Under the Volcano

Yvonne is largely defined in relation to the men in her life. She is the Consul’s ex-wife, Jacques’s former lover, and possibly Hugh’s love interest. She is a caring individual who is ready to sacrifice herself to lift up the men she loves. This commitment draws her back to Mexico, where she attempts to save the Consul. It is not the first time, however, that she has undertaken such an endeavor, having worked as an actress to financially support her delusional father. There are many similarities between the Consul and her father, and she relates to them in similar self-sacrificing ways. Neither man cares approves of what she does to support them or recognizes the work she puts in to ensure that they survive. She sees herself as a supporting character in her relationship with the Consul, as is suggested at the end of Chapter 9 when she, Hugh, and the Consul walk into the Salón Ofélia, passing two men on their way out:

Bent double, groaning with the weight, an old lame Indian was carrying on his back […] another poor Indian […] He carried the older man and his crutches, trembling in every limb under this weight of the past, he carried both their burdens (291).

Yvonne, like the old man, attempts to carry the Consul’s burdens as well as her own, and in this moment she sees her possible future if she fails.

Her commitment makes her a tragic figure, whose pure-hearted motivations lead not to a moral victory but to a crushing personal defeat. Her efforts to save the Consul ultimately lead to her death at the hooves of the branded horse. Her commitment to him is her undoing, her efforts to save him dooming herself.

Hugh is the half-brother of the Consul and acts as a foil to him. He is younger and more adventurous than his brother with an idealist political view of the world. Where his brother is listless and lost, Hugh is purposeful and dedicated. His role as a foil is further developed in his relationship with Yvonne, as the two quickly form a bond based on the Consul’s addiction to alcohol. Hugh is committed to following the Spanish Civil War and has sided with the Republicans in Spain, who wish to respect their democratically elected government. The differences between the Consul and Hugh are perhaps most prominent during the ordeal with the dying man found on the road. Hugh’s life has been one of adventure and heroism and he is ready for both in this moment before the Consul warns him against touching the man:

While as for him, the hero of the Soviet Republic and the True Church, what of him, old camarado, had he been found wanting? Not a bit of it. With the unerring instinct of all war correspondents with any first-aid training he had been only too ready to produce the wet blue bag, the lunar caustic, the camel’s hair brush (260).

Hugh is meant for the field, he places himself in danger, in the action, while his brother resigns himself to a life of performative diplomacy. The two brothers represent different ways to approach the modern world as it crumbles into chaos.

The differences that divide the brother exist beneath the surface as well, clearly defining their oppositional politics and their competing views of international relations. The Consul takes a more jaded approach to the Spanish Civil War: “But with calamity at the end of it! There must be calamity because otherwise the people who did the interfering would have to come back and cope with their responsibilities for a change” (324). The Consul resents those that interfere in others’ conflicts and believes calamity will ensue precisely because it must; there is no other way for the war to play out. Hugh, who believes in fighting for a just cause and trying to prevent such calamity, challenges his brother: “Just let a real war come along and then see how blood-thirsty chaps like you are!” (324). Hugh attempts to paint his brother as a man who pretends to be anti-war but, when violence arises, will jump at it just as other men do. In doing so, he tries to distance himself from his brother, positioning himself as a man of the people with principles and his brother as a removed academic, lost in ideas that aren’t applicable in the real world.