Zorro

“[T]hus Diego and Bernardo, Ana’s son, began their lives with the same milk and in the same arms. That made them milk brothers for as long as they lived.”

This passage highlights the connections between Diego and Bernardo, who were born on the same day and even nursed by the same woman. Though Diego and Bernardo belong to different classes, they grow up together and are even “milk brothers” from the moment they are born. This helps undergird Diego’s dual heritage; though he presents as a Spanish aristocrat, most of what he truly loves relates to Indigenous life.

“‘Before the whites came, we went to those caves to seek harmony and find okahué, but no one goes now,’ White Owl told them.

‘What is okahué?’ Diego asked.

‘The five basic virtues: honor, justice, respect, dignity, and courage.’

‘I want all those, Grandmother.’

‘You must pass many tests, without crying,’ White Owl said curtly.”

Diego learns about the basic virtues of okahué from his grandmother White Owl. These virtues will become foundational to Diego’s character, and he will consciously cultivate okahué throughout his life as he becomes Zorro. This is another example of his Shoshone roots being the center of his identity.

“Diego and Bernardo parted only at bedtime, when each went to his mother’s room […] Everyone except Alejandro de la Vega thought of them as brothers, not only because they were inseparable, but because at first sight they looked very much alike […] In the years that followed, they learned to flourish the épée according to Maestra Escalante’s impeccable instructions, to gallop bareback on their horses, to use the whip and lasso, and to hang by their feet like bats from the eaves of the house. The Indians taught them to dive and rip shellfish from the rocks, to follow a prey for days to get a kill, to craft bows and arrows, and to endure pain and fatigue without complaining.”

Though Diego and Bernardo belong to different classes, they are so close that everybody—with the exception of Diego’s rigid father—view them as brothers. Diego and Bernardo are very active and even mischievous as children, learning both traditional Spanish skills such as fencing as well as Indigenous skills such as diving and hunting with bows and arrows.

“‘The fox saved you. That zorro is your totemic animal, your spiritual guide,’ she explained. ‘You must cultivate its skill, its cleverness, its intelligence. Your mother is the moon, and your home, the cave. Like the fox, you will discover what cannot be seen in the dark, you will disguise yourself, and you will hide by day and act by night.’”

Following Diego’s completion of his initiation rites, his grandmother White Owl explains to him the significance of his spirit guide: the fox, or zorro in Diego’s native Spanish. The fox represents Diego’s own cunning and the shadows from which he acts. As he grows into an adult, Diego will come to understand what it is that he must seek as he acts by night, like the fox, and when Diego does realize his path, he appropriately chooses to call himself “Zorro.”

“He reached the age of fifteen with no great vices or virtues, except for a disproportionate love of justice, though whether that is a vice or a virtue, I am not sure.”

In the introductory remarks to Part 2, the unnamed narrator—eventually identified as Isabel de Romeu—reflects on the character of Diego de la Vega as he leaves California for Spain. The narrator acknowledges that even as a young man Diego is characterized above all by his strong sense of justice. But she also hints that despite his noble motivations, Diego is a very human hero with very real flaws that will become clearer as the story progresses.

“Not so with Isabel; Bernardo became her best friend and ally […] They didn’t need words; they understood each other perfectly. They came to love each other so much that over the years Isabel became Diego’s rival for second place in Bernardo’s heart. Light-in-the-Night always came first.”

Isabel, unlike her sister Juliana, becomes very close with Diego and Bernardo when they come to stay with her father in Barcelona—and it is because she is so different from her sister that she becomes close with them. She develops an especially close bond with Bernardo despite his muteness so that over time, Isabel, like Bernardo, comes to exert a strong influence on Diego’s life.

“‘Not fair, you say? Do you truly believe that life is fair, Señor de la Vega?’

‘No, maestro, but I plan to do everything in my power to make it so,’ Diego replied.”

In this exchange between Diego and Escalante, Diego illustrates his devotion to fairness and justice. By challenging Moncada to a duel because of his mistreatment of Bernardo, Diego proves that he will do “everything in [his] power” to enforce what is fair, even though he is mature enough to realize that the world is not always fair.

“The oath was elegantly simple: ‘To seek justice, nourish the hungry, clothe the naked, protect the widows and orphans, give shelter to the stranger, and never spill innocent blood.’”

The oath Diego takes when he joins La Justicia reflects Diego’s own values. At its core, La Justicia is devoted to enforcing justice and fighting oppression—goals that Diego will continue to pursue as Zorro even after La Justicia is disbanded and Diego returns to California.

“Every story must have a villain. In fact, his wickedness is essential, for there are no heroes without enemies of their own stature. Zorro was fortunate to have a rival like Rafael Moncada; otherwise I would not have much to tell in these pages.”

The narrator reflects on Moncada’s significance to Diego’s story: Moncada was the rival Diego needed, not simply as an opponent against whom to fight but as the villain through whom Diego comes to define himself as a hero. This idea indirectly ties into the theme of justice; without injustice, there is no story.

“Juliana’s attitude was not one of disdain—she was fond of Diego—nor of maliciousness, of which she was incapable: it was merely the effect of the novels. She was waiting for the hero from her books, courageous and tragic, who would rescue her from everyday boredom, and it never occurred to her that that person might be Diego de la Vega. Or Rafael Moncada.”

This passage suggests that Juliana’s nonreciprocation of Diego’s (and even Moncada’s) affections may partly result from her naivety. Juliana does not see Diego as the romantic and heroic figure with whom she imagines falling in love. This is rather ironic, as Diego ultimately becomes a “hero” in quite a literal sense.

“He left Diego a letter asking him to beware of Zorro, not merely for the risk of being discovered, but also because the character would end by taking him over. ‘Never forget that you are Diego de la Vega, a flesh-and-blood person, while Zorro is a creature of your imagination,’ he wrote in the letter.”

Before leaving Diego to return to California, Bernardo warns his friend not to let Zorro consume his life. Later, as Diego’s identity is increasingly split between Diego and Zorro, Bernardo’s words will prove to have been prescient.

“Zorro had plied his foil every day since he was a boy, but he had never had to use it in a serious fight […] He found that there is nothing honorable in a real combat, where rules count for nothing. The only standard is to win, whatever the cost.”

As he wields his sword in his first real fight, Diego appreciates the realities of combat. He develops a more nuanced understanding of the ideal of honor, which he has prized throughout his life, and realizes its limitations. As he questions the romantic notions of his childhood, Diego begins to enter adulthood.

“Until that moment Diego had not been conscious of his dual personality: one part Diego de la Vega, elegant, refined, hypochondriac, and the other part El Zorro, audacious, daring, playful. He supposed that his true character lay somewhere in between, but he didn’t know who he was: neither of the two nor the sum of both.”

As he fights Moncada, Diego recognizes for the first time the significance of the “dual personality” he has developed in becoming Zorro. He simultaneously realizes that in cultivating these two antithetical personas he has to some extent lost track of his true identity. In his later adventures, Diego makes more deliberate use of his antithetical personas to prevent others from realizing that he is Zorro.

“In the life of Zorro, as in all lives, there are brilliant moments and some that are dark; between the extremes are many neutral zones.”

Here, as Diego and the de Romeu sisters prepare to escape Spain, the narrator hints at the difficulties that Diego is about to experience. The reader is reminded that Diego is very human, with virtues as well as vices, and that though Zorro is a charismatic and fun-loving figure, the experiences of the man behind the mask are not made up only of “brilliant moments.”

“He hadn’t shaved for a day or two, and the dark shadow of his beard lent a rough, virile air to his looks. He was not the clumsy, skinny boy who had come to their home four years before, all smile and ears. He was a man.”

As he helps the de Romeu sisters flee Spain, the 19-year-old Diego begins to become a classic romantic hero. He acquires a handsome, confident appearance and even becomes attractive to Juliana, who was uninterested in him for years. Diego increasingly reflects the charismatic and dashing figure of Zorro.

“For the first time Juliana saw Jean Lafitte at close quarters. When the pirate bent to kiss her hand, she knew that the long journey of recent months that had led her here was at last over.”

Juliana is taken with the pirate Jean Lafitte at first sight, after none of her previous suitors had managed to awaken any amorous feelings in her. With Lafitte, for the first time, Juliana feels inexplicable pangs—a development with significant implications for her life as well as for the protagonist Diego, who has had feelings for Juliana for five years.

“We shall soon be saying good-bye, dear readers, since the story ends when the hero returns to where he began, transformed by his adventures and by obstacles overcome.”

As the narrator introduces Part 5, she gestures at the circular structure of her story—the classic homecoming element in the famous “hero’s journey.” In returning to California, Diego “returns to where he began,” though he has now been changed by his experiences: He has returned transformed into an adult and armed with the identity of Zorro.

“It was difficult for the priest to believe that the bold young boy, whom he had brought into the world with his own hands and had watched grow up, had turned out to be a dandy. Spain had softened his brain and muscles; it was embarrassing. He had prayed that Diego would return in time to save his father, and the answer to his prayers was this fop with a lace handkerchief. He could barely hide his scorn.’”

Upon returning to California, Diego disguises his personality so well that not even Padre Mendoza, who “watched [him] grow up,” can recognize him. The reader glimpses Diego’s dual personality in action as Diego consciously behaves a certain way to prevent those around him from connecting him with the daring Zorro.

“The situation had grown much worse with Rafael Moncada’s arrival. He represented the negative elements of colonization; he had come to make a quick fortune and then leave. To him the Indians were beasts of burden.”

Mendoza reflects on the harm caused by Moncada, who relentlessly exploits the Indigenous people of California through his pearl trade. Moncada represents the kind of European whom Mendoza had spent his years as missionary fighting and from whom the Indigenous people must be protected. However, the phrase “the negative elements of colonization” raises the question of what the “positive” elements might be; the narrative does not seem to depict many.

“The masked man told him that his identity had to remain a secret, but he promised the priest that he would not be alone in his work to defend the poot. From now on Zorro would stand for justice.”

Diego appears to Mendoza as Zorro, claiming his place in the world where he grew up. He establishes a link between his goals and Mendoza’s and commits to fight for justice in California. Thus, Diego claims his identity as Zorro.

“The last thing he said to them as he stepped into the boat that would take him to the ship was that he would not rest a single day until he unmasked Zorro and had his revenge.”

As Moncada leaves California, he vows revenge against Zorro, whom he believes to be none other than Diego de la Vega. Even as the villain departs, ostensibly defeated, the reader is reminded that the story is not over and that the rivalry of Zorro and Moncada is to continue long after the events related in the novel.

“‘More than one defender of justice is needed because there is much evil in this world, Diego. You will be Zorro, and Bernardo and I will help you,’ Isabel concluded.

There was no choice but to do as she asked, because as her final argument she threatened to reveal Zorro’s identity if they excluded her.

The brothers put on their disguises, and the three Zorros formed a circle inside the old Indian medicine wheel the brothers had laid out in their youth. With Bernardo’s knife they each made a cut on their left hands. ‘For justice!’ Diego and Isabel exclaimed in unison, and Bernardo signed the appropriate words. At that moment, when the mixed blood of the three friends dropped onto the center of the circle, they thought they saw a brilliant light surge from the depths of the earth and dance in the air for a few seconds. It was the okahué that grandmother White Owl had promised.”

As the story ends, Isabel de Romeu—later revealed to have been the narrator—suggests that she and Bernardo help Diego fight for justice as Zorro “because there is much evil in this world.” As the three friends vow to stand for justice, they glimpse the spark of okahué, described to them long ago by White Owl, which guided them and their actions throughout their lives.

“Unless you are very inattentive readers, you have undoubtedly divined that the chronicler of this story is I, Isabel de Romeu. I am writing this thirty years after I met Diego de la Vega in my father’s house, in 1810, and many things have happened since then.”

In the opening to Part 6 (the Epilogue), the narrator at last reveals her identity. She situates the reader in time, revealing that she is writing from a vantage of 25 years after the end of her story.