as the children appar
ently find no valid motive for learning Spanish.
The teacher keeps insisting to the authorities that
the rural teachers should be taught nahoa, otomi, totonaco,
tepehua, chamula, tarasco and other indigenous languages.
The teacher says that the rural teacher has to do what the
missionaries did. That is, they must learn the Indian
languages in order to teach the Indians Spanish success
fully.
147
Since he is unable to communicate with the Indian
children because of the language barrier, the teacher finds
that he is devoting practically all his attention to the
mestizo children. In addition, the teacher becomes bored
inasmuch as there is no form of entertainment whatsoever in
the area. After a time, the Indians keep their children
home so that they can work in the fields. Only the mestizo
children continue to attend school. The teacher finally
quits in desperation.
Shortly after the first teacher sent to the region
resigns, one of the school inspectors decides that a young
educated Indian whom he knows, should be assigned as the
local teacher. When the young Indian teacher arrives, he
finds that the Indian children are not attending school.
Therefore, he decides to visit the rancherias to investi
gate the reasons for this lack of attendance on the part of
the children. When questioned by the teacher, the Indians
explain that the children are needed at home to work in the
fields. The Indian teacher has been in the city for many
years and has been unaware of a great many things. He now
discovers that the social inequalities between the Indians
and the creoles and mestizos are tremendous. The Indian
148
children are required to pay contribuciones after starting
to work. The teacher is shocked to learn this as he is
aware of the liberal attitude taken by the authorities in
the matter of personal contribuciones required of the
criollo and mestizo urban population.
As time progresses, the teacher becomes aware that
not only do the Indians have the most arid lands but they
are able to devote little time to cultivating them because
they are forced to work for the local authorities or for
the hacendados. The teacher ponders a great deal the prob
lems of his people. He asks himself whether the Indians
are the victims of exploitation or whether they are really
inherently shiftless as many people claim.
The teacher eventually realizes that his primary
role should be that of a community leader rather than
simply a teacher of reading and writing. It is then that
he begins to advise the Indians on matters of agriculture.
He counsels them about their legitimate rights. He organ
izes a committee of villagers whom he accompanies to the
city so that they will solicit more and better lands. He
sees to it that they no longer have to do forced labor nor
pay personal tribute. Lopez y Fuentes illustrates in the
149
novel, El indio. that the true role of the rural teacher
is as a community leader who will reorganize the community
for a better life. Unfortunately, the Indian teacher, once
he has demonstrated qualities of leadership, comes to the
attention of politicians who are eager to give him an
opportunity to advance politically in order to further
their own political objectives. The young Indian will be
the instrument by which the politicians will be able to
manipulate the Indian masses. The author is saying that
the Indian will now become the victim of the politician.
The author manifests disillusion in the educational program
as well as in the agrarian reform.
"Quetzalcoatl"— Story of a Rural Teacher
Lopez y Fuentes became well known for the symbolic
and allegorical character of many of his works. For
example, he gave the title "Quetzalc6atlM to the short story
10
about a self-sacrificing teacher.
To the Aztecs Quetzalcoatl was a multi-faceted god
and one of those facets was his "influencia ben6fica y
■^Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Cuentos campesinos de
Mexico (Mexico: Ed. Cima, 1940), pp. 155-166.
150
civilizadora,” his "sabiduria," and his "caridad." He was
"el dios ben^fico Quetzalc6atl que inspiraba costumbres
11
dulces, pacificas y laboriosas."
Alfonso Caso says of Quetzalc6atl:
Pero como dios de la vida aparece Quetzalcoatl como
el benefactor constante de la humanidad y as! vemos que
despu^s de haber creado al hombre con su propia sangre,
busca la manera de alimentarlo y descubre el maiz que
tenian guardado las hormigas dentro de un cerro, ha-
ciendose £l mismo horraiga y robando un grano que en-
trega despuls a los hombres. Les ensena la manera de
pulir el jade y otras piedras preciosas y de encontrar
los yacimientos de estas piedras; a tejer las telas
policromas con el algodon milagroso que ya nace tenido
de diferentes colores y a fabricar los mosaicos con las
plumas del quetzal, del p^jaro azul, del colibri, de la
guacamaya y de otras aves de brillante plumaje. Efero
sobre todo enseh6 al hombre la ciencia. ^
Caso also points out that formerly it was believed
1 O
that Quetzalcoatl was a European. The title of Lopez y
Fuentes* short story is indeed appropriate, as it relates
the story of a white rural teacher who becomes the bene
factor of a small Indian rancheria. When the teacher
arrives at the rancheria. he discovers that the entire
Miguel Othon de Mendizctbal, Ensayos sobre las
civilizaciones aborigenes americanas (Mexico: Museo Nacio-
nal, 1924), pp. 61-62.
19
Alfonso Caso, La religion de los Aztecas (Mexico:
Imprenta Mundial, 1936), pp. 18-19.
13Ibid.. p. 17.
151
population is suffering from an epidemic of dysentery. He
soon discovers what appears to be the principal cause of
the epidemic:
Se quedo asombrado al ver el agua que tomaban los
vecinos : no era un manantial, era tin charco, una serie
de charcos, que habla dejado un arroyo, al cortarse,
cuando se intensifico la sequla. Habla ajolotes,
coleando felices, en el agua tibia. En los lodazales
de las orillas, con un gran deleite de inmovilidad,
dormitaban unos puercos flacos y trompudos.^
The teacher persuades the Indians to boil the water
before drinking it. He has some knowledge of botany and
he discovers certain herbs with medicinal qualities which
he has the sick take in the form of a tea. Eventually the
epidemic begins to die down.
In case one is tempted to believe that the author
is exaggerating with respect to the sources of drinking
water at the Indian village, one need only review what
Askinasy reports about the sources of drinking water in
rural Mexico to be convinced that Lopez y Fuentes is
writing truthfully:
... hay que juzgar tambi^n las innumerables enferme-
dades, hereditarias o no, end&nicas o epid£micas, que
agobian a la poblacion: unas de origen hidrico (prin-
cipalmente la tifoidea y las disenterias), que se
^ Cuentos campesinos de Mexico, p. 159.
152
deben a las p^simas condiciones de aprovisionamento del
agua en la mayor parte de los pueblos, que llega a un
grado tal que en el estado de Hidalgo, muchos pueblos
consumen las aguas negras del desagUe del valle de
Mexico.^
The teacher in the short story also fulfills the
role of a community organizer as well as teacher. Actually,
he is more of a benefactor. The reader can notice the
parallel between the teacher and the Spanish missionaries
such as Las Casas and Motolinxa, the benefactors of the
Indians. As a benefactor, the teacher protects the Indians
against the authorities who come to the village demanding
payment of taxes or demanding forced labor. The teacher
also protects the villagers from the politicians who come
in search of bodies to form crowds of would-be partisans at
political demonstrations.
The teacher marries an Indian, dresses like an
Indian and even acquires Indian coloring through constant
exposure to the sun and the elements. He becomes the
father of three children and he severs all ties with the
world of the criollo and the mestizo. If one looks for
other historical parallels, the teacher may also be
1 S
Siegfried Askinasy, Mexico indlgena (Mexico:
hnprenta Cosmos, 1939), p. 59.
153
compared to Gonzalo Guerrero, the shipwrecked Spaniard whom
Cortes met along with Jeronimo de Aguilar, when the Span
iards landed in Yucatan in 1519. Aguilar became Cortes*
interpreter, but it will be remembered that Guerrero was
living like a native and had been teaching the Mayas how to
repel Spanish invasions. He refused to join the Spaniards
1 f i
since he much preferred the life among the natives.
Upon the teacher*s death, the Indians are dis
consolate and feel they are without protection. They
circulate the story "que el hombre bianco, barbado y de
vestido primoroso, se habla ido para siempre— rumbo al
17
Totonacapan." Once again the reader is reminded of Quet
zalcoatl fleeing to the mythical land of Tlillan Tlapallan
18
and promising to return from the east.
At times the Indians' opposition to the govern
ment’s educational program has been strong. Beals ob
serves :
16
Henry B. Parkes, A History of Mexico (Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1950), p. 42.
17 /
Cuentos campesinos de Mexico, p. 166.
■^Caso, on. cit.. p. 18.
154
In some places the government encounters obstinate
Indian resistance to its educational program. Schools
among the Chamula Indians in Chiapas frequently have
been attacked and the lives of teachers endangered. ^
Lopez y Fuentes alludes to Indian opposition to the
schools and relates this opposition to religious supersti
tion on the part of the Indians. Matias, one of the
characters in Los peregrinos inmoviles. advises his towns
man, Antonio, to control his violent tendencies. Matias
insinuates that everyone in town knows that Antonio killed
the local teacher: "— Ya sea que lo mates o que te mate,
Antonio, no te conviene: quien tiene cola de petate no debe
jugar con lumbre." To this Antonio replies: "--Lo hice por
ustedes! iTu bien lo sabes, Matias! Mejor dicho: fuimos
todos los del pueblo ... el profesor estaba alia. ... Eara
✓ 20
que les arranco sus reliquias a los nihos?" It is sug
gested that the teacher was killed because he had heretical
tendencies.
Just like the protagonist of "Quetzalcoatl," in
real life the rural teacher has had to possess a real mis
sionary spirit. Only those fully committed to the program
^Beals, op. cit.. p. 201.
20 / /
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Los peregrinos inmovi
les (Mexico: Ed. Botas, 1944), p. 42.
155
can willingly survive the hardships of Mexican rural life.
Beals states: "These missionary teachers often suffer real
hardships. Frequently they must sleep on the ground, eat
the scant beans and tortillas that comprise the native
diet."21
An interesting book which outlines the course to
be followed by the Mexican rural teacher is Ideario del
22
maestro indoamericano. In the book, Corzo, a teacher
among the Indians, exhorts his fellow teachers to devote
themselves to the redemption of the Indian. Included as a
preface to the book is a letter from ex-president lAzaro
Cardenas to Corzo. In it CArdenas praises Corzo for his
humanitarian efforts and states: "El maestro y la escuela
son los nuevos misioneros de la definitiva redencion del
23
indio."
Corzo reminds his fellow teachers that the role of
redentor of the Indians is a difficult one but that the
teacher must be like Father Las Casas, full of optimism
21
Beals, on. cit.. p. 200.
22
Angel Corzo, Ideario del maestro indoamericano
(Mexico: D.A. P. P., 1938).
23Ibid.. p. 8.
156
and certain that he can overcome all obstacles. Corzo
states that Las Casas faced possible death and all types of
obstacles. Since the latter was convinced of the justice
of his cause, he did not rest until he was able to have the
famous Leyes de Indias adopted. Corzo continues:
Tu tambien te enfrentards con muchos elementos intere-
sados en que el indio no cambie su condicion de paria
y de bestia de carga; con caciques que han vivido a
expensas de su trabajo, inclusive caciques indios que
muchas veces son los mils tiranos ... con ricos hacen-
dados que no quieren que el indio deje de ser la fuente
principal de su capital; con autoridades venales que
... se prestan a que la raza siga siendo carne de ex-
plotacion. ... Ifero no temas, maestro ... vencer^s
aunque se opongan todos los poderes del mundo. ^
In his novels L6pez y Fuentes makes it evident that
he did not share the faith in the redeeming power of the
teacher which Corzo had. Lopez y Fuentes did not lack
faith in the teachers, but he was aware of the many
social and economic factors which prevented the teachers
from realizing their objectives. Nevertheless, in his
novels the author depicts faithfully the missionary spirit
that pervaded Mexico in the twenties, thirties and early
forties. He also depicts accurately the factors— racism,
economic exploitation and opportunism, political chicanery,
24Ibid.. p. 17.
157
superstition, ignorance and all types of prejudices--which
worked against the redemption of the Indian through the
educational process.
CHAPTER VII
LIFE IN AN INDIAN VILLAGE
In El indio. Lopez y Fuentes relates the series of
misfortunes suffered by a group of Indians living in a
remote mountain village. The tale begins with the arrival
of three white men who have heard tales of buried treasure
in that region. The three men, pretending to be traveling
salesmen in search of medicinal herbs, manage to persuade
the suspicious Indians to let them spend the night at the
rancheria. Through their interpreter, they inquire about
the treasure. The Indians deny any knowledge of hidden
gold.
The youngest of the three strangers rapes one of
the Indian maidens. This act infuriates the Indians, but
they abandon any plans of revenge when they see the white
man's fire arm. Instead of attempting any overt act
against the rapist and his two companions, the villagers
adopt a silent hostile attitude toward the strangers.
158
159
The foreigners ask the Indians to provide them with a guide
who will direct them to the place which their map indicates
is the site of the hidden gold. The village elders would
like to refuse the strangers’ demands, but they fear retri
bution from the local authorities should they refuse.
Therefore, they agree to provide the whites with a young
guide.
The young Indian who is selected to act as the
guide is described by Lopez y Fuentes as a perfect physical
specimen. The guide leads the strangers to a cave which
their map specified as the place where the "polvo de oro
en canones de pluma" was hidden. To their dismay, all that
they discover in the cave is bat excrement. Furious, the
whites are determined to extract from the young guide the
gold’s secret hiding place which they are convinced he
knows. The guide impassively replies that he knows nothing.
The guide, after being cruelly tortured in an effort to
make him reveal the secret of the hidden treasure, attempts
to flee but he falls and rolls down a cliff fracturing both
of his legs.
The Indians of the village will not tolerate this
second abuse despite fear of reprisals. They attack the
160
outsiders with stones, and one of the white men is killed.
The Indians decide that they must abandon the village for
their safety and flee to the mountains as they had always
done in time of crisis. When the authorities arrive in
search of those responsible for the death of the white
man, they find the village completely deserted. This is
the ending of the first part of the novel.
After a time, the authorities send a peace emissary
to the Indians. The emissary truthfully tells the Indians
that the white people are badly in need of the Indians*
services. The Indians, who would suspect any other reason
given for their desired return, see the logic of the
whites’ need and they decide to return to the village.
The young guide survives the fall from the cliff
but he is pitifully deformed as a result of his injuries.
He had been engaged to marry a young girl of the village
since he was a little boy. Inasmuch as he is now incapaci
tated and incapable of supporting the girl, the village
elders decree that the engagement be dissolved so that the
girl can be free to marry another young man who is strong
and healthy and has asked for her hand in marriage. Some
time afterwards, the girl’s father-in-law appeals to the
161
village witch doctor for help in combating the evil spells
of another bruio who has been brought in from another vil
lage by the cripple*s father. The girl*s father-in-law
claims that the cripple’s father seeks to harm the former’s
family in retribution for the cripple’s having lost the
girl.
The news of the feud between the two families
spreads throughout the village. When the village bruio
dies, the Indians conclude that he is the first victim of
the magic powers of the rival bruio. Soon the young
married girl becomes ill. Her young husband, who is a hun
ter, falls victim to a herd of wild boars. However, the
cripple's father himself is the next victim. He drowns in
the river while acting as a messenger.
The third part of the novel introduces new in
truders into the village. They are revolutionaries who
claim to be the Indians* benefactors. When a smallpox
epidemic occurs, the Indians believe that the spirit of the
dead bruio was trying to kill them all. Many villagers die
as a result of the epidemic, among them the young girl and
her baby.
The Revolution brings a number of changes to the
village. A school is built and the villagers find a leader
162
in the young Indian teacher. However, in .spite of much
talk of equality and justice, the Indians continue to be
the victims of exploitation and demands for forced labor
continue to be made. The villagers must now work for the
authorities in the construction of a road and a school.
It becomes evident that the young Indian leader will be
manipulating the Indians to advance his own political
career. The novel ends on a gloomy note. The crippled
young man, the only survivor of the two feuding families,
is seen as he lies hidden apparently awaiting the next in
trusion from the white man. A look of suspicion is on his
face as he waits.
The novel may also be read as an allegory of the
history of Mexico since the arrival of the Spaniards. The
whites come in search of gold and torture the young Indian
to make him reveal the secret of the buried treasure.
There is little doubt that the young Indian guide is sym
bolic of Cuauhtemoc. The episode in which he is tortured
is entitled "Aguila que cae" and Cuauhtemoc means "Falling
1
eagle." The once proud and fine specimen of a man "un
^"Octavio Ehz, The Labyrinth of Solitude. Tr. by
L. Kemp (New York: Grove Press, 1961), p. 83.
163
digno vestigio de una raza que fue grande y fuerte" is
reduced to a pitiful creature as were the Mexicans after
being conquered. The second chapter, in which the rape of
the Indian girl occurs, is entitled "Mestizaje." The mean
ing is obvious. We see that the Indians in this chapter
are intimidated at first because of the whites* superior
weapons. Nevertheless, they eventually do fight only to
have to flee after one of the whites is killed. This first
part of the novel recalls the discovery and conquest of
Mexico.
The Spaniards needed the skills of the Aztec arti
sans as well as the services of the unskilled laborers for
the mines and agriculture. The Spaniards found it neces
sary to co-exist with the Indians because of economic
necessities. One may compare the second part of the novel
to the colonial period and the first hundred years of Inde
pendence. Vavt three takes place after the Revolution of
1910.
As one reads El indio. images of the ancient Mexi
can civilizations are evoked. At times the author refers
specifically to pre-Hispanic Mexico. The opening paragraph
of the novel gives the reader a picture of the Indians
164
practicing the ancient art of weaving:
la llegada de tres hombres ext ratios sembro el es-
panto. Junto a la puerta de la primera casa de la
rancheria, una mujer dejo abandonado el malacate y el
algod6n que hilaba. Otra, se desat6 de la cintura,
nerviosamente, los extremos de telar, y abandonando la
manta que tejia huyo para el interior de la choza.
One is reminded that weaving was one of the arts
practiced by the Aztecs, and that it was a woman’s art.
Von Hagen states:
Weaving was one of the functions that belonged
wholly to woman.
She gathered the fiber, prepared it, spun, dyed,
and then loomed it; no male interfered.^
Von Hagen describes the Aztec backstrap loom as a
simple one known, with few variations, throughout all the
Americas:
Two wooden rods are fastened, one to each end of the
warp, to stretch the cloth to desired length; the lower
one is attached to the back of the weaver (hence the
name "backstrap"), while the upper is tied to a post or
tree.
Von Hagen goes on to describe the spindle, which
Lopez y Fuentes refers to by its Indian name malacate.
2
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, El indio (Second edi
tion; Mexico: Ed. Botas, 1937), p. 9.
3
Victor W. von Hagen, The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of
the Americas (Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1961),
p. 88.
4Ibid.
165
after describing the telar or loom: "Cotton fibers were
spun on the traditional spindle, a slender wooden stick
ten to twelve inches in length, balanced at the lower end
by a pottery whorl.
Lopez y Fuentes* description of the loom and
spindle parallels that of von Hagen and reminds the reader
that weaving is only one of the many arts which the Indian
has preserved from the past.
There is an allusion to Aztec imperialism early in
the novel. The strangers, through their interpreter, ask
an old Indian about the fabled hidden treasure, but the
old man claims that he knows nothing of any hidden gold
dust. The leader of the expedition then angrily replies to
the interpreter:
— iSi sera usted ingenuo! ^Suponer que asi, de luego
a luego, va a decirle la verdad? Yo tengo la relacion
y el piano de ese lugar, donde los naturales de aqui,
hace muchos ahos, escondieron el polvo de oro de las
tributas. Los de este lugar recibxan las contribucio
nes de cien pueblos: Polvo de oro en canones de pluma!
iOro! iOro!°
History relates that the Aztec state was a tribute
state. Victor von Hagen points out that "the state in its
5Ibid.. p. 89.
^E1 indio. p. 13.
166
later development depended on tribute exacted from con
quest."^ The Aztecs waged war to exact tribute from con
quered peoples. Tribute covered every phase of Aztec wants
and luxuries. All materials for articles of clothing were
exacted as tribute. And there were precious metals and
stones:
Precious stones formed an important part of the
tribute list: gold, turquoise, and jades are listed;
gourds, copal for incense, copper, shells, skins and
bird feathers, dyestuffs, cotton, rubber--all were
part of the economy.
When a major problem confronts the community, the
villagers present the matter to the huehues or village
elders. It is they who decide to provide a guide for the
treasure seekers. It is they who also decide that the
tribe must seek retribution for the wrongs committed
against the community, and finally that they must flee when
one of the whites has been killed. Of the first decision
made by the elders, Lopez y Fuentes writes :
A pesar de todo, se impuso la orden escrita en el
papel. El m£s viejo hizo con palabras tranquilas el
relato de los pasados sufrimientos, de las fugas por la
montana, de los anos de hambre, todo porque la tribu
^Von Hagen, op. cit.. p. 170.
8 Ibid.
167
habia desobedecido y provocado el enojo de los blancos.
Y se convino en proporcionar un guia para que los fo-
rasteros recorrieran los montes.^
After the series of misfortunes--the rape of the
girl, the crippling of the guide and the killing of one of
the whites by the Indians in retribution— the village elders
again meet. The oldest of the huehues summarizes their
situation:
Explico que era llegada una nueva 6poca de sufri-
mientos, de la que solo podrxan librarse si presentaba
una accion conjunta toda la tribu, como conjunto habxa
sido el castigo aplicado al bianco. ... Y acabo por
expresar su plan de campana: abandonar la rancheria;
refugiarse en los montes, como en pasadas 6pocas de
persecuciones; presentar resistencia cuando las cir-
cunstancias fueran favorables; cuidarse de las tribus
circunvecinas, que siempre han saciado sus odios ali^n-
dose con los forasteros; y mutismo absoluto por parte
de quienes cayeran en manos de los blancos. Ahx su
fuerza!
The author is again alluding to the history of the
ancient Mexicans. The alliance of the Tlaxcalans and other
Indian nations, victims of Aztec imperialism, with the
Spaniards made the Spanish conquest of Mexico possible.
Simpson writes:
. .. it is pretty clear that Cortes was able to carry
out his awe-inspiring feat only because most of the
Mexican people welcomed him as their deliverer from
^E1 indio. p. 34. 10Ibid.. pp. 57-58.
168
the unbearable exactions of the Aztecs. Indeed, when
Mexico-Tenochtitlan fell, on August 13, 1521, it took
all his address to prevent his Indian allies from
slitting the throats of the pathetic remnants of the
population.
The reverence for age and experience among the In
dians is expressed by Lopez y Fuentes:
El huehue se volvio a los dem^s viejos y £stos
ratificaron sus consejos con una inclinacion de cabeza
pues que, por boca de aqu£l, habxa hablado la lengua
de la experiencia.^
All historical accounts mention the great respect
which the Aztecs had for the old, in whom much authority
was vested. The elders formed part of the chain of command,
at the head of which was the ruling nobility.
The ruler of the Aztecs had as title "one who
Speaks" . .. he was elected. . . . The leader was not
absolute. . . . The Aztecs were in theory democratic.
Each family was a member of a soil community; a cluster
of these families formed a clan, of which twenty made
up the tribe of the Tenochas. Each clan had its own
council and an elected leader; of these the oldest or
wisest or more experienced were selected to make up an
inter-clan council, the link between the clans and the
tribe's governing body.
■^Lesley Byrd Simpson, Many Mexicos (Fourth edi
tion; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967),
pp. 25-26.
12E1 indio. p. 58.
13
Von Hagen, op. cit.. p. 119.
169
There is sufficient evidence to substantiate the
fact that the vesting of authority in the elders of the
tribe is a custom which has survived among Mexico*s Indians
in very much the same way as Lopes y Fuentes* anonymous
tribe had retained that tradition. Carlos Basauri, writing
about the descendants of the Aztecs who now inhabit the
town of Ocotepec in the state of Morelos, reports:
No se puede tomar ninguna determinaci6n, de cualquier
caracter que sea: asuntos civiles, politicos, reli-
giosos, de servicios publicos, etc., sin previa discu-
sion y aprobacion de los representantes del pueblo.
Los representantes del pueblo forman un verdadero
consejo de ancianos, los que llegan a esta categoria
despues de haber pasado por ciertos grados pr£cticos
anteriores: miembros de la veintena, desde que cumplen
15 anos de edad; campaneros, semaneros, mayordomos,
fiscales, y por ultimo, cuando han cumplido mas de
60 anos se convierten automaticamente en representan
tes.14
Elsie Clews E&rsons also reports that in Mitla,
state of Oaxaca, the men have to serve in a series of
capacities from the time that they reach the age of fifteen.
Age is respected. Parsons states that at the town meeting,
the younger men may attend, but only those who have reached
middle-age are permitted to talk. "It is felt that the
1 /
Carlos Basauri, La noblacion indieena de Mexico.
Vol. Ill (Mexico: Secretarla de Educacion Publica, 1940),
p. 131.
170
15
younger men have not qualified.”
Age continues to be respected among the Indians,
but the elderly are not always the highest authority as
they were in Lopez y Fuentes* novel. Ihrsons found that in
Mitla the only position held by elderly men was that of
fiscal, who is not regarded with any special esteem. This,
Rarsons found, was in contrast with the Tlaxcalans in whose
villages the fiscal is the highest dignity in town govern-
16
ment.
Oscar Lewis also found that the old have lost some
of their traditional status in Tepoztlan:
Traditionally, old age is the time when a Tepozte-
can receives the greatest respect and consideration;
the consensus, however, is that less and less respect
is now being shown to old people. Children have begun
to address their grandparents in the familiar tu and
some of the old customs of respect--kissing the hand of
older people, for example— are falling into disuse.
Old men no longer take part in politics and do not
generally have positions of leadership. . . . They are
treated with relative respect, however.^
15
Elsie Clews I&rsons, Mitla. Town of the Souls
(Second edition; Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1966), p. 165.
16Ibid., p. 15 7.
17
Oscar Lewis, Tepoztlin. Village in Mexico. New
York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960), p. 83.
171
It should be noted, nevertheless, that Tepoztlan is
a town which, although chiefly Indian in population, is
very "modernized" and is in the "mainstream" of Mexican
life. Many tourists visit it. It has good methods of com
munication, and it is far from the typical Mexican Indian
community. In the average Indian community the traditional
respect for the elderly of the tribe exists very much as
Lopez y Fuentes depicted it in his novel.
The huehue in the novel recalls that the tribe had
always sought refuge in the mountains when faced with
persecution of some type. The Indians, from the time of
the conquest, have fled from the whites, and in later years
from the mestizos, in times of crisis. They have usually
sought refuge in inaccessible mountain regions. Manuel
Gamio refers to this when he writes:
The task of urbanizing the recalcitrant Indians,
with the object of subjecting them.to the yoke, was one
which took a good deal of the time and thought of
colonial authorities, who compelled them to concentrate
in villages or colonies. . . . Some Indian tribes lived
in inaccessible regions and refused to come out; others
sought refuge in them, and are still there, as for in
stance the Mayas and Lacandones of upper Usumacinta and
the Huicholes of Tepic and Jalisco. °
18
Manuel Gamio, "Incorporating the Indian," in
Aspects of Mexican Civilization (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1926), p. 115.
172
When Lopez y Fuentes' fictional tribe flees to the
mountains, the authorities organize an expedition to cap
ture those responsible for the death of the treasure
seeker. The authorities find the village deserted. They
ransack some of the Indian huts and then they gather in the
center of the village. The author states that they meet in
the center of the town where the villagers would have their
fiestas and the tianguis. The tianguis. the Aztec market
place, is an institution which has survived more than four
centuries after the conquest. Gruening compares today’s
Indian market to the Aztec tianguis:
Go to market--it is the Aztec tianquitzli (tian
guis)— described by Cortes, by his captain, Bernal
Diaz, by the Anonymous Conqueror and by Father Sahagun,
with its home grown fruits, flowers, herbs, roots and
its home-made products of fiber, wood, and earth, wax,
bone, and feather. Sheltered from the sun's rays by
the Aztec toldoV a tripod-supported awning, sit the
vendors.
A visitor to any city or town in Mexico will
quickly discover the market place, but he will usually be
unaware of how similar it is to the original tianguis seen
by the first Spaniards to arrive in Mexico.
19
Ernest Gruening, Mexico and Its Heritage (New
York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1928), p. 74.
173
Returning to the novel, we find that the authori
ties are extremely annoyed to discover that the Indians
have fled. They had counted on taking at least fifty
prisoners whose services they were anxious to acquire.
Their frustrated attempt to capture a few Indians prompts
them to verbalize their belief that the Indians are a force
which is keeping the country backward, that they should all
have been exterminated as they were in other countries.
They are echoing the widely-held attitude during the Diaz
regime that the Indian was a force holding back progress in
Mexico.2^
The professor, who accompanies the authorities on
their punitive expedition, summarizes some of the other
theories held during the Diaz regime, such as the need for
21
colonization.
--Pues, yo opino de distinta manera. Sobre esta cues-
tion de los naturales hay muchas tesis. De ellas voy
a hablarles, reservando para la ultima la mla. Unos
creen que es necesario colonizar con raza blanca los
centros toAs compactos de indigenas, para lograr la
cruza. Los partidarios de esta medida se fundan en
que de esa cruza hemos salido nosotros, los mestizos,
20
Frank Tannenbaum, Baace bv Revolution (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1933), p. 196.
21Ibid.. p. 195.
174
que somos el factor m£s importante y progresista.
Hacer con ellos lo mismo que con los animales descasta-
dos: cruzarlos con ejemplares superiores.
The professor in the novel also advances the
theory, held by Vasconcelos and other Mexican intellec-
23
tuals, that education is the answer to the Indian prob
lem. The teacher*s personal theory is that by benevolent
works on behalf of the Indian, his confidence can be re
gained. He states that the Indian has been isolated for
centuries because of the lack of roads and other means of
communication. The Indian race, although isolated, has not
lost its traditional values. However, the professor be
lieves, Indian customs and traditions need to be ’ 'redeemed.*1
Another official finds questionable the professor's
thesis, because he does not believe that the Indians con
stitute a race. This official claims that the Indians are
separate tribes who cannot even communicate with other
tribes living only a few kilometers away due to the lan
guage barrier. The teacher, however, claims that all the
Indians belong to one main stock. The official, who takes
^ E1 indio. p. 67.
23
Tannenbaum, op. cit.. p. 266.
175
the opposing view, is not convinced and states:
— ... £Qu£ hay de comun entre el otomi, habitante de
la Mesa Central, que combate el frxo bebiendo pulque y
durrniendo en la ceniza, que vive en jaladizos techados
con desperdicios de maguey y que come sabandijas, con
el totonaco de limpias costumbres y brillante pasado?
^Qu£ afinidad encuentra usted entre el tepehua taci-
tumo, con el huichole cerril y belicoso? Los mismos
habitantes de esta region, desceridientes de una rama
fuerte, la nahoa, saben siquiera el nombre de la ran-
cherxa poblada por semejantes suyos, que &st& al otro
lado de la sierra?2^
The teacher explains that the technique of "divide and con
quer" has been effectively used by the ruling classes but
that the Indians, although divided among themselves, will
unite against the mestizo and white.
The teacher's opponent counters with the statement
that the history of the conquest of Mexico relates that the
best allies of the conquerors were some of the Indian
groups.
The teacher does not answer his opponent directly.
Instead, he says that he recalls a time when the Indians of
the region, in furious rebellion against whites and mesti
zos, joined forces and killed mestizo and white men, women
and children mercilessly and burned their homes. Only
24E1 indio. pp. 72-73.
176
because of the superiority of the authorities* arms and
troops were they able to suppress the rebellion. The pro
fessor ends his discourse by relating the strange tale of
the leader of the Indian rebels who, although believed dead
by the authorities, is alive, living as a hunter and pro
tected by all the Indians.
Bulnes, writing toward the end of the nineteenth
century, had a theory similar to Lopez y Fuentes* person
age, the teacher:
El indio no tiembla, sino disimula su odio y su
colera ante la mirada severa de un espanol, cuando
siente su impotencia, pero cuando conoce que puede
luchar con el espahol, ni hace caso de su mirada ni de
ninguna clase de amenazas. El indio es patriota para
su raza, no para la que lo ha oprimido, defiende con
heroicidad, no el territorio nacional, sabe que no es
suyo, pero defiende lo que le han deiado en las mon-
tanas o en los territorios lejanos. ^
There have been many Indian uprisings in Mexico.
The Yaqui War of the 1880*s in which the Yaquis, led by
Cajeme, fought the Diaz troops, lasted for several years.
The Yaquis had also rebelled during the Colonial period
in 1740.^
25
Francisco Bulnes, El porvenir de las naciones
hispanoamericanas (Mexico: Imprenta de Mariano Nava, 1899),
p. 75.
26
Carleton Beals, Mexican Maze (Philadelphia: J. B.
Lippincott Company, 1931), pp. 178, 184-185.
177
Jos£ Vasconcelos also shared the professor's views
when he wrote:
Once in a while you still hear in Mexico an echo of the
Indian voice that claims for a return to the past of
the race as a means of obtaining strength and inspira
tion. The claims of the pure Indian sound sometimes
almost as distinct in its vision as the creed of the
most ardent advocate of the purity of the white in his
own country. And the evidence that this is not merely
a theoretical feeling is found in the story of our
revolutions, which in some cases have developed purely
Indian movements with the tendency to reinstate purely
Indian standards. The Indian uprisings of Yucatan,
known as the guerra de castas . . . the pure Indian
against the Spanish-speaking, against the Mexican
population, is an old but clear example. '
L6pez y Fuentes describes accurately the traits of
the different Indian groups. Of the Huichol, he says that
he is "cerril y belicoso." The Huicholes have been known
for their bellicosity. They fought the Spaniards for two
hundred years after the conquest of Tenochtitlan. It was
not until 1721 that they signed a peace treaty with the
Spaniards.
The character in the novel described the Tepehuanes
as "taciturnos." Basauri describes them similarly when
27 f
Jose Vasconcelos, "The Race Problem," in Aspects
of Mexican Civilization (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1926), p. 89.
Basauri, op. cit.. p. 58.
178
he says, "Puede decirse que los Tepehuas son individuos mas
bien timidos y conservadores, lo que les hace ser muy inde-
29
pendientes y a la vez muy apegados a su propia gente."
The Otomis are considered by many to be among the
dullest, most backward Indians in Mexico. Basauri found
that, as the official said in the novel, the Otomis drink
great quantities of pulque:
Aun cuando al tratar de los toxicos hablaremos del
pulque, debemos considerarlo ... por formar parte de su
alimentacion, dadas las grandes cantidades en que lo
ingieren, pues la racion media es de cinco litros por
individuo, con una minima de dos y una maxima de
diez.^O
Basauri fails to mention whether the Otomis sleep over
ashes in order to keep warm, but he states that they "se
31
banan rara vez, y, en general, son desaseados."
When the villagers in El indio return to the ran
cher la . after making peace with the authorities, they drive
out the evil spirits from their houses by burning copal.
Ese mismo dia comenzaron a regresar a sus casas,
no sin sahumarlas previamente con copal, para arrojar
29Ibid.. pp. 640-641.
3QIbid.. pp. 289-290.
3 Ibid.. p. 294.
179
de ellas los malos espiritus que se hubieran pose-
sionado durante la prolongada ausencia de los mora-
dores.
The practice of burning copal also goes back to
pre-Hispanic Mexico. Von Hagen says that to the Mayas,
copal was as essential as amber was to the Greeks. The
33
Mayas burned copal on all priestly occasions. As a
matter of fact, copal was used widely throughout Mexico and
Central America. The Aztecs used it as an incense and
n/
called it copalxalli. Elsie Clews Parsons found that the
people of Mitla used copal for many purposes:
Candles and copal are burned in church, on the house
altar, at graves, at shrines, on the mountains, at
springs--wherever the spirits are present; they are
burned for the saints, the Souls and the dead, for the
mountains, for the owners of the caves, for the cross
. . . and for the stone people if they have not alto
gether deserted their images.
Parsons also remarks that "in Indian tribal life smoking an
object is quite commonly an act of exorcism or purifica-
36
tion." Evidently the practice of exorcism as performed
~^E1 indio. p. 83.
33
Von Hagen, op. cit.. p. 207.
a a
Gruening, op. cit.. p. 231.
35
Arsons, op. cit.. p. 299.
36Ibid.. p. 510.
180
by the Indians in the novel is widespread among many Indian
groups.
After the villagers return to the rancheria from
their mountain hideout, they experience hard times since
they have to wait for a good harvest in order to have
proper food supplies. Because of the hardships which they
are experiencing, some of the Indians want to leave in
search of better lands, but the malcontents are persuaded
by the village elders to remain. The elders* argument is
a powerful one: "Los viejos habian sostenido que sus dioses
estaban en los cerros cuya presencia trataban de abando-
. . 3 7
nar,"
Fetishism and idolatry, vestiges of the poly
theistic pre-Cortesian native religions, are still common
among certain Indian groups in Mexico. While traveling
among the Huichols, Lumholtz observed a row of gigantic
rocks which, he was told, were a group of ancient people,
gods, who had tumbled down there. Lumholtz found that the
region inhabited by the Huichols was full of such rock
38
idols. Because of the firm belief held by Indians that
37
El indio. p. 85.
38
Carl Lumholtz, Unknown Mexico. Vol. II (London:
Macmillan and Company, 1903), p. 138.
181
the gods determine their destiny, the villagers in the
novel were afraid to abandon their gods.
The Aztecs, as practically everyone knows, were
sun-worshipers. As von Hagen states: "In the forefront of
the Aztec pantheon was a sun god who brought life by his
daily appearance; sun worship was an essential part of
39
Aztec religion." Alfonso Caso elaborates on the concept
of the Sun deity:
The sun, called Tonatiuh, was invoked by the names
of "the shining one," "the beautiful child," "the eagle
that soars." He was generally represented by a disk,
decorated in Aztec fashion. This disk is widely known
because it is an essential part of the celebrated monu
ment called the Aztec calendar, which is simply a very
elaborate representation of the sun.
In the center of the disk is the face of Tonatiuh;
at the sides appear his hands, tipped with eagle claws
clutching human hearts, for the sun was looked upon by
the Aztecs as an eagle. In the morning, as he rose
into the sky, he was called Cuauhtlehu^nit1, "The eagle
who ascends"; in the evening he was called Cuauhtemoc,
"the eagle who fell," the name of the last unfortunate,
heroic Aztec emperor.^0
Caso states also that the Aztecs called the sun "the tur
quoise child" and that "they thought of him as the most
39
Von Hagen, op. cit.. p. 159.
^®Alfonso Caso, The Aztecs: Baople of the Sun.
Tr. by Lowell Dunham (Norman, Oklahoma: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1958), pp. 32-33.
182
precious thing in the universe and always pictured him as
41
a jewel.” The tribal god of the Aztecs, Huitzilopochtli,
/ 0
was also an incarnation of the sun.
When the villagers go fishing, we find that one of
the elders implores the sun to provide them with a good
catch:
— Radre de lo que tiene vida y de lo que no vive:
senor de la tierra, del agua, del viento y del fuego:
si das de comer al cuervo, a la vibora y al tigre,
dame unos pescados para mis hijos y para los hijos de
mis hijos!^
Afterwards the old man directs his entreaty to the waters
of the river and he drinks from a bottle of aguardiente
after dropping a few drops of it into the water. "Fue como
44
una alianza hecha en un brindis."
That the old man also addressed a prayer to the
river is also consistent with indigenous religious beliefs.
Lumholtz, for example, discovered that of the four ele-
45
ments, the Huichols adore water above all others. The
Aztecs, as Father las Casas points out, "Tenxan por dios
41Ibid.. p. 33. 42Ibid.
4^E1 indio. p. 93. 44Ibid.
4^Lumholtz, op. cit.. p. 57.
183
46
al huego, y al aire, y a la tierra y al agua." As Father
Las Casas explains, the sun was the dios mayor and the
ancient Mexicans had other gods who would intervene in
their behalf before him.^7 If Las Casas is correct in his
interpretation of the Aztec deities, then one can under
stand why the village elder would seek the alliance of the
river after having prayed to the sun.
The practice of cooperative efforts among Indian
clans or communities was widespread in pre-Hispanic America.
To a degree the practice has survived. For example, Elsie
Clews Rarsons found that the trait of cooperation persists
in Mitla.^® In the novel, after the fishing is over, each
of the fishermen deposits his catch along the river bank.
Then one of the elders begins his distribution.
Todos habian contribuido y todos participarIan. El
viejo repartio segun la aportacion y segun las necesi-
dades de cada uno. Los jefes de familia recibieron por
ellos, por sus mujeres y por sus hijos. 9
^Fray Bartolom! de las Casas, Los indios de Mexico
v Nueva Esnana (Mexico: Ediciones Porrua, 1966), p. 48.
^7Ibid.
48
Ihrsons, on. cit.. p. 65.
^ El indio. p. 96.
184
Moists Saenz tells us that the Mexicans' identifi
cation with the Universe was complete. Their gods were
close to them and assumed human attributes while man him
self at times assumed divine attributes.
La naturaleza y la tierra, entidades siempre pr6-
ximas a las gentes formaban parte del panteon americano.
El suelo, manifestacion material de la madre tierra,
fue, como el hombre, una parte del universo panteista
que el indio habitaba, del cual £l mismo era un ele
ment o.
With the arrival of the white man, however, life lost its
cosmic unity.
Lopez y Fuentes dramatically illustrates this unity
or identification with nature in the fishing episode. A
small boy is carried away by the river current and, when he
is carried down a tremendous waterfall, everyone believes
that the child is lost. However, soon afterwards he is
seen paddling like a tired dog. Everyone is amazed that
he has survived, but one of the elders declares:
— Los patos nacen entre los tulares, y apenas han que-
brado el cascaron, se echan al agua, sin que el padre
o la madre les hayan ensenado a nadar. Las mariposas
rompen su envoltura y vuelan libres por el cielo. Ia
vxbora nace y corre por entre la hierba, con la muerte
"^Mois^s S^enz, Mexico £ntegro (Lima: Imp. Torres
Aguirre, 1939), p. 24.
185
en la boca. ... La tribu era asi, tambi^n, y por eso
ha podido sobrevivir a los sufrimientos. Nada tiene de
raro que el nino sepa nadar sin haber aprendido. ...
Lo que pasa es que en los ultimos tiempos heraos descon-
fiado del instinto, influenciados por hombres de otra
raza.51
Another interesting and traditional custom which
Lopez y Fuentes describes is the administration of justice
by the consejo de ancianos. In the novel, the case to be
decided is the dispute between the three fathers: the
father of the now crippled young man; his fiancee*s father;
and the father of the other young man who now seeks to
marry the young girl. The elders decree that the engage
ment shall be officially broken and the gifts returned to
the father of the crippled fellow.
In Mexico marriage practices differ a great deal
52
from one Indian group to another. Nevertheless, the ex
changing of gifts appears to be a universal practice among
most Indians. Lumholtz discovered that among the Huichols,
the ancient marriage custom decreed that only the old could
arrange marriages properly, and that it was the responsi
bility of the father of the boy to secure the girl. In a
~^E1 indio. p. 100.
52
Verna Carleton Millan, Mexico Reborn (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1939), pp. 154-157.
186
very involved ritual lasting five days in which he had to
narrate mythological events, the father finally asked for
the girl's hand. The more modern custom was the exchanging
of gifts between the two lovers and securing the consent
c o
of their parents to be married.
In the novel each gift is imbued with symbolism:
"... las gallinas, la abundancia; el frijol, el manjar; la
jicara, el agua en lluvia y en iris y en salud; el panuelo,
4 54
la prenda; y el aguardiente, la alegria."
Von Hagen tells us that the festival was almost
continuous in ancient Mexico to the degree that "it is not
easy to separate festive and ceremonial, sacred and secu-
55
lar, since everything was bound up together."
Each one of the eighteen months had ceremonies and
festivals. One of the game ceremonies, today known as "El
Volador," had a religious significance according to Alfonso
Caso, who describes it as follows:
Otro deporte que tenia significacion religiosa era
el juego que conocemos con el nombre de "El Volador,"
que todavia se practica entre los totonacos de la parte
norte del estado de Veracruz.
53
Lumholtz, op. cit.. pp. 93-94.
54E1 indio. p. 110.
■^Von Hagen, op. cit.. p. 97.
187
Consistia en subir a un poste muy alto y liso,
cerca de cuya punta se amarraba un bastidor cuadrado
de madera. En cada uno de los Angulos de este basti
dor estaba amarrado uno de los que tomaban parte en
este peligroso deporte. Los cuatro estaban vestidos
de guacamayas, que eran aves dedicadas al Sol. En la
punta del mastil estaba un quinto individuo, que giraba
mientras tocaba una flauta. Los cuatro individuos ...
se dejaban caer a un tiempo y las cuerdas con las que
estaban atados se iban desenrollando y haciendo girar
el cilindro de madera sobre el que estaba de pie el que
tocaba la flauta. Trece vueltas daba cada individuo.
... las cuatro guacamayas que descienden del poste y
dan trece vueltas, son shnbolicas de los 52 anos de que
se compone el siglo indigena, es decir del movimiento
del Sol en los 13 x 4, igual a 52 anos.^
Lopez y Fuentes describes the ceremonial of the
"Volador'’ in a very dramatic sequence of the novel. Added
to what we have learned from Caso about this ritual, we
learn from Lopez y Fuentes that certain requisites were
expected from the participants in the game ceremony. The
participants were expected to:
... adem£s de manifestar por su exterior hallarse en
perfectas condiciones, aseguraban no haber faltado a
los preceptos de la tradicion: haber ayunado, haber
pedido proteccion a los dioses y no haber tenido con-
tacto con mujer alguna, al menos durante la noche
anterior. '
Nevertheless, the author illustrates that the rigid
moral laws and traditions of the ancient Mexicans have lost
■^Alfonso Caso, La religion de los Aztecas (Mexico:
Imp. Mundial, 1936), p. 44.
~^E1 indio. pp. 123-124.
188
their effect on the Indian who has come into contact with
a different civilization. The author states: "Easadas
algunas horas *el volador* fue tan solo una de las diver-
58 /
siones en la fiesta." Lopez y Fuentes then narrates the
events which lead the ceremony to descend to the level of
a drunken orgy. The topilis or police who were supposed to
maintain the order were themselves drunk. As a result of
a lack of vigilance, all who wished were participating in
the dangerous game of "el volador." The natural conse
quence of this carelessness is the tragedy which follows.
One of the men who was at the top of the pole, fell to his
death. Even this death did not dampen the Indians* festive
spirit. The drinking and dancing continued, ending with a
tremendous machete fight between the men of the village and
those of a nearby rancheria. In the morning three corpses
with horribly mutilated members are identified. These
descendants of a once proud nation are depicted as drunken
barbarians. The author states: "El giro que tomo la fiesta
fu£ como la historia de cuatro siglos: primero las danzas,
la musica, el volador, en una palabra, la tradicion: y
C O
Ibid.. p. 120.
59
luego, el alcohol."
Since the author refers to four centuries of his
tory, there is no doubt that he is referring to the history
of the Indians in the four centuries since the conquest.
In view of this, one can only conclude that the author is
saying that the Indians have degenerated from a highly
proud and civilized race to a state of semi-barbarism.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that the Aztecs
before the conquest were very fond of intoxicating drink.
Von Hagen speaks of the dance as a form of worship and that
fin
drunkenness itself was ritual and sacred. However,
drunkenness, when not a ritual, was a crime punishable by
law.61
One thing may be said with certainty. Lopez y
Fuentes has depicted the aftermath of popular celebrations
accurately, because intoxication after festivals has been
62
the custom among the Mexican masses for centuries.
“ ^ Ibid.. p. 123.
fin
Von Hagen, op. cit.. p. 103.
61Ibid.. p. 107.
62
Gruening, op. cit.. pp. 250-253.
190
The practice of witchcraft among ’ ’primitive"
peoples is universal. In Mexico, Spanish notions of
witchcraft are combined with those of the indigenous
64
peoples. Belief in these ciencias ocultas is widespread,
not only among the Indians but among the general popula
tion. One of the most prevalent beliefs among Mexico's
Indians is that man can assume an animal-like form and
vice-versa. This belief, according to Echdnove Trujillo,
is a vestige of totemism, a belief that a group of people
descend from animal-like beings. Echdnove explains that
totemism passes through two stages. Initially it is a col
lective phenomenon. In its second stage, totemism takes
an individual form as each person has his personal totem.
Apparently the Indians of Mexico believed in this personal
or individual totemism when the Spaniards arrived. Echd-
nove Trujillo states, "En Mexico se designa este totemismo
individual con el nombre de 'nahualismo* (de nahualli,
65
'disfraz* en nahuatl) o 'nagualismo.'"
Carlos Echdnove Trujillo, "La mentalidad de la
poblacion indigena de Mexico," in Hechos y problemas del
Mexico rural (Mexico: Seminario Mexicano de Sociologxa,
1952), p. 25.
64
Arsons, on. cit.. p. 131.
65
Echdnove Trujillo, op. cit.. p. 27 n.
191
Echdnove Trujillo found that among the Huaves of
Tehuantepec a very interesting vestige of totemism survived:
Cuando va a nacer un nino, lo primero que ejecuta
la comadrona es regar arena alrededor de la casa, para
ver despuds el rastro del animal que paso por allx y
el que serd la "tona" (nahual) del nacido. ... Las
supersticiones sobre la "tona" o el "nahual" entre los
huaves son muy comunes.
This writer also found vestiges of totemism among
the Tzeltales in Chiapas:
Otro caso de estrecha vinculacion del hombre con la
bestia espiritualizada es el de los tzeltales del muni-
cipio de Oxchuc, en Chiapas. Casi todos los viejos del
grupo son considerados magos y estos ejecutan sus cas-
tigos empleando como intermediario a su respectivo
nahual ... bestia espiritiforme que estd a su servicio
y que es quidn, directamente, penetra en el cuerpo del
indiciado y le produce la enfermedad. Estos magos son
tanto mds poderosos cuanto mds lo es su nahual.
Echdnove Trujillo further states that among the
Huichols it is believed that "en el principio de los tiem-
pos la gente era en su mayor parte serpientes, jaguares y
leones.
According to the Aztecs, the world and man had been
created several times and each creation had been followed
66Ibid.. pp. 31-32.
68Ibid.. p. 33.
67Ibid.. p. 32.
192
69
by a cataclysm that destroyed mankind. Leon-Portilia
tells of a myth which stated that the people who lived in
the third age perished but that turkeys were their descend-
70
ants.
Caso also states that the nocturnal Tezcatlipoca,
the all-powerful, multiform, and ubiquitous god, god of
darkness, patron of sorcerers and evil ones, had the jaguar
as a nahual or disguise. The jaguar with its spotted skin
resembled the heavens with their myriad stars. ^
Elsie Clews Ihrsons also reports hearing a number
of tales about the naguales. One man in Mitla told her
that in several villages it was a practice to have ashes in
the four corners of a room where a child was born so that
the nagual could leave his tracks. The nagual was also
called a tono. The nagual could do a person's fighting for
him, but if the nagual was killed, then the person would
72
also die. Parsons relates a number of stories of witches
^Caso, The Aztecs: People of the Sun, p. 12.
■^Miguel Leon-Port ilia, Aztec Thought and Culture.
Tr. by Jack Emory Davis (Norman, Oklahoma: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1963), p. 42.
71
Caso, The Aztecs: feonle of the Sun, p. 14.
72
Ihrsons, on. cit.. pp. 225-226.
193
who took the form of animals in order to perform their evil
deeds. Some of these stories are quite amusing. The fol
lowing tale which Parsons heard at Mitla parallels the tale
of the nahual in El indio:
Down here lived a boy whom the witches plagued
every night. They would play about his head in the
form of dogs or cats. One night when the boy was drunk
he noticed a noisy cat. He grabbed it by the legs and
began to beat it with a piece of bamboo. Then he let
it go. The next day he got news that a lady in the
barrio of San Pablo had died. She told her children
that she had vomited blood; but it was not this, she
died of the blows she had received that night.^
In El indio. the father of the young hunter, who
has married the now crippled young man*s ex-fiancee, be
lieves that the local bruio is casting evil spells on him
and his entire family. The man goes to a nearby village to
procure the services of a rival witch-doctor. This second
bruio accompanies the man to the house and engages in
several rituals and incantations. Following this incident,
the village hears that the village bruio has died. This
witch-doctor was reputed to have the power to transform
himself into a tiger, a bear, or a huge snake. Assuming
one of his disguises, he could steal with impunity. Upon
^ Ibid.. pp. 132-133.
194
returning home, his wife would pronounce a certain rare
liturgy which would return him to human form. Then the
night which proved fatal for the bruio arrived. The fol
lowing explanation for his death was given by the vil
lagers :
Ya herido, huyendo entre las brehas, llego a su
casa, con las fauces vaclas. Ia mujer aun pudo rein-
tegrarlo a la forma humana. Y allk estaba, en la
tarima de otates, todo ensangrentado y lleno de le-
siones, unas como rasgaduras de espinas y otras como
dentelladas de perros. --Muy poderoso ha de ser—
decxan--el brujo traxdo de la otra rancher ia, cuando
pudo causar la muerte del nahual.™
In this episode devoted to the dramatization of
Indian superstitions, Lopez y Puentes has given one of the
most perceptive studies of the Indian*s mentality ever to
appear in a novel in Mexico. Once again the author proved
his thorough knowledge of the subject he was treating in
the novel.
A smallpox epidemic occurs in the village and some
believe that the evil spirit of the dead nahual wants to
exterminate everyone in the village. They all resort to
the traditional methods of combatting illness. They take
food offerings to the hills, to the wind and to the waters
^ El indio. p. 149.
195
of the river. They also take steam baths in the temaxcal
at which time they rub themselves with a medicinal herb
known as tianguispepetla.
The temazcal is still to be found in Indian vil
lages and most writers who have reported on their visits to
Indian villages speak of this remnant of the Aztec civili
zation. Elsie Clews Earsons found that in Mitla, the
temazcal was in wide use for many different ailments.
She claims that the temazcal was "a general therapeutic
75
measure among the Aztecs." Von Hagen tells us that in
Tenochtitlan, each house had its own steam bath or temas-
cal. in which steam was produced by throwing water over
heated stones or a wood fire.^
The epidemic prompts the local diputado to visit
the rancheria. He finds the pock-marked Indian faces as
evidence of the recent epidemic. The politician talks to
the Indians about social equality and of the Revolution
which has been waged on their behalf. To all this, the
Indians respond with a look of indifference. "Los indige-
nas oian sin contradecir ni aprobar: era la misma
^Earsons, o p . cit.. p. 128.
' Von Hagen, op. cit.. p. 75.
196
indiferencia racial, con cara de piedra y ojos de vidrio
77
opaco." The Indians soon discover that all the oratory
only leads to their being notified that their labor will be
required for the construction of a road in the region.
While working on the construction of the road, the
Indians are ordered to remove the building stone from the
archaeological zone nearby which has been covered with
giant trees and other vegetation which they must also
clear. The Indians are curious about the significance of
the archaeological mounds. One of the oldest among them
tells some of the legends which relate the reasons their
ancestors had for building the rough pyramid from which
they are removing the stone.
The villagers discover a stone idol and remnants of
a comal. a metate and a few spindles in the course of their
excavation. These discoveries are trampled on by the fore
man after one of the Indians remarks that the spirits of
their forefathers remain in the mounds. Then the foreman
overhears one of the Indians tell the others that he has
heard of a white man who became paralyzed after destroying
77E1 indio. p. 215.
197
one of the idols found there. Another Indian tells of
someone else who discovered, upon breaking one of the
idols, that it was full of gold dust. The latter tale
prompts the foreman immediately to start breaking the idol
found that day. Disappointed at not finding anything but
porous stone, he hurls the idol down a nearby slope.
The author laments the fact that the Indians are
unable to identify with the civilizations of the past which
had already realized such great achievements before the
Spaniards arrived. The Indians cannot take pride in the
achievements of their ancestors since they are ignorant of
their history. The oldest among them says regretfully
78
that "la tradici6n se ha perdido." This lack of racial
awareness, of past greatness, has made the Indian feel
insecure and inferior in his dealings with the white man
and, therefore, more easily exploitable. The contempt of
the average mestizo or creole for archaeological discover
ies, before scientists discovered their importance in
recent years, is illustrated by the foreman who tramples
on the things that have been discovered.
78Ibid.. p. 223.
198
Toward the end of the novel, we see the Indians as
victims of religious fanaticism. The local priest compels
the villagers to fulfill a pledge which he had made during
the recent epidemic. The Indians are forced to make a
religious pilgrimage to a miraculous shrine. They do not
dare refuse, fearing the consequences should they do so.
The Indians have to spend what little money they have for
candles and relics which they buy at the shrine besides
having to meet other expenses of the week's pilgrimage.
The ending of the novel involves the coming of the
Indian teacher and the events that ensue, which were dis
cussed in Chapter VI. The novel ends with the young
cripple looking out suspiciously at the non-Indian world.
We have seen that Lopez y Fuentes in El indio
covers a great many facets of the Mexican Indian's life.
There are allusions to the past glories of Indian civiliza
tions, to the ancient gods and beliefs as well as to the
vestiges of idolatry among today's Indians. The arts and
crafts of the Indian receive some attention. The tradi
tional religious ceremonies such as the ceremony of "el
volador" are described. The Indians' belief in witchcraft,
and in supernatural powers, their way of treating illness
199
are interwoven into the narration. Biases of the Indians’
community and family life, such as the administration of
justice and marriage customs are also skillfully introduced
as the story develops. The Indians’ love of music and
dance as well as their weakness for liquor and propensity
toward violence are also illustrated. In this novel, L6pez
y Fuentes probed deeper and further into the mentality,
the history and traditions of the Indian than did any of
the other novelists of the Revolution.
As a novel of protest against the injustices per
petrated upon the Indian, El indio is equal to those of
Mariano Azuela and Mauricio Magdaleno which were described
in Chapter II. L6pez y Fuentes also viewed the agrarian
reform with disillusion, as did his contemporaries, and saw
the Indians passing from the exploitation of the hacendado
to that of the politician.
The differences in these three writers are those of
style and emphasis. In my opinion, all three were writers
who expressed a great deal of human compassion and under
standing. However, each had his individual style. While
it could be argued that Azuela's characters in San Miguel
de Valdivias and Magdaleno's in El Resnlandor are more
200
types than individuals, these two writers made a greater
attempt to develop individual characters than did Lopez y
Fuentes. The latter*s characters in El indio. as in some
of his other novels, are all nameless, anonymous symbols of
the whole race. The author made no attempt to develop his
characters as individuals. Since the characters are drawn
in the abstract, the reader finds it almost impossible to
identify with them as individuals. The reader cannot share
in the joys and sorrows of these anonymous figures.
Lopez y Fuentes wrote with greater restraint about
the injustices committed against the Indian than did Azuela
and Magdaleno in their novels about the agrarian reform.
The latter described or narrated events which dramatically
illustrated those injustices which would tend to make the
reader react more emotionally. The most dramatic illustra
tion of cruelty toward the Indian in El indio is the epi
sode in which the young guide is tortured by the whites.
Even this episode is described with relative restraint.
In my opinion, all three writers felt equally outraged
about these injustices, but because of a difference in em
phasis and style, they evoked different reactions from
their readers.
201
Gerald E. Wade has called Jorge Icaza*s Huasipungo.
Ciro Alegrxa's El mundo es ancho v ajeno. and El indio as
79
the best indianista novels to appear before 1945. Of
the three novelists, L6pez y Puentes covers many more as
pects of Indian life than do the other two. Yet Alegrxa,
for example, presents a memorable character in Rosendo
Maqui, whose joys and sorrows the reader can share. Icaza
pictures the Indian in all his degradation and squalor, but
he succeeds in getting the reader to share his own sense of
outrage about these conditions. The hacendados in Ale
grxa's and Icaza*s novels are so despicable that the reader
can hate them with great ease. The injustices committed
against the Indians in both these writers* novels are so
dramatically illustrated with specific events that the
reader is easily outraged against obviously unjust acts.
As writers of social protest, both of these writers are
t remendously e ffect ive.
The reader*s emotional reactions to the injustices
committed against the Indian in Lopez y Puentes* novels
Gerald E. Wade, "Introduction" to El mundo es
ancho v ajeno (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc.,
1945), p. ix.
202
are not always as strong as the reactions to injustices
described in Icaza*s or Alegria*s novels. One reason for
the different reactions of the reader to Lopez y Puentes1
novels is the inability of the average reader to identify
with a nameless, representative character such as the
Indian guide in El indio. In contrast, the reader can
share completely Rosendo Maqui*s joys and burdens, because
Alegrxa has drawn the character so vividly and related the
story of his life and that of his people so well, that pro
jection into the character*s situation takes place with
ease.
Another reason why the reader may not feel the same
sense of outrage after reading Lopez y Fuentes* El indio
that he may feel after reading Icaza*s Huasipungo is the
latter*s vividly crude description of the squalor and
depravity of Indian life in its most miserable form. The
vehement condemnation of social injustice in Icaza's novel
is shrill and cries out for redress to the grievance of the
Indian. In contrast, Lopez y Fuentes* social protest is
relatively mild. This is not to say that the other
writers’ vehemence of style and expression necessarily
makes them superior novelists. All three are extraordinary
203
writers. There is simply a difference in manner of presen
tation and in emphasis.
L6pez y Puentes was at times extremely subtle.
Many times the allusion may simply be suggested. His sym
bolism is not always obvious. He was always discreet and
restrained, never vehement in his novels. Aesthetically,
one could even say that his style is superior to the
writers with whom I have compared him. His prose at times
achieved a poetic quality, and his use of the language was
always superb.
CHAPTER VIII
THE FUSION OF TWO CULTURES
Los peregrinos inmoviles
The events related in this novel occur in a small
town built on a high plateau in one of the tropical regions
of Mexico. The inhabitants of the town are predominantly
mestizo, but Indian traditions, customs and beliefs are
deeply rooted in the people of the region. The plaza of
the town is like a microcosm. Its four principal houses,
at each comer of the plaza, are occupied by the main
characters in the novel: Matias, the mayor of the town; the
old Indian, Marcos, greatly respected in the community;
Antonio, who likes to think of himself as white; and Cirilo.
A conflict arises between Antonio and Cirilo when
the latter*s wife accuses Lupe, Antonio*s eighteen-year-old
daughter, of having caused Cirilo*s infant son's illness.
According to the local people's belief, a female in a state
of passion will cause a child's illness known as tlazol
204
205
by getting close to the child or by caressing him.
The fact that Lupe is accused by Cirilo*s wife is,
of course, an accusation that the young girl has been dis
honored, which will mean the dishonor of her whole family.
Again, according to local beliefs, only the one who has
caused this "maleficio del amor” can cure it by jumping
over the child. Cirilo*s wife insists that Cirilo demand
that Lupe cure the child by jumping over him.
As soon as Antonio becomes aware of the aspersions
being cast upon his honor, he demands that Cirilo force his
wife to retract her accusation. The alternative will be a
hand-to-hand battle, presumably until one or the other is
dead. Matias intervenes to prevent bloodshed. Antonio is
reminded that if anything occurs, the investigation of a
school teacher*s murder, allegedly committed by Antonio,
will be renewed to the latter*s detriment. Antonio insists
that his daughter's honor must be vindicated while Cirilo*s
wife insists that her baby be cured.
Matias, as the highest authority in the town, must
decide how to resolve the conflict to everyone's satis
faction. However, he vacillates. Finally he decides to
appeal to the wise and experienced Marcos for advice.
206
The old man unhesitatingly decrees that everyone in the
town shall jump over the child, and thus it will not be
known definitely who has caused his illness. The child is
placed on the ground and everyone in the community jumps or
steps over him. The child is cured. That evening Antonio
is seen leaving the town with his daughter, Lupe. The two
walk rapidly toward the nearby village by the river bank.
Marcos, when asked about his age, begins remi
niscing and recalls the wanderings of his people from the
time they left the hacienda, from which they were liberated
during the Revolution, until they reached the village de
scribed in the novel. The old man's narration of his
people's experiences comprises the second part of the novel
and is entitled "Maiz." In the course of their wanderings,
this group of people divided into many different groups.
At times because of inner rivalries, and at times for other
reasons, the group became divided into several tribes. At
practically every place where they settled, some would stay
behind, while Marcos and his people continued forward in
their search for the land of abundance which their gods
promised them would be theirs. They finally found the
promised land and built the community in which they now
lived.
207
The third part of the novel takes the reader back
to the original narration. Antonio has gone to the nearby
town, whose inhabitants are long-time rivals Of the com
munity. Antonio and Lupe, his daughter, return with Jos£,
Lupe’s husband-to-be. A big wedding celebration is pre
pared. In the midst of the celebration, fifty of the men
from Jose's town appear, well-armed and prepared to do
battle. They demand that Jos£ go back with them. It is
agreed that whatever Jos£ decides, his wishes will be car
ried out. Jos6 decides that he will return to his own
community but that his wife must accompany him. Lupe says
that she is unable to leave her family, her friends, her
community. Jos£, seeing that he would have to leave alone,
decides to remain.
An effort at reconciliation with the men from the
other town is made by Matias. The neighboring villagers
originally had also formed part of the same group described
by Marcos, but they had quarreled over a bell taken away
by the local inhabitants when the two groups divided. The
visitors accept the invitation to participate in the fes
tivities, provided the bell is not rung because that would
be a reminder of the source of friction between the two
208
towns. In the course of the wedding celebration there is
a great deal of drinking and dancing. The novel ends
abruptly as the bell begins to chime.
In contrast to the villagers in El indio. who are
Indians segregated from the rest of Mexican society, the
inhabitants of the town described in Raregrinos inmoviles
are mestizos, products of the fusion between the indigenous
races and Europeans. They form part of the greater Mexican
society. Nevertheless, Lopez y Fuentes* characters retain
what may be called the Indian mentality. Furthermore, the
second part, which requires separate analysis, relates
the adventures of an Indian group which parallels the
wanderings of the Aztecs on their pilgrimage to the land
promised to them by their gods.
In this novel Lopez y Fuentes does not give special
emphasis to the social injustices or economic exploitation
suffered by the Indian. The old Indian, Marcos, in the
course of his reminiscences, tells of the ill-treatment the
Indians received in the haciendas before the Revolution,
and there is one episode in the second part where the
Indians are forced by a group of whites to work in a mine.
Except for these incidents, the novelist is concerned
209
principally with the Indian or the mestizo’s psychological
reactions in a variety of situations, always stressing the
great influence of the person’s Indian background as a
determining factor in his behavior. Much of what Lopez y
Fuentes says about his characters in this novel is actually
characteristic of the Mexican people's psychology today.
This is particularly true with respect to the Mexican’s
ambivalent feelings about his ethnic background. This can
best be illustrated using Antonio as an example.
Matias, the mayor of the community, says about
Antonio: "Antonio, con la piel apenas mas clara que la mia
pero que se cree bianco, aunque cada vez que le conviene
1
dice con orgullo: nosotros los mestizos."
Antonio boasts of the progressive nature of the
town and its citizens to the census taker. He is resentful
of the fact that the foreign element--white businessmen and
their families--look down upon the local inhabitants. How
ever, he, too, looks down on certain elements in the com
munity :
Naturalmente que nos perjudica el pobrerio, gente sin
cultura, mds cerca de los indios que de nosotros, ape-
gados a sus viejas costumbres. ... Aqui en confianza:
■^Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Los peregrinos inmoviles
(Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1944), p. 8.
210
don Matias es indio, la mujer de don Cirilo tambi^n y
en cuanto a don Marcos, aunque quisiera negarlo ...2
Antonio also refers to those who speak indigenous dialects
as people who "todavia no se incorporan a la civiliza-
3
cion.1 ' The inferiority attributed to the Indian is not
because of his color but because of his primitive or "un
civilized" way of life. Nevertheless, the matter of skin
color is part of the ambivalence of the mestizo for Antonio
says to the census taker:
--^De cu£l he de ser? De la raza blanca! Si por mi
color no lo parezco del todo, ello se debe a que
siempre he trabajado a pleno sol. Indios los que
nacen con pelo crecido y con la rabadilla morada.
Antonio then speaks of malinchismo. which in cur
rent Mexican usage refers to the preference for the foreign
over the native. Antonio says that the reason why there
are so many people in the town who look almost white is due
to that phenomenon known as malinchismo. The term, Antonio
explains, owes its origin to the strange fascination which
la Malinche experienced for Cortes. This malinchismo.
which has afflicted the Mexican, has led many foreigners
^Ibid.. p. 16.
^Ibid.. p. 18.
3Ibid.. p. 17.
211
to come to Mexico in search of a Mexican woman according
to Antonio. Furthermore, states Antonio, the search for a
Mexican wife with a fortune has been a very profitable ven
ture for many foreigners.
Lopez y Fuentes is saying that the preoccupation
with color is present in Mexico and that it often leads to
a preference for the white over the indigenous person. The
author also emphasizes that the criollo tends to think of
himself as superior. The criollo is personified by the
judge in this novel. The judge is furious because the vil
lagers retain their ignorant superstitions, and still be
lieve in curanderos. He is annoyed at what he imagines the
foreigners' reactions must be to such barbarous beliefs.
The judge boasts of being a criollo legitimo. a direct
descendant of the conquistadores. He laments the fact that
the Spaniards left their civilizing mission unfinished:
"La civilizacion tiene todavla mucho por delante: quedan
plumas en los espxritus y taparrabos en los rincones de los
hogares.
Although the judge feels superior to the mestizo
and the Indian, he, too, feels a certain ambivalence about
Ibid., p. 26.
212
the Hispanic element in relation to the indigenous, which
is the root of so much confusion in modern Mexico. Some
Mexican intellectuals, particularly since the Revolution,
have praised everything indigenous and condemned everything
Spanish, whereas others, in previous eras, had said that
whatever was admirable in Mexican culture was the result of
C .
the Hispanic influence.
After having several drinks at the wedding celebra
tion, the judge declares all men to be equal:
— Como les iba diciendo, senores: necesitamos que pre-
valezcan las instituciones por sobre los prejuicios.
... Solo la justicia en que se inspira toda ley puede
haber logrado esta igualdad que unifica el color, la
sangre y hasta el idioma ... jtodos! soiros iguales. ...
Nada importa que el pasado de muchos de ustedes esti
prendido a las cordilleras, a los rios y a las selvas
de este continente y que el pasado de otros venga desde
mis alii de los mares. ... Cuantos de ustedes descende-
rin de algun rey poderoso que en estas tierras midio
sus riquezas en canones de plumas llenos de oro, en
labrados mantos de algodon y piedras preciosas.'
The judge claims that although he descends from
conquerors and even people of nobility, he considers that
the only true nobility is that of the spirit. He exhibits
g
For an account of part of this controversy, see
Lesley Byrd Simpson, Many Mexicos (Fourth edition; Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1967), pp. 22-33.
^Baregrinos inmoviles. p. 228.
213
further confusion by stating: "y otros, como yo, descende-
raos del romance y del amor; el m£s valiente de los con-
quistadores y la mis hermosa de las princesas.” The judge
will admit to being a descendant of indigenous people
provided the latter were of the local nobility! Lopez y
Fuentes exhibits his knowledge of the human condition in
this character, the judge, created for this novel. The
judge's pathetic need to feel superior to someone in order
to'compensate for his own inadequacies and failures plus
the tremendous contradictions and ambivalences which he
exhibits in his attitudes is actually a description of the
human condition universally.
The preoccupation with the relative merits of the
Hispanic and the Indian cultures affects all the personages
in the novel. The author makes it evident that in spite of
the praise and attention given to the achievements of the
ancient Mexicans by many intellectuals, particularly since
the Revolution, the average Mexican still tends to consider
Europeans superior to the indigenous population. The
author makes this fact evident in everything that the
characters say. Perhaps the Indian would like to feel a
greater feeling of self-worth, but as he views his sur
roundings, he is reminded that the European conquered his
214
ancestors and became their master. The Indian, deprived of
his identity with the past glories of his ancestors, and
occupying the lowest stratum in society, lost much of his
sense of self-worth and came to regard himself as an in
ferior being. The Indian is aware that the national wealth
and power are controlled by whites and mestizos. Given the
nature of the social and political structure of the coun
try, the Indian has also come to regard the white man as
superior. The reader is made aware of this attitude by the
statements of the old Indian, Marcos. When asked for his
advice on how to resolve the conflict between Antonio and
Cirilo, Marcos replies that people in the community must
learn to administer justice and make decisions themselves
for he will soon be dead. "Ademas, ustedes ya no son
g
indios; ustedes son gente blanca, gente casi blanca." The
others press him for advice praising his great knowledge,
but Marcos continues to be self-effacing:
— Bero ustedes son gente civilizada, muchachos: son
politicos, funcionarios, con muchas lecturas ... uste
des ya no son indios. ... Lo conveniente es que se
miren como iguales ... morenos o blancos, todos igua-
les. ^
8Ibid.. p. 48. ^Ibid.
215
Although Marcos obviously enjoys being consulted by those
more learned than he, and he does have his moment of
triumph in being able to solve this particular problem for
the others, it is only a fleeting moment of glory, and
Marcos is well aware of how the Indian is viewed generally.
Marcos recalls a traumatic experience which he had
as a child in the hacienda in which his people were peons.
He had started biting on a sweet and juicy piece of sugar
cane when he felt a stinging blow on his back administered
by the hacienda foreman. Marcos' father, who was nearby,
was unable to come to his defense although physically he
was strong and perfectly able to do so. However, he was
terrified of the consequences. Marcos recalls that the
Indians' strongest defense against the master was the
assumption of an idol-like inscrutability which annoyed the
hacendado but which the latter was forced to ignore con
soling himself with the thought that the Indian probably
did not understand anything.
When the hacendados fled from the Revolutionaries,
the Indians were jubilant at finding themselves free.
Nevertheless, so many centuries of bondage had rendered
the great majority of them incapable of assuming any
216
responsibility. They demanded that Marcos' father make
all decisions for them. It was decided that all the peons
would also flee as the hacendados might return to enslave
them once again. The Indians set out on their pilgrimage,
but soon a number of them decided to return to the ha
cienda. They preferred enslavement to freedom's uncertain
future, knowing that they would at least have the minimum
essentials to stay alive.
Lopez y Fuentes also emphasizes the destructive
force which envy and hate wreak upon a group of people.
Marcos' people, in their years of wandering in search of
the land of abundance, frequently became separated because
of petty rivalries. Speaking metaphorically, Marcos'
father states: "Es necesario matar la serpiente. ... Cor-
tarle la cabeza. ... Echarla de entre nosotros. ... Ella
hace pestilente el aire, ella nos amenaza con su ponzona.
... Hay que destruirla!Marcos, who interpreted his
father's statement literally, searched for the serpent in
order to kill it. Unable to find it, Marcos consulted his
father again. The latter replied with patriarchal au
thority :
10Ibid.. p. 140.
217
--Oh, -- ... esa serpiente de que has oxdo hablar, es
invisible. ... Es la serpiente del odio. Donde est£
ella, no puede haber fraternidad, no puede haber paz,
en una palabra, no puede haber amor.
When Marcos himself became the leader of his people,
his father advised him not to seek solutions to rivalries
by force of arms, because he could only expect to be met
with force and hate also.
Lopez y Fuentes apparently was pessimistic regard
ing man's ability to live in peace by eliminating jealousy
from his midst. In the last part of the novel, the two
rival towns make an attempt at reconciliation of their dif
ferences. The outsiders insist on one condition— that the
bell not be rung as it would be a reminder of past differ
ences. Matias, as mayor, agrees to this condition. As the
novel ends, however, the chimes of the bell ring out loud
and clear!
In Peregrinos inmoviles. Lopez y Fuentes once again
delves into a number of Mexican superstitions and customs
which have their roots in ancient Indian beliefs. Among
the more interesting customs are those practices related to
marriage and to birth.
11Ibid.. p. 142.
218
Marcos recalls that when the "hacienda system" was
the dominant form of agricultural organization in Mexico,
it was the master, the hacendado. who took the initiative
in securing a mate for his peons; he was anxious that they
reproduce in order to have more field hands:
... los amos acostumbraban hacemos una fiesta cada ano
y escogian veinte o treinta muchachas para darlas como
esposas a otros tantos hombres, todos ellos en edad
conveniente para tener hijos. Nadie sabla quien iba
a tocarle en suerte ... la suerte era la que resolvxa
que muj er era para que hombre.
The master would permit the practice of certain
Indian marital traditions in order to keep the Indians
happy. Because it was desirable that the Indians should
have many children, the custom of the bridegroom presenting
the coconete to the bride was always practiced. The coco-
nete. as described by the author, is a "muneco de hoja de
maiz" and is "la advertencia que hace el hombre a la mujer
que ha tornado por esposa, de que su destino es darle
13
hijos." The coconete is placed before the bride's face
by the groom while they are dancing during the wedding
celebration.
^ Ibid.. p. 65. 13Ibid.. p. 247.
219
Another wedding custom, which in the novel is
related to the central theme of the story, concerns the
bride's purity and how it is demonstrated during the
wedding celebration. The bridegroom fills a pitcher with
water and bids the bride's father and other members of the
family to drink from it. If no water is spilled, this is
proof that the bride is still a virgin. In the novel, the
family members all drink without spilling a drop. This act
vindicates Lupe's honor, upon which a shadow had been cast.
This leads one of the women guests to comment maliciously:
"No hay que murmurar, comadre: Jose ha dicho que se da por
bien recibido, pero no ha dicho cuando. ... Tal vez ayer,
tal vez desde hace meses."'*'4
The high value placed upon virginity at the time a
girl is married, by Spanish culture, is universally known.
The town described in the novel derived its social mores
from both the Hispanic and indigenous cultures, and this is
one factor in determining why the subject of lupe's honor
is the central theme around which the rather unimportant
plot revolves.
14Ibid.. p. 286.
220
In villages, such as Tepoztl^n, which are princi
pally Indian but whose moral code has been shaped by the
fusion of the two cultures, chastity for the young woman is
15
of extreme importance.
On the other hand, it is interesting to observe
that the Maya and Aztec cultures, although demanding abso
lute fidelity for a woman, did not regard virginity at mar
riage as necessary. Von Hagen states: "In primitive
society virginity is not generally highly valued. A Maya
16
girl could not be overzealous about a mere hymen." As a
matter of fact, both the Aztec and Maya societies practiced
the curious custom of jus primae noctis in which male rela
tives of the groom enjoyed the first nights with the bride.
The groom did not partake of his bride the first night in
17
order to prevent his being menaced by evil influences.
Elsie Clews Parsons, who reports extensively on
marriage customs in Mitla, states that she only heard of
15
Oscar Lewis, Life in a Mexican Village (Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1951), pp. 396-397.
16
Victor W. von Hagen, The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of
the Americas (Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1961),
p. 233.
17Ibid.. pp. 71, 233.
221
one instance of a virgin bride, and that "Virgin weddings
I Q
are traditionally ill-fated."
In view of what these writers report on the Indian's
attitude toward virginity, we can probably assume that
Lupe's honor, which Antonio insisted on vindicating, is the
result of the Hispanic influence and not of the Indian.
The "maleficio del amor" of which Lopez y Fuentes
writes is evidently a truly shameful phenomenon according
to Indian traditions. Madsen found that in Tecospa, it was
believed that: "Loose women and whores release a third kind
of evil air called 'yeyecatlcihuatl* (woman air). . . .
19
Woman air harms newborn babies."
Furthermore, Madsen reports, the people in Tecospa
believed that "woman air" would cause an eye disorder in
infants which could be cured "by washing the baby's eyes in
water boiled with the umbilical cord of the first child of
- .. ,,20
any family."
1 8
Elsie Clews Parsons, Mitla. Town of the Souls
(Second edition; Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1966), p. 457.
19
William Madsen, The Virgin's Children (Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1960), p. 191.
20
Ibid.. p. 191.
222
Although Madsen's findings are somewhat different
from Lopez y Fuentes* account of this evil spell, they are
sufficiently similar to add credence to the novelist's nar
ration of this belief on which so much of the "story line"
depends.
Other Indian customs described in the novel are
related to childbirth practices. Matias, the mayor,
decrees that the midwife who assists a woman at birth must
bury the umbilical cord in a deep hole. Lopez y Fuentes
does not explain the motives which Matxas had for decreeing
that the umbilical cord be buried "muy hondo." We must,
therefore, look for the motives which the Indians have for
engaging in this practice by examining what other writers
have reported about it. Madsen says that in Tecospa, the
following custom is practiced: "A boy's cord is buried
under a maguey plant so he will grow up to be a hard
working farmer."^
Oscar Lewis reports that in Tepoztl^n, it is the
afterbirth which is buried under the hearth and the umbili
cal cord is kept to be used in the treatment of some eye
21
Ibid.. p. 81.
223
22
diseases. Elsie Clews Parsons also reports that in the
Zapotec regions, the practice of burying the afterbirth in
23
a jar to prevent blindness is the established practice.
Madsen states that the Aztecs buried a baby girl’s umbili
cal cord under the hearth whereas a boy’s cord would be
24
buried by warriors in the battlefield. Presumably this
determined that a woman was destined to remain in the home
and a man to go out to the battlefield. Of one thing we
can be certain. The custom described by Lopez y Fuentes
has existed and does exist in one form or another proving
once again that he was thoroughly familiar with the prac
tices and beliefs of the Indians.
In the novel, the newborn child whom a father is
happily exhibiting to friends and neighbors is described as
being "envuelto hasta los pies, como una pequena momia,
solo tenia al aire la cara. Adherido de espaldas a su
2 5
tabla." The father also reports to Matias that all of
the latter’s instructions have been rigorously followed:
22
Lewis, on. cit.. p. 359.
23
Arsons, op. cit.. pp. 76-77.
o /
Madsen, o p . cit.. p. 10.
25
Eferegrinos inm6viles. p. 241.
224
--Quiero tambi^n indicarte que, como lo has dispuesto,
el nino estd bien envuelto y amarrado a la tabla; para
que crezca derecho y fuerte, y las manos las tiene
metidas en la envoltura, sin poder moverlas siquiera,
para que de grande no sea riioso, ya que tu quieres
hombres de paz y de t r a b a j o . ^ b
Oscar Lewis found that much the same custom was practiced
at Tepoztl^n:
Infants are traditionally swaddled in a sheet or
cotton blanket with the arms bound tightly at their
sides during nursing and sleeping. . . .
There is a widespread belief, particularly among
the older women, that swaddling and binding the arms of
the child will prevent him from "turning out bad" when
he is older. '
Once again, one is made aware of how faithfully Lopez y
Fuentes records the customs of the Mexican people.
The Pilgrimage of Two Groups
The second part of the novel is entitled "Maiz,"
and in it, the old Indian, Marcos, relates the incidents
which occur during the long pilgrimage made by his people.
The historical allegory of this second part of the novel
is unmistakable. The pilgrimage of Marcos' people paral
lels the wanderings of the Aztecs in their search for the
26Ibid., p. 240.
27
Lewis, op. cit.. p. 371.
225
promised land. Nevertheless, it must be taken into account
that the author selected only those elements of the Aztec
mythohistories which would be useful in developing his
narration, which is, of course, his own creation. Also it
must be remembered that the accounts of the pilgrimage of
the Aztecs from their place of origin to the valley of
Mexico, as reported by different writers, vary to a con
siderable degree. However, there are certain events which
are reported in all of the different accounts of Aztec
history. Reference will be made to these legends in com
paring the similarity of experiences shared by Lopez y
Fuentes’ fictional tribe and the Aztecs.
28
According to the account by Fray Diego de Eh.trAn,
the Aztecs originally lived in a place called Teocolhuacan,
also called Aztlan, the ’ ’Land of Herons." This legendary
land was also known as the "place of whiteness." These
people did not call themselves Aztecs, but the Spaniards
later referred to them as Aztecs because of their place of
origin, Aztlan. The Aztecs left their home in search of
O O
Fray Diego de DurAn, The Aztecs. Tr. from the
Spanish by Doris Heyden and Fernando Horcasitas (New York:
Orion Press, 1964), p. 14.
226
the land promised to them by their gods. The Aztecs were
accompanied, in the course of their wanderings, by their
tribal god, Huitzilopochtli, who had the capacity to pro
phesy everything that would happen to the Aztecs on their
pilgrimage.
The Aztecs were variously known as Tenochcas. be
cause of the tenochtli. the prickly pear cactus on which
they were to find the eagle "representative of Huitzilo-
29
pochtli" and as Mecitin or Mecicas because of their
priest and lord, Meci.^
The Aztecs left Aztlan in search of the promised
land in 1168. After long delays in their journey, they
reached Mexico in 1193. One account relates that the
Aztecs found an idol, which represented Huitzilopochtli
(Hummingbird Wizard), in a hillside cave. They then car
ried him on their journey. At each stopping place they set
him up to be worshipped, and he in turn would advise them
31
on which steps they should take.
29
Alfonso Caso, The Aztecs: People of the Sun. Tr.
by Lowell Dunham (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1958), p. 91.
"^Duran, op. cit.. p. 14.
31
George C. Vaillant, The Aztecs of Mexico (Balti
more: Pelican Books, 1956), pp. 97, 98.
227
According to Dur£nfs account, at each stopping
place the Aztecs would construct a temple. They planted
maize, chili and other crops. Often they would leave be
hind the old men, the sick, and the women to harvest the
crop while the rest of the tribe continued their journey.
The Aztecs reached the area now known as the state of
Michoac^n. They liked the region and they begged their god
to permit some of them to remain there. Huitzilopochtli,
who appeared before the priests in their dreams in order to
advise them, counseled them to have some of the men and
women go bathing in the lake. Those who remained on the
shore should then steal the swimmersf clothes, leaving them
naked. The rest of the tribe should then leave, following
the route indicated by Huitzilopochtli. Naked and for
saken, and not knowing what route the Aztecs had taken,
those who had been abandoned decided to stay there and
settle the land. The Indians, now called Tarascans, of
Michoac^n are the descendants of these people abandoned by
32
the Aztecs.
later the Aztecs settled in a place called Coate-
pec. There they planted many trees. They built a dam and
32
Dur£n, on. cit.. pp. 15-16.
228
developed the region. They then declared to Huitzilo
pochtli: "Here is your abode." The god was angered and
determined that the principal "instigators" should be
punished for their pretentiousness in assuming that this
was the "promised land." Thus several of the men were
slain, according to legend. The slain men were discovered
with their breasts opened and their hearts removed. This
is why the Aztecs came to believe that Huitzilopochtli ate
only human hearts and the practice of offering him human
hearts was established. Huitzilopochtli ordered the
priests to open the dam and to flood the area. All the
crops were destroyed. The god then advised the Aztecs to
33
go on to Tula.
Previously the Aztecs had left behind Huitzilo-
pochtli’s sister, Malinalxochitl, because the Aztecs
accused her of practicing evil, having learned certain
magic arts. She, with a few of her partisans, settled in
a place now called Malinalco.
After the Aztecs had settled in several other
places, they reached Chapultepec. Huitzilopochtli advised
33Ibid.. pp. 18, 21.
229
the priests that this was not the promised land and that
they should prepare for war. This war did occur as pre
dicted, because Malinalxochitl had sent her son, Copil, to
seek revenge by killing Huitzilopochtli and the Aztecs who
had abandoned her in Malinalco. However, Huitzilopochtli
was not fooled by Copil*s perversity. The latter had per
suaded a number of Indian nations to become his allies
hoping to defeat the Aztecs with the additional forces.
With their god's advice, the Aztecs were able to besiege
the forces of Copil. The latter was killed and his heart
was cut out. Huitzilopochtli then ordered one of the
priests to cast the heart into the lake. It was at the
place where the heart landed that the cactus was to sprout
from a stone and where the city of Tenochtitlan was to be
built.34
The Aztecs continued to have a number of experi
ences before founding their city. According to one
account, while in Chapultepec they had a dispute with their
neighbors at Culhuacan because a group of young Aztec men
^4Ibid.. pp. 22-24.
230
35
had kidnapped some of the women of Culhuacan.
The Aztecs, Caso states, were "a people with a
mission, a people elected by the tribal god to carry out
the destiny of the world and realize the human ideal as
3 6
they understood it."
Caso states that once the Aztecs had reached their
promised land, they began to realize their dream of world
conquest:
. . . this meant that the people of the sun, the chosen
people of Huitzilopochtli, had arrived at the place
where they were to grow great and become the masters
of the world, where they were to become the instrument
through which the god would accomplish great deeds.^
The Aztecs, Caso continues, convinced that their
mission was based upon a manifest destiny, were mentally
well equipped to carry out their conquests of other
38
peoples.
The parallel between the pilgrimage of Lopez y
Puentes' Indians and that of the Aztecs as told in their
35
C. Gonzalez Blackaller and I. Guevara Ramirez,
Sintesis de historia de Mexico (Mexico: Ed. Herrero, S.A.,
1963), p. 106.
3
Caso, The Aztecs: People of the Sun, pp. 90-91.
•^Ibid., p. 91. 38Ibid.*, p. 93.
231
mythohistories is apparent if one keeps in mind that Lopez
y Fuentes selected only those events which suited his nar
ration. The period during which the pilgrimage occurred
is kept deliberately vague. In the beginning one is made
to believe that everything happened during the Revolution
of 1910, but afterwards the reader becomes aware that the
author is not referring to any definite period in history,
but has combined elements of many different periods in
order to create the novel, which interprets Mexico and the
Mexican.
It will be recalled Caso states that in Aztec
mythology, the eagle was the representative of their god,
39
Huitzilopochtli. The latter was the one who led the
Aztecs to the promised land. In the novel, Lopez y Fuentes,
in a masterful piece of poetic prose, describes an eagle
who catches a fish and gracefully alights to eat it fear
lessly among the Indians. Some of the Indians try to stone
the eagle, but they are prevented from doing so by one of
the group who explains his motives for preventing the
stoning:
39
Ibid.. p. 91.
232
--Defend! al Aguila porque era un aviso grato el que
nos daba con venir a comer entre nosotros: con eso nos
dijo que hallaremos la abundancia, y luego nos senalo
el rumbo que debemos seguir: rio arriba, siempre rio
arriba.40
Lopez y Fuentes in masterful prose alludes to Mexi
can history and yet his work has poetic quality, for the
symbols are never obvious. His symbolism is kept deliber
ately vague for greater poetic effect.
Just as a particular group, for one reason or
another, would be left behind by the legendary wandering
Aztecs, the peregrinos in the novel begin to divide. At
times the separations are caused by frictions within the
group, whereas at other times some of the people are
anxious to settle when they come to a region which is par
ticularly promising because of its rich soil and other
available resources. Nevertheless, the main group con
tinues toward "la tierra de la abundancia" as did the
Aztecs toward the promised land. During one of these sepa
rations, an elder comments: "Otra rama que se ha quedado
tirada en el camino. ... Desprendida del tronco que tan
/ 1
grueso parecia cuando salimos."
40Bgregrinos inmoviles. p. 96.
41Ibid.. p. 117.
233
Whenever the wanderers felt weary of traveling and
were tempted to remain in one place, the ubiquitous eagle
would appear:
Posiblemente se hubiera registrado otra division,
pero en esos momentos pas6 frente a nosotros el aguila,
igual a la que nos habia servido de augurio. Todos la
siguieron con los ojos. Vista lateralmente, su ala
parecxa un brazo que nos llamaba. Esta invitacion fue
suficiente para que se iniciara la marcha: --Nos dice
que la sigamos.
The Indians, in the course of their wanderings,
reached a region with particularly rich land and settled
there. They soon discovered that there was a group of
people settled nearby who had always been free.
One day an emissary from the neighboring group
appeared to demand that a young girl, who had been kid
napped from their community, be returned. They also in
sisted that the punishment for the crime should consist of
a period of forced labor by the guilty ones. There was a
great deal of deliberation among Marcos* people as to which
course of action to pursue. The man who was living with
the girl in question stated that she had come of her own
free will. The people of the tribe discovered that part
42Ibid.. pp. 120-121.
234
of their own people, who had previously separated from the
group, had now formed an alliance with their enemies. The
only solution was to flee and to continue the pilgrimage.
This incident is amazingly similar to Vaillant's
account of what occurred at Chapultepec where the Aztecs
had settled with the permission of the Tepanecs.
Their neighbors seem to have been small but growing
communities, so that conflict was inevitable. The
Tenochcas began the strife because their young men went
up the lake to Tenayuca to raid and steal wives. . . .
Their more powerful neighbours became irritated and
made up a punitive expedition in which Tepanecs, Cul-
huas and Xochimilcas took part.^
The one major difference in the incident as nar
rated by Lopez y Fuentes and Vaillant’s account is that in
the novel, the battle did not take place.
The fictional wandering tribe carries a stone idol
with it. One of the men has carved it from a stone, and
it is extremely heavy. Nevertheless, believing that this
god will protect them from adversity, they carry it until
tragedy occurs when both the sculptor and the idol fall
from a cliff and disappear. Lopez y Fuentes* allusion to
Huitzilopochtli is quite obvious. All accounts of the
43
Vaillant, op. cit.. pp. 98-99.
235
Aztecs* wanderings report that they carried their god with
them.^ Huitzilopochtli led the Aztecs to the promised
land according to legend. The stone idol, however, does
not perform the same task for Lopez y Fuentes* tribe. The
novelist appears to be censuring idol worship and the ves
tiges of idolatry and fetishism which remain in Mexico.
Lopez y Fuentes, not forgetting the plurality of
gods among the Aztecs, relates that the peregrinos also had
their own individual or family god with whom they could
consult with greater confidence and intimacy.
Lopez y Fuentes* allusion to Huitzilopochtli, Aztec
tribal god of war to whom they appealed for advice and pro
tection, occurs several times. The following is one
example:
--Itero no es Aste el dios que nos conviene; necesitamos
un dios paclfico, y Aste es feroz; necesitamos un dios
de la agricultura, y Aste es de la guerra. ...
— Mejor; nosotros tambiAn somos gente de guerra y bien
podemos dominar a quienes encontremos y luego cultivar
sus tierras. ...
— Todos los pueblos serAn nuestros esclavos.
— La ciudad que fundemos serA el corazon del mundo. ...
--Nuestros ejArcitos, con su dios a la cabeza, irAn
hasta donde puede tocar el cielo con la mano.^5
^Von Hagen, op. cit. . pp. 59-60.
^ Iteregrinos inmoviles. pp. 167-168.
236
The characters in the novel clearly represent the
Aztecs, their god, Huitzilopochtli, and their city, Tenoch-
titlan. It will be recalled that the Aztecs were the
people chosen by their gods to conquer the world. Caso
states:
The Aztecs, like all imperialistic peoples, always
found justification for their conquests, to extend the
dominion of the city-state Tenochtitlan, and to con
vert the King of Mexico into the King of the world.
. . . The idea that they were collaborators of the
gods, the concept that they were fulfilling a tras-
cendental duty . . . enabled the Aztecs to undergo the
hardships of their migrations, to settle in a place
that the richest and most advanced peoples had re
jected, and to subjugate their neighbors. °
Lopez y Fuentes relates an incident when the tribe
arrives at a deserted town. Everyone is thrilled at the
prospect of settling there, but they are forced to flee
when an emissary from a powerful cacique demands that they
pay tribute for the privilege of settling there:
Me dijeron ... que eran emisarios de un senor poderoso.
La mision puesta en sus bocas, cuando desde las sierras
fueron vistas nuestras humaredas, contenxa una adver-
tencia: aquellas tierras eran de £l y podiamos habi-
tarias si asi lo deseabamos, pero a cambio de un tri-
buto: la mitad de cuanto se cosechara, una tela de
algod6n por cada diez habitantes y las tres mejores
doncellas, cada ano. '
46
Caso, The Aztecs: People of the Sun, p. 94.
^ Beregrinos inmoviles. p. 161.
237
Dur£n reports that the Aztecs, when they settled
in a certain place before reaching Mexico, frequently were
forced to pay tribute to the rulers of other nations. This
occurred, for example, with the King of Azcapotzalco to
AO
whom the Aztecs paid tribute for years.
While the episode about the caciques demanding
tribute differs considerably in the novel from Dur£n*s
account, the concept of the Aztecs having to pay tribute to
another nation was undoubtedly the source of inspiration
for this incident in the novel. It can be safely assumed
that L6 pez y Fuentes was familiar either with Duran’s or
some other account of the Aztecs* pilgrimage.
On another occasion, the tribe in the novel reached
a place with fertile lands, where they decided to settle.
They planted their crops and awaited the harvest. However,
because of heavy rains, the river overflowed and flooded
the lands which they had cultivated. In addition their
homes were washed away and many people were drowned. One
of the elders declared that it was the river seeking re
venge because the tribe had neglected to make an offering
^Duran, op. cit.. pp. 36-38.
The incident in the novel is similar to Duran's
account of the Aztecs* settlement in Coatepec. Huitzilo
pochtli became angered because the people wanted to remain
there instead of continuing their search for the promised
land.
In order to demonstrate further his fury he ordered
his priests to open the dam they had made and let the
waters run their former course. The priests did not
dare disobey. They removed the defenses and broke the
dam, letting the waters run.^O
The Aztecs again consulted their god who advised them to go
on to Tula.
The second part of the novel relates the events
that happened during the pilgrimage. It ends with Marcos,
who by that time was the leader of the tribe, stating that
the disaster was due to his own carelessness:
Fu£ un descuido de mi parte el no haber llevado una
ofrenda al rio, como lo hicimos con la tierra y los
vientos.
Y pensaba, pero sin decirselos: No seria el enojo
de aquel dios arrojado por la pendiente cuando nos can-
samos de cargarlo?
^ fereerinos inm6viles. pp. 185-190.
■^Durcin, op. cit.. p. 2 1 .
239
Todos estuvieron de acuerdo. jEra el rio! £Que
otra causa podia tener el rio para destruimos?
The similarities between Lopez y Fuentes* fictional
pilgrimage and that of the Aztecs as recorded in their
mythohistories are striking. Possibly the novelist was
inspired to write the second part of the novel after care
fully reading one of the accounts of the wanderings of the
Aztecs. Duran’s account is the best and most complete of
the histories of the Aztecs. The parallels between certain
events in the pilgrimage of Lopez y Fuentes* tribe and that
of the Aztecs as recorded in Dur£n*s narration of Aztec
history have been pointed out. Lopez y Fuentes, however,
evidently selected only those elements of the Aztecs* his
tory which would help him in creating his fictional pil
grimage .
There is one event in the pilgrimage of the tribe
in the novel which appears to be inconsistent with the
other events. I refer to the tribe’s encounter with the
white miners. In the beginning, the reader is led to be
lieve that the pilgrimage occurs after the Revolution.
Afterwards it becomes evident that the allusions are to
"^Baregrinos inmoviles. p. 192.
240
the ancient past of the Indian group. The novelist then
chooses to have his tribe meet with a group of white miners
who take advantage of the Indians” obvious need for food
and shelter. The miners provide for the Indians' material
needs in order to secure cheap labor. While the Indians
are working in the mines, the whites seduce the Indian
women. After a time, a good number of mestizo children are
bom. Eventually the Indians begin to speak the language
of the white man and to adopt his customs.
When the Indians arrive at the mining camp, the
whites are suffering from some type of skin disorder which
eventually is contracted by all. The Indians also become
infected with smallpox.
The abuses of the whites become so great that even
tually the Indians rebel, bum the houses in the settlement
and flee, after an Indian woman has been slain by the
whites.
Lopez y Fuentes is evidently alluding to the
diseases with which the Spaniards infected Indian women.
One such occurrence is the return of Cortes to Tenochtitlan
after having convinced Narvaez* men to join him. Some of
Narvaez' men had had smallpox and the disease eventually
241
killed thousands of Aztecs who came into contact with the
52
Spaniards and had not built any immunity to the disease.
The allusion to the Spaniards5 lust for gold and
native women is obvious. Equally obvious is the allusion
to the exploitation of the Indian at the time of the con
quest .
Whereas the meeting with the white miners is an
event which is incongruous in the context of the pilgrimage
which parallels that of the Aztecs, the theme of the con
frontation between the indigenous and Hispanic cultures is
consistent with the rest of the novel. The Indians, after
leaving the mining camp, found that they had undergone many
changes. They spoke another language and among them were
many children who were like the foreigners in physical
appearance.
Vimos con asombro que ya no £ramos los mismos: habldba-
mos otra lengua y entre nosotros habla caras que pare-
clan miniaturas de los amos. Sin embargo ... nadie
penso en dar muerte a los hijos de los amos ni prohibir
su idioma. A1 ver como se juntaban dos rlos, uno de
agua clara y otro de agua oscura, pens£ que 6 so £ramos
nosotros: agua de dos r l o s .53
52
Henry B. Ihrkes, A History of Mexico (Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1950), pp. 54-56.
53
Baregrinos inm6viles. p. 180.
242
The major theme of the novel is expressed in the
words of the old Indian, Marcos. The two cultures have
produced a new kind of race with the values and character
istics of both cultures. The fusion of the two cultures
has produced the present-day Mexican. Lopez y Fuentes has
depicted life in what may be considered a typical Mexican
town to illustrate how the customs and beliefs of its
people are derived from both cultures. The author also
illustrates the fact that, despite the praise of anthro
pologists, historians, and other intellectuals for the
ancient Mexican civilizations and their achievements, there
is an ambivalence of feelings among the present-day Mexican
with regard to the relative worth of the indigenous and the
Hispanic cultures. The characters in the novel appear to
indicate that Lopez y Fuentes believed that Mexicans gener
ally tended to accept the idea that the Europeans were the
enlightened civilizing force in Mexico's history while the
Indians represented a reactionary force submerged in
superstition and ignorance which tended to hold back
progress.
There are Mexican intellectuals who have made great
efforts to discredit Spain's contribution to Mexican
243
culture. Such is the case of Eulalia Guzman, the anthro
pologist, who devoted such great efforts to prove that
Cortes was a physically repulsive specimen and to find evi
dence of Cuauhtemoc*s greatness.^ Diego de Rivera has
also depicted Cortes as a deformed and degenerate indi
vidual. Nevertheless, it appears that Lopez y Fuentes was
basically correct in his analysis of the Mexican character.
Mexico*s history indicates that in every period of its
history, the country has tended to adopt European values
and mores, which the Mexicans consider more desirable, and
to reject the indigenous, no matter how deeply rooted these
may be in the people*s psyche.
■^Simpson, op. cit.. pp. 23-24.
CHAPTER IX
INDIAN ISM IN OTHER WORKS OF LOPEZ Y FUENTES
Lopez y Fuentes again treats the malinchismo theme
in Huasteca. his novel about the exploitation of Mexican
petroleum by foreign investors. The novel narrates the
vicissitudes in the lives of a provincial brother and
sister after oil is found on their property. After the
father dies leaving them to collect oil royalties, the two
prefer to live in New Orleans. The brother, Guillermo,
confides in his old friend, the narrator, after having a
drink: "Es 'whisky* del bueno, traldo por ml desde Nueva
Orleans, en mi Ultimo viaje. jAquello si es ciudad! iQue
pals tan grande! La tierra del dinero.Guillermo later
states that he plans to buy a mansion either in Los Angeles
or Florida. He does not mention Mexico City.
■^Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Huasteca (Mexico:
Ed. Botas, 1939), p. 166.
244
245
The sister, Micaela, not only prefers to live out
side her country but prefers to marry a foreigner of un
certain nationality. Of her husband she says: "iNi conoces
2
a mi marido? iEs encantador! Y siquiera no es mexicano."
Lopez y Fuentes previously alludes to this malinchismo in
Los peregrinos inmoviles. He states that for many for
eigners the practice of finding a Mexican wife with a for
tune has been most profitable.
With respect to the United States, Micaela has the
following opinion: "iCu£ndo como los Estados Unidos! ^Tu
no conoces Nueva Orleans? iHas perdido la mitad de la
vida!"^
Huasteca
The novel, Huasteca. is the vehicle by which L6pez
y Fuentes, who loved Mexico dearly, condemns the exploita
tion of Mexican natural resources by foreign investors.
In this novel, Lopez y Fuentes abandoned his
usually restrained tone to describe in a vehement style the
unscrupulous means by which the foreign oil companies
2lbid.. p. 178. ^Ibid.
246
acquired lands from those who felt close to the land and
refused to sell or lease it.
Casos dificiles fueron aquellos en que uno o varios
conduenos ... se negaban a vender, encarinados con la
tierra que fu£ de sus padres o bien porque las canti-
dades ofrecidas no declan nada a sus oldos. ...
Los reacios sufrieron en mil ocasiones los efectos
de su apego a la tierra, la bendita tierra. ... jCucin-
tos fueron sacrificados en las emboscadas o en la riha
con apariencia de ocasional!
En los juzgados penales las querellas eran siempre
... por el mismo tenor: que el marido regresaba de la
plaza y, desde el monte, le hicieron fuego, matAndolo.
Lopez y Fuentes relates that these complaints were closed
with a notation "investlguese." This meant that the com
plaint would be forgotten. A wife would complain to the
authorities that her husband had been taken by force and
fed to the sharks by the crew of an oil company ship. A
mother might relate the case of a son who died slowly after
being prescribed a certain medicine by an unscrupulous
doctor in the pay of the oil companies. Moreover, the
authorities were also, in most cases, bribed by the oil
firms.
Esos fueron los sonados casos de litigio, de grandes
ofertas de dinero, de amenazas y de crimenes: tierras
4Ibid.. pp. 78-79.
247
L . J L w J - c : u u u u »JUil a u t n a a U JL tlucio u c s a . i i g j . c .
Lopez y Fuentes, as a patriot, deplored the ex
ploitation of his country's resources by foreigners. He
considered the foreign investor as the new colonizer. Just
as the Aztecs had been defeated and colonized by the Span
iards, Mexico was now being colonized economically by the
foreign investor.
En lo econ6mico, prolongacion de la coIonia. Rais
propicio a las nuevas conquistas: Colonia de algunos
extranjeros, por su riqueza agricola. Colonia de otros
extranjeros, por su mineria. Colonia por su sistema
ferroviario. Entonces acababa de poner el pie en el
pais el colonizador petrolero.^
to the Diaz period. Toward the end of the novel, Lopez y
Fuentes praises the oil expropriations by the government of
of fact, the author is "carried away" by his nationalistic
fervor, and his novel at times becomes more propaganda than
art.
Indianist theme in Huasteca. He alludes to Aztec mythology
In the above quotation Lopez y Fuentes is referring
Lazaro CArdenas in fervently patriotic terms. As a matter
Lopez y Fuentes did not altogether depart from the
5
Ibid., p. 80.
6
Ibid.. p. 55.
\
248
when one of his characters relates a beautiful legend of
the Huasteca region:
Dijo que, hace algunos anos— se rectified para decir
que hace muchos siglos--aquella tierra estuvo habitada
por unos gigantes, tan grandes, que bien podlan cortar
con las manos los renuevos de las ultimas ramas de los
cedros mds altos, aquellos cedros que fueron los abue-
los de los cedros de ahora. Y eran tan fuertes que,
cuando necesitaban agua, coglan las crestas de los
montes y, con las grandes rocas lanzadas a la altura,
desfondaban las nubes, provocando asi los aguaceros.'
The narrator of the legend relates that the giants grew
more arrogant when they discovered fire. They were de
lighted with their discovery. In their joy, they now blas
phemed the deity they had previously loved and revered
above all deities, the sun. The giants felt that they were
now the equal of gods. If the sun wanted to, it could
remain hidden behind a sea of clouds. They could now pro
duce their own suns. The sun, angered at such arrogance,
decided to punish the giants. For several days the earth
became covered with a thick blanket of clouds. The sun
also had snow, ice and hail descend upon the earth. At
night the sky would be clear and the moon would appear like
"un gran timpano de frialdad arrimado al corazon de los
7Ibid.. p. 67.
249
g
hombres." The giants were able to protect themselves from
the storms by staying close to the mountain ranges. Never
theless, after not seeing the sun for several months, their
arrogance decreased. Then they had an idea! They would
light up the moon! They prepared projectiles with which
to launch balls of fire toward the moon. The sun began to
fear that the giants would achieve their objective and now
unleashed the final storm: the winds view furiously, the
seas roared, the rivers overflowed and the earth opened in
bottomless abysms. Finally a tremendous flash of lightning
lit up the earth and the giants were fulminated and cast
into the abysms which then closed like giant tombs. The
blood of the charred giants was the petroleum now so fer-
9
vently sought!
The Aztecs believed that the world and man had been
created several times and that each creation was followed
by a cataclysm that destroyed mankind.
The first epoch of the world began in this way:
The nocturnal Tezcatlipoca . . . was the first to
become a sun, and with him began the first era of the
world. The first men created by the gods were giants;
they neither sowed grain nor tilled the soil, but lived
^Ibid., p. 68.
g
Ibid.. pp. 67-69.
250
by eating acorns and other fruits and wild roots.
Tezcatlipoca was also the constellation of Ursa Major.
. . . While he was ruling the world as the sun, his
enemy, Quetzalcoatl, struck him a blow with his staff.
Tezcatlipoca fell into the water, changing into a
jaguar. He devoured the giants, and the earth was
depopulated and the universe was without a sun. . . .
Then Quetzalc6atl became the sun, until the jaguar
struck him down with a blow of his paw. Then a great
wind arose and all the trees were uprooted, and the
greater part of mankind perished. ®
There are several variations to the Aztec myths
which relate the creation and destruction of the world.
The legend told in the novel evidently has its origin in
these myths as all of them tell of the earth*s being popu
lated by giants who were destroyed either by a storm or by
jaguars. However, DurAn also reports that a group of
11
giants, the Quiname, inhabited the region of Cholula.
These legendary giants have always fascinated a great many
people in Mexico.
. . . the legends of the "Giants’ * is a favorite one in
many parts of Mexico, as gigantic bones of Pleistocene-
period animals such as the mammoth, Bison antiquus,
Alfonso Caso, The Aztecs: People of the Sun.
Tr. by Lowell Dunham (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Okla
homa Press, 1958), pp. 14-15.
11
Fray Diego de Durdn, The Aztecs. Tr. from the
Spanish by Doris Heyden and Fernando Horcasitas (New York:
Orion Press, 1964), p. 11.
251
and a type of elephant have been found from prehistoric
days up to the present and were formerly mistaken for
human remains.
By introducing this legend into the narration,
Lopez y Fuentes has lent a poetic quality to an otherwise
rather prosaic work and at the same time continued to give
the novel an Xndianist quality, characteristic of his
previous works.
Each of his novels has dealt with some myth, legend,
religious belief, custom or tradition of the Aztecs and
other Mexican Indian groups.
Arrieros
Arrieros is a novel about pre-Revolutionary rural
Mexico. Lopez y Fuentes created a memorable character, "el
Refranero," for this work. In the course of the narrative,
"el Refranero," a delightful story-teller and wit, uses
dozens of Mexican sayings--one to cover each situation.
The novel has no conventional plot, but the reader is con
stantly amused by "el Refranero*s" sayings and delighted by
Lopez y Fuentes* magnificent description of the Huasteca
12
Ibid.., Notes, p. 332.
252
region. The book also depicts faithfully and accurately
the customs and traditions of the rural Mexico that Lopez
y Fuentes loved so much.
Among the Aztecs there existed a class of profes
sional carriers called tamemes. Indian merchants, known as
pochtecas. with their trains of carriers roamed from Sina-
13
loa to Nicaragua. The pochtecas dealt in luxury goods
xtfhich they would acquire at different markets. They then
assembled their carriers, who were capable of carrying
sixty pounds on their backs, and the caravan would set
off. Often the caravans would be gone for as long as two
14
years.
When the Spaniards arrived, they employed great
numbers of tamemes. Cortes had eight thousand Tlaxcalan
tamemes bring, in pieces, the brigantines which were used
to destroy Aztec naval power on lake Texcoco. Afterwards
the Spaniards continued to employ these human carriers to
carry supplies as they set out for new lands to conquer.
13
Lesley Byrd Simpson, Many Mexicos (Fourth edi
tion; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967),
p. 160.
14
Victor W. von Hagen, The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of
the Americas (Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1961),
pp. 174-175.
253
The tamemes were also employed in the mines.
After the missionaries arrived, they protested the
"use of God*s creatures as beasts of burden."
15
As a
result, "the use of tamemes was by turns prohibited,
allowed, regulated, and the question was finally abandoned,
as the introduction of pack animals solved the worst
abuses.
seventeenth century described these carriers as follows:
A petaca or leathern trunk, and a chest of above a
hundred-weight, they will make those wretches to carry
on their backs a whole day . . . which they do by tying
the chest on each side with ropes, having a broad
leather in the middle, which they cross over the fore
part of their heads, or over their forehead, hanging
thus the weight upon their heads and brows. ^
human carriers, even in the capital, carrying huge loads
with the leather strap across their forehead. They now
compete with pack animals and motor trucks, of course.
Lopez y Fuentes, who deals with the mule packs in Arrieros.
introduces a scene in which the Indian carriers are de
scribed :
Simpson reports that Thomas Gage in the early
Everyone who has traveled in Mexico has seen these
15
Simpson, op. cit.. p. 160.
16
Ibid.. p. 161.
254
En un callejon ... unos seis otomles fueron obli-
gados por el hatajo a pegarse de espaldas al talud,
amenazados de brutales empellones. El estorbo princi
pal para esos hombres lo constituian sus propias
cargas.
... Cada uno de aquellas bestias de carga, pujando como
las otras que bajaban, anticipo su saludo.^°
Lopez y Puentes describes the physical appearance and the
clothing of the Indians. He then describes the leather
band, known as mecapal. which they wear to support the
weight of the load carried.
A la mitad de la cabeza, de oreja a oreja, el meca
pal, que a la postre suprime el pelo y deja una hondo-
nada en el cr£neo; al pecho, otro mecapal, el que labra
llagas en los hombros y en las claviculas; deteniendo
carga y cargador, el bordon, eso que arroja el rlo
cuando se ha ahogado un otomi. °
Lopez y Fuentes relates the manner in which these
Otoml carriers do their trading. They carry the products
of their own artisans which they either sell or barter for
the staples, such as salt, which they are unable to produce
themselves. If they are in the tropical lowlands, they
will then carry fruits to the highlands. At any rate, they
will not travel without a load. They are so accustomed to
■^Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Arrieros (Mexico:
Ed. Botas, 1937), p. 66.
^ Ibid.. p. 67.
255
this work, that the author describes one of them carrying
a heavy stone on his back:
Comprendimos: era de los que, cuando no compran mercan-
c£a en la huasteca, por costumbre, para tener un con-
trapeso y para poder caminar mejor, ponen en el huacal
aquello que mejor puede equivaler a la carga habitual.
Dicen que asi asientan mejor el paso. 0
The force of habit makes people perform irrational acts.
Lopez y Fuentes illustrates that people are so accustomed
to abusing the Indian that they do not even question the
rationality of their acts:
En sentido contrario, un policia ... llevaba,
arrastr^ndolo casi, a un indxgena que se habia emborra-
chado. Lo conducla a la c£rcel, a pesar de que su
embriaguez era pacxfica, para que al dia siguiente, en
union de los denies borrachos que cayeran, barriera la
plaza.
When someone asks the policeman why he does not
arrest another drunk, he replies:
— IHombre, que no ve que es del pueblo y, ademds, que
es persona decente?
— Fero est& borracho ...
El policia se rasc6 una oreja sin saber que res
ponder, y siguio hacia la carcel, arrastrando al
indio. 2
Lopez y Fuentes throughout his novels describes
various phases of Indian life. It is usually apparent that
20
Ibid.. p.*68.
22Ibid.. p. 108.
21Ibid.. p. 107.
256
these practices or customs have their origin in the civili
zation of the ancient Aztecs. In Huasteca and Arrieros.
only an Indian legend and an occupation, traceable to the
Aztecs, are recounted. The rest of L6 pez y Puentes' novel-
istic production, however, describes in considerable detail
many of the Indian arts and crafts, superstitions, reli
gious practices, marriage and birth practices as well as
most experiences of the Aztecs in commerce, war, agricul
ture and other endeavors which cover the entire history of
the Mexican Indian. In addition, throughout Lopez y
Fuentes* novels, one finds allusions to the Indian's mis
fortunes resulting from the conquest of Mexico by the
Spaniards. His works record much of the history of Mexico's
Indians in novelistic form.
La siringa de crista1
Lopez y Fuentes also used an Indianist theme in his
epic poem, "La raza del sol." In the poem Lopez y Fuentes
relates Columbus' dream of finding new horizons. Prior to
describing this marvelous and unknown land, the poet has
told of the wonder which struck Columbus and his men at the
sight of it:
257
era la tierra prodiga en sortilegios, era
una virgen morena, una virgen hermana
del sol (ojos obscuros y undosa cabellera)
dormida entre los mares: la tierra americana.
Lopez y Fuentes then relates the reaction of the Mexicans
to the arrival of the Spaniards. Legend relates that when
Quetzalcoatl was forced to flee from Tula to his mythical
o /
home in the east, he vowed that he would return. His
torians have reported that Moctezuma believed that the
arrival of the Spaniards meant Quetzalc6atl's return.
Moctezuma, believing the Spaniards to be emissaries of
Quetzalcoatl, received them with magnificent gifts. This
action on the part of Moctezuma II has been considered as
a contributing factor to the eventual downfall of Tenoch-
^ • . 25
t it lan.
recordaron las razas las viejas profecxas „
de la extrana serpiente con plumas de colores.
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, "La raza del sol," in
La siringa de cristal (Mexico: n.p., 1914), p. 73.
24
Caso, The Aztecs: People of the Sun, p. 25.
25
Henry B. Rarkes, A History of Mexico (Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1950), pp. 31-44.
26
la siringa de cristal. p. 73.
258
Uncertain as to whether or not the Spaniards were
gods, the Indians were hesitant about attacking them.
y en la mano aborigen oculta en la montana,
por ir contra los dioses, vacilaba el broquel. '
And eventually the Aztecs and Incas fell to the
Spaniards:
Los vdstagos del sol, los que gallardamente
cazaban en las selvas los ariscos jaguares,
los que olimpicamente mostraban en la frente
un resplandor de plumas; los que alzaban altares
y moles portentosos a un dios omnipotente;
los nativos del Ande, los del puno tremendo,
los que alzando las manos de adem£n estupendo
daban en sus ofrendas corazones en ramos;
los hijos de la America, los v£stagos del sol,
fuertes como leopardos y £giles como gamos,
quedaron bajo el casco del caballo espanol. °
The poet then tells of the birth of a new race as
the result of the fusion of two cultures:
surgio una raza nueva de inquietud matutina,
una raza sonora de claros resplandores
que reune en sus venas sangre de Ilhuicamina
y sangre aventurera de los conquistadores ^g
2 7 Ibid,., p. 74.
29
Ibid.. p. 77.
28Ibid.., pp. 76-77.
259
This poem, written when Lopez y Fuentes was seven
teen, illustrates how deeply imbued he was with the history
and legends of his country since his early youth.
Cartas de ninos
Probably in no other work did Lopez y Fuentes so
openly pour out his love for Mexico*s history and tradi
tions than in the ingenuous Cartas de ninos. written to be
used as a reader in Mexican elementary schools. In it he
writes of Mexico*s history with great patriotic fervor.
Mexico, nuestra I&tria, es de los paises de America
que tiene m£s tradicion, pues al llegar los conquista-
dores ya hallaron un pueblo con nacionalidad, la que
nos dei6 como el m&s gallardo de los sxmbolos a Cuauh
temoc.^®
"Carta Num. 26" is an ode to Cuauhtemoc:
... Nos queda como slmbolo la figura de Cuauhtemoc,
quien consagro todos sus esfuerzos a rechazar la
conquista, hasta caer prisionero de Cortes. El ad
mirable caudillo, vlctima de la codicia, sufrio el
tormento del fuego en los pies, sin que lograran sus
victimarios arrancarle el secreto de sus tesoros.
En 1524, aho en que Cortes iba a una expedicion hacia
el sur, nuestro heroe perdi6 la vida al ser colgado
O A
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, Cartas de ninos (Fourth
edition; Mexico: Ed. Botas, 1947), p. 37.
260
de los pies pgr orden de aqu£l que temla un movimiento
restaurador.
The author then records in verse the famous deeds
of the Aztec emperor in a poem entitled "Tripticio a Cuauh
temoc." The first part is entitled "Prisionero" and
relates the encounter of Cuauhtemoc and Cortes.
Cortes miraba impAvido al noble cautivo,
y satisfecho porque, de conservarlo vivo,
vivo estaba el secreto del tesoro real.
Baro el Emperador con m£mica de hiel,
le dice a su enemigo: Toma, pues, el punal
que cuelga de tu cinto y mAtame con
The second part of the poem relates Alvarado's torture of
Cuauhtemoc in an effort to make him reveal the secret of
the treasure.
Y vino la leyenda— que crea bellas cosas--
adunando tormentos y tersuras de rosas ...
Fantasia o verdad, el hombre no produjo
la confesion querida que sonara a metal,
y tal fue su silencio, que ejerce aun influio
en el hondo silencio de una raza espectral.’^
The third part narrates the events surrounding the
Spaniards' killing of Cuauhtemoc, who had been forced to
31Ibid.. p. 95. 32Ibid.. p. 96.
261
accompany them on their expedition south:
Tambiln llevaban algo— motivo de censuras—
que infundla recelos de peligros salvajes:
era el superviviente de sus crueles torturas,
era el Eknperador: xdolo entre boscajes.
Urdio la desconfianza el ultimo tormento,
meci^ndose Cuauhtemoc en una rama al viento.
iOh, padre de una raza, si tus huesos rebotan
contra la centenaria ceiba de Izancanac,
tus hijos todavia trotan, trotan y trotan 3 4
con los pies calcinados y en el cuello el dogal ... !
In his poetry, Lopez y Fuentes, who is credited by
Manuel Radro Gonzdlez with being the initiator of the Mexi-
35
can indigenist novel of social protest, was somewhat
reminiscent of the poets of the Romantic period. The poems
included here might have been written by Rodriguez Galvan,
Beon Contreras, Roa Barcenas or any of the poets who glori
fied Cuauhtemoc and the ancient Indian civilizations and
idealized them in the Romantic fashion.
Although he gained recognition for his novels
rather than for his poetry, Lopez y Fuentes always had the
heart of a poet and this was seen as much in his prose as
3 4 Ibid.. p. 97.
35
Manuel Bedro Gonzalez, Travectoria de la novela
en Mexico (First edition; Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1951),
p. 259.
262
in his poems. One of his youthful companions, Rodrigo
Torres Hernandez, paid tribute to his poetic spirit in the
sonnet entitled "Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes."
Vienes de los tramontos sonrosados y lilas
vienes de los remansos lunares, y en tus versos,
impolutos y finos, hay bandadas tranquilas
de ilusiones que fingen blancos lirios dispersos.
Luce el claro torrente de la gracia que estilas,
albos rizos de risas, cristalinos y tersos,
que ser£n un fracaso para cenos adversos
y apuntar de alboradas a ortodoxas pupilas.
Sonador y viandante de los nuevos caminos,
donde agitas las frondas y alborotas los trinos,
y undulada a los vientos sueltas limpia cancion;
salve a ti,
porque pulsas
y has abierto
36 /
Rodrigo Torres Hernandez, "Gregorio Lopez y
Fuentes," in La siringa de cristal. pp. 3-4.
por tus cantos que simulan renuevos,
la lira de los lxricos nuevos,
a la vida todo tu coraz6n. °
CHAPTER X
CONCLUSION
The discovery and conquest of America, and the
descriptions of the land and its inhabitants by the various
chroniclers, stirred the imagination of European humanists.
The Indian became an important figure in the literature of
the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries both in
Europe and in America.
The Indian was a literary personage in che croni-
cas. in epic poems, the theater and in the works of his
torians. The chronicles exercised the most influence on
world thought. Through them, America and its inhabitants
became known in Europe, giving rise to speculative theories
about the relationship between the American Indian and the
classical "golden age." The chroniclers saw the Indian
through European eyes. Seldom was he depicted truly objec
tively and realistically by the chroniclers.
The chronicles were also important as sources and
inspiration for a great many Romantic literary works based
263
264
on the conquest of Mexico and the exploits of legendary
warriors such as Xicotencatl and Cuauhtemoc.
The War of Independence and the desire to be free
of Spanish domination, culturally as well as politically,
resulted in an intensified interest in Mexico's Indian
past. However, poets of the period of Independence as well
as the Romantic poets ifho followed, were content to praise
the ancient indigenous civilizations and their political
and military leaders. They ignored the Indian's miserable
existence in the nineteenth century.
It was only at the beginning of the twentieth cen
tury that the Indian emerged as a convincing and realistic
personage. Mariano Azuela in Mala verba, which exposed
many of the evils of the "hacienda system," presented the
Indian as a central figure.
The novel of the Revolution had Indians and mesti
zos, "los de abajo," as protagonists. The Indian in pre-
Revolutionary Mexican literature was an idealized, somewhat
exotic figure. Following the Revolution, the Indian was
depicted realistically with all his true characteristics,
good and bad.
The best-known novelists of the Revolution,
265
Mariano Azuela, Martin Luis GuzmAn, JosA RubAn Romero and
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, concerned themselves with the
Indian in varying degrees. These novelists depicted the
Indian as a soldier and active participant in the Revolu
tion and as a recipient of some of its benefits, such as
the agrarian reform and the rural educational program.
The novel of the Revolution abandoned traditional
literary themes copied from European literature to estab
lish a truly Mexican novel which found its inspiration in
the land, customs and traditions of Mexico. The Indian was
no longer the legendary warrior of ancient Mexico but a
living and real person--the victim of many centuries of
exploitation and betrayal by whites and mestizos.
The novelists of the Revolution portrayed the
failure of the Revolutionary governments to reward the
Indian for his tremendous contribution to the Revolutionary
movement. These authors expressed their disillusionment
with the implementation of the Revolutionary programs.
They illustrated dramatically the many factors which led to
the failure of the Revolution to achieve its objective of
incorporating the Indian into Mexican society.
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes concerned himself with the
Indian to a much greater degree than other novelists of
the Revolution. He, too, lamented the failure of Revolu
tionary governments to elevate the Indian*s social and
economic status. He, however, went beyond a portrayal of
the Indian's tragic experiences immediately before and
after the Revolution. In his novels he attempted to pre
sent an entire panorama of the Indian's history, his phi
losophy and religious beliefs as well as a description of
his community and home life. The mentality of the Indian,
a product of his history, traditions and religion, is
revealed in Lopez y Fuentes' novels as he describes their
occupational habits, their legends, forms of worship, and
their marriage and birth practices. Practically every
phase of Indian life, from an account of the vestiges of
idolatry and belief in witchcraft to a description of the
often squalid, miserable and unsanitary living conditions
of the Indian, is described in his novels. The various
aspects of Indian life described in his novels, together,
present a profound study of the Mexican Indian.
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes was a distinguished edu
cator, journalist and poet. He achieved literary recogni
tion, however, principally as a novelist. His novel, El
indio. won the Mexican National Prize for Literature
267
in 1935. English and German translations of the novel
earned international recognition for him. This work also
introduced in Mexico the modem indigenista novel which
dramatizes the injustices committed against the Indian in
an effort to achieve greater social justice for him.
Although Indian characters appear in practically
all of his novels, Lopez y Fuentes' indigenist novels are
El indio, Los peregrinos inmoviles and Tierra. Tierra pre-
sents the history of the Revolution of 1910 and the Agrar
ian Revolt led by Zapata. The novel is a tribute to the
agrarian leader who fought for the return of communal lands
to the Indians, a fight which he continued until he was
assassinated.
The question of agrarian reform, following the
Revolution, appears in El indio and in Milpa. potrero v
monte. In El indio. Lopez y Fuentes illustrates the way in
which the Indians became pawns in the politicians' hands.
They simply exchanged one master, the hacendado for another,
the politician.
In Milpa. potrero v monte. Lopez y Fuentes exhibits
his disenchantment with the direction which agrarian reform
had taken. He shares this disillusionment with other
268
novelists of the Revolution such as Mariano Azuela and
Mauricio Magdaleno. In their novels, Azuela and Magdaleno
illustrate dramatically the betrayal of the Indian by the
agrarian leaders. Lopez y Fuentes, in less dramatic
fashion, also points out the failure of the Revolutionary
governments to provide a better life for the peon, whether
Indian or mestizo.
Lopez y Fuentes in El indio and in the short story
"Quetzalcoatl," depicts faithfully the missionary spirit,
on the part of educators, that pervaded Mexico in the twen
ties, thirties and early forties. He also cites several
factors which worked against the redemption of the Indian
through education: racism, economic exploitation and oppor
tunism, political chicanery and superstition.
El indio is a synthesis of Mexican history as shown
in events which occur in a remote Indian village. The con
quest, colonial period and the Revolution of 1910 are the
historical periods presented allegorically.
One sees a record of the Mexican Indian's experi
ences in El indio. In the economic sphere, the author
describes the Indian*s skill in weaving and his skill as a
farmer, hunter and fisherman. The Indian's skill in these
269
occupations can be traced back to pre-Hispanic times.
There are allusions to the Indian's former prowess as a
warrior and his acumen as a merchant. The governmental and
judicial aspect of Indian life is found in the scenes de
picting the decision-making and administrative body, a
group of the experienced old men of the village, administer
ing justice and determining the course of action for the
villagers to take.
Lopez y Fuentes alludes to the traditional religious
festival in a chapter titled "Musica, danza y alcohol," in
which he describes vividly "el volador." Superstition and
witchcraft are discussed in the chapters which narrate the
practices of the bruios. Fetishism and idolatry, vestiges
of Aztec religious beliefs, and forms of worship which go
back to pre-Colonial times, are also described.
The Indians' community life and home life are
examined in El indio and in Los peregrines inm6viles. Mar
riage practices, birth practices and the sharing of food in
communal fashion are described, giving the reader an inti
mate view of the Indian's daily life.
In all of his novels Lopez y Fuentes describes each
custom, tradition, practice or legend faithfully and accu
rately. His descriptions correspond closely to what
2 70
historians, sociologists, anthropologists, educators, and
others have written about the Mexican Indian.
In Los peregrinos inm6viles. Lopez y Fuentes has
illustrated the manner in which the Hispanic and indigenous
cultures fused to produce a new race, the present-day Mexi
can. In spite of the praise lavished on the accomplish
ments of the ancient indigenous civilizations, Mexico*s
history indicates, according to Lopez y Fuentes, that in
every historical period, the country has adopted European
values and mores and has rejected the indigenous ones, no
matter how deeply rooted these may be in the people*s
psyche.
In comparison with other writers of the Revolution
such as Azuela and Magdaleno, or with other indigenista
novelists such as Ciro Alegrxa and Jorge Icaza, Lopez y
Fuentes was relatively restrained in his social protest.
His more subtle social criticism enabled him to produce
works of high artistic merit, and he cannot be accused of
creating propaganda instead of literature. Nevertheless,
Lopez y Fuentes* protests against social and economic in
justices are as vigorous and sincere as those of other
socially-conscious writers.
271
The principal difference between Lopez y Fuentes*
novels of social protest and those of the aforementioned
writers is one of style and emphasis. Lopez y Fuentes
dealt with a subtle type of symbolism and employed histori
cal allegory in his novels, namely, in El indio and Los
peregrinos inmoviles. These novels, describing the in
justices committed against the Indian, are not written in
a loud tone of protest. The author’s compassion for the
suffering Indian and his condemnation of social injustice,
none the less, are evident and genuine throughout his work.
Lopez y Fuentes started his literary career as a
poet and remained essentially a poet throughout his life.
His prose, which at times reaches poetic heights of great
beauty, reflects his poetic bent.
This study reveals three principal characteristics
of Lopez y Fuentes' novels with respect to the Mexican
Indian. First, that Lopez y Fuentes delved into the
Indian's history and psychology to a far greater degree
than any other novelist of the Mexican Revolution. This
has been demonstrated by an analysis of his novels in which
he deals with the Indian problem. His indigenist novels
present the entire history of the Indian in Mexico from
pre-Hispanic times up to recent years.
272
Second, the accuracy and authenticity of Lopez y
Fuentes* description of Indian life cannot be questioned.
This has been shown by comparisons made between Lopez y
Fuentes* account of the Indian's experiences and that of
qualified observers in the fields of anthropology, educa
tion, history and sociology.
Finally, it has been shown that Lopez y Fuentes was
as outraged at social injustice, as other writers of social
protest, but he did not describe social abuses in as dra
matic or as vehement a form. Compared with the novels of
Azuela and Magdaleno, for example, we find the same condem
nations of the injustices committed against the Indian by
clerics, hacendados. politicians of the Revolutionary
governments, and society in general. Lopez' social pro
test, however, was subordinate to his art, and therefore he
employed a more subtle approach than other writers.
Lopez y Fuentes was a patriot. His love for Mexico
is evidenced by his detailed, frequently poetic description
of its countryside, its traditions, its people and history
as well as by his admiration for many of its past leaders.
We have seen, for example, that he paid particular tribute
to Zapata in the novel, Tierra. and to Cuauhtemoc in the
poem, "Triptico a Cuauhtemoc."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Lopez y Fuentes, Gregorio. Acomodaticio. Mexico: Edicio-
nes Botas, 1943.
•
•
1931.
•
Arrieros. Mexico: Ediciones Botas. 1937.
Campamento. First ed. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.
Cartas de ninos: El camoo v la ciudad. Fourth
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• Cuentos campesinos de Mexico. Mexico: Editorial
Cima, 1940.
• El indio. Second ed. Mexico: Ediciones Botas,
1937.
• Entresuelo. Mexico: Ediciones Botas. 1948.
• Huasteca. Mexico: Ediciones Botas. 1939.
• La sirinea de cristal. Mexico: n.p.. 1914.
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Botas, 1944.
• ;Mi general! Mexico: Ediciones Botas. 1934.
• Miloa, potrero y monte. Mexico: Ediciones
Botas, 1951.
• Tierra. Mexico: Ediciones Mexico. 1933.
274
275
List of Works Consulted
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Alegria, Ciro. El mundo es ancho v aieno. New York:
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Altamirano, Ignacio Manuel. El Zarco. Mexico: Espasa-
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________. Navidad en las montanas. Mexico: Colecci6n
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Ancona, Eligio. Los mArtires del AnAhuac. in La novela del
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Askinasy, Siegfried. Mexico indigena. Mexico: Imprenta
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Azuela, Mariano. Los de abaio. Sixth ed. Mexico: Fondo
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Creator Deanda, Joseph (author)

Core Title The Indian In The Works Of Gregorio Lopez Y Fuentes

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Spanish

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Literature, Latin American,Literature, Modern,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Curtis, Robert E. (committee chair), McMahon, Dorothy Elizabeth (committee member), Servin, Manuel P. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-386526

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