Point of View

The Underdogs is told in a third-person limited perspective. The "limited" here is quite limited; not only is the reader confined to (with very few exceptions) Demetrio's army and its immediate concerns, but rarely is the reader privy to the thoughts and feelings of characters. Dialogue is instead given the large responsibility to relay thoughts and feelings; as a result, dialogue is many times obvious and "on-the-nose," meaning characters speak exactly what they think and feel. On the other hand, dialogue can also serve as the author's "soap box," an opportunity to present thematic material and musings on the nature of the revolution that would otherwise be difficult to insert naturally into the unfolding of events. This kind of dialogue is relegated to Luis and to a lesser degree Solis and Valderrama.

The choice of this limited perspective is appropriate to the very nature of Demetrio...