Zorro

As a bildungsroman, Allende’s Zorro inevitably explores the themes of identity and self-discovery. Specifically, the novel sets out to describe how Diego de la Vega became Zorro. The novel explores the way Diego learns to cultivate his values and strengths, but it also explores his weaknesses. By creating the persona of Zorro, Diego develops a dual identity that has wide-ranging implications for his character development. Diego’s creation of his identity, moreover, is reflected and contrasted with the self-discovery of many of the other characters of the novel.

Diego is in some ways a product of his world and family: His values and beliefs are shaped by his dual background as the son of a Spanish landowner and an Indigenous warrior. But Diego also challenges much of what he was taught as he grows up. Most notably, he creates the character of Zorro to fight for justice, the most important of his personal values. In fact, Diego’s creation of Zorro is a reference to the spirit animal he discovered during his initiation rites with his Indigenous grandmother White Owl. Like the zorro—that is, the fox—Diego learns to be cunning, to dissimulate, and to act from the shadows. In creating Zorro, however, Diego develops a dual identity, “one part Diego de la Vega, elegant, affected, hypochondriac, and the other part El Zorro, audacious, daring playful” (232). Thus, even as Diego discovers an important part of his identity in Zorro, he must also sacrifice a part of himself to protect his secret: He thus reflects that “his true character lay somewhere in between [his dual personalities], but he didn’t know who he was: neither of the two nor the sum of both” (232). In many ways, Diego’s identity becomes a secret from himself.

The themes of identity and self-discovery appear through other characters as well, and their paths often present significant parallels and contrasts with that of Diego. Some of the figures from Diego’s childhood—such as Alejandro de la Vega and Padre Mendoza—remain relatively static, unable to look far beyond their narrow cultural lens. Other characters grow together with Diego, though their paths often diverge from his. Bernardo is an especially notable example: Like Diego, he discovers an important part of himself during his initiation rites, where he decides that his virtues are those of the horse: “loyalty, strength, and endurance” (76). Bernardo’s loss of voice also becomes an important part of his character development, allowing him to develop a level of introspection and even wisdom that the more garrulous and restless Diego never develops (at least not to the same extent). Bernardo’s character thus contrasts and balances Diego’s in many ways. An opposition similar to that between Diego and Bernardo is found in the de Romeu sisters, Juliana and Isabel. The beautiful, gentle, and refined Juliana is initially juxtaposed with the plain, blunt, and “boyish” Isabel; but neither of their characters remain static, with Juliana ultimately finding an inner fire and passion when she meets the pirate Jean Lafitte, while Isabel follows a different path when she joins Diego and Bernardo in their adventures. The novel ends, appropriately, with not one Zorro but three: Diego, Bernardo, and Isabel. The character of Zorro has been created, and the stage is set for his (or their) feature adventures.