The Rebellion of the Hanged

This is a gripping story of mistreatment of Indians in Mexico just prior to the Revolution of 1910. The principal character is Candido, a poor Indian whose debts lead him to become a contact laborer cutting wood in the jungles of Southern Mexico. Life in these labor camps is cruel and oppressive, and one has little chance of escaping. The Anglo-Mexicans that run the plantation (Don Felix, Don Severo, Don Acacio) demand an impossible level of work from their Indian laborers; those that fail are beaten or hanged by their wrists as punishment. Having endured their employers' unfathomable cruelty, an unintended rebellion springs up when the opportunity arises. The workers realize that in the corrupt Mexican society such a rebellion is unlikely to succeed, but they feel a level of freedom just in trying. This is the fifth and perhaps best of the jungle books by Chicago-born author B. Traven (1890-1969). Traven had great sympathy for the oppressed Indians, leftist views, and a very engaging style. Readers should also see Traven's other novels about Mexico and oppression, the most famous of which is TRESURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE.

In Traven's fifth jungle book, The Rebellion of the Hanged, the tensions and oppression finally build up to the breaking point. We have many characters in this fifth book that were introduced to us in the earlier books. Andreas, the oxen driver from The Carretta, longs to escape from the mahogony plantation and return to his young wife. Celso, the heroic Indian man of action, again plays a central role as he did in March to the Monteria. Candido, the dirt farmer, loses his wife Marcelina to appendecitis because the drunken doctor refuses to operate without outlandish payment. Candido, his two sons and his younger sister Modesta, go to the plantation to pay back the price of Marcelina's medical and funeral expenses. Don Gabriel is back, tricking young Indian men to sell themselves into debt slavery from which there is little chance of escape. The three money hungry sadistic plantation owners, Don Felix, Don Severo, and Don Acacio are back with a vengence. Their cruelty to the Indians is hard to imagine. Traven however is very wise in that he brings into this situation three components of successful revolution: the chance event that signals vulnerability of the oppressors, the thinker who brings reflective consciousness to the oppressed so that they begin to understand their conditions, and the catalyst event that drives the revolutionaries forward. The chance event that signals vulnerability is when Don Acacio unjustly tries to beat and hang two Indian men for a transgression they did not commit. He lets down his guard and the two men fight back, blinding Don Acacio. A new group of characters, revolutionists on the run, join the plantation work crews to hide. One of them, Martin Trinidad, raises the consciousness of Celso, the natural leader of the debt slaves. Finally, Don Felix's cruel cutting off of the ears of Candido's young child, stimulates his aunt Modesta to fight back which becomes a snowball of death for the plantation owners and their foremen. This is the fifth novel in the series. In the first novel, Government, we see the corruption at all levels of society and government in Mexico that leads to the suppression of the native Mexican Indians. In the other three novels we are introduced to the characters Andreas, Celso, and learn the terrible business of the jungle mahogony production. Finally in this fifth novel, the tide is turned and the revolution begins. The novel ends as the revolutionists emerge from the jungles and begin to march across the corrupt fincas, encouraging the peons to rebel.

this book started off intense and full of political emotion and it never backed down. if you would like a real and emotional story of who workers are, the opression they face, and the breaking point for them, then i suggest this book. i remember being outraged, shocked, disgusted throughout the book.....and then the ending...well it's full of sweet vengenace. real people, real life, real solutions....that's what this book is about.