Zorro

The final parts of Allende’s novel see Diego return to California. This creates a homecoming, the final stage of the hero’s journey trope: The story ends “when the hero returns to where he began, transformed by his adventures and by obstacles overcome” (323). The California to which Diego returns, however, is very different from the world he left five years before. When Diego goes to see Padre Mendoza, he finds his mission in ruins. He learns from the old missionary that much has changed: His parents are separated, and, most importantly, Moncada has arrived under the banner of the Spanish king, bringing with him a new period marked by brutal injustice, corruption, and the abuse of power. Diego thus learns that Moncada and his partner Carlos Alcázar—one of the bullies Diego combated in his childhood—have started an illegal pearl trade using Indigenous people as slave labor. Coupled with the ongoing expansion of the Spanish settlers, such injustice has driven the Indigenous people to even more barren and remote locations. Once again, the calamity is a site for Diego’s heroism, and he will redeem and restore his homeland by conquering injustice.

This final part of the novel shows Diego at the end of his character development. He is now fully committed to his identity as Zorro. He now consciously uses the dual persona he initially developed unconsciously, behaving in an effete manner to prevent others from guessing that he and Zorro are one and the same; and Diego is so successful that even his friends are genuinely shocked when Moncada accuses him of being Zorro. Even so, there is some common ground between Diego and Zorro. For example, both Diego and Zorro exhibit a magnetic charisma. Indeed, when Diego returns to California, he immediately recognizes his childhood friend García, who still adores him and who later even plays a small part in helping him escape from Moncada.

Bernardo, like Diego, has also committed to his role as Diego’s ally and confidante. Just as Zorro has become his spirit animal (the fox), Bernardo reclaims his spirit animal, albeit in a different way, when he presents Diego with Tornado, the horse he encountered during his initiation vision. From the shadows, Diego and Bernardo reclaim their world, hiding in the same sacred caves where White Owl taught them about okahué when they were children. As Diego saves his father and the Indigenous prisoners from Moncada’s clutches, he puts into practice the values that have shaped his identity.

The Zorro who ultimately emerges is not just a single character, though. Diego’s plan to subvert Moncada involves the help of several allies, including Bernardo, Toypurnia, White Owl, and even Isabel. In the end, there are multiple Zorros, and Bernardo and Isabel have even donned the costume. Diego is not alone in the values he represents. The story ends with Diego and his companions claiming the okahué.

When the narrator reveals herself as Isabel de Romeu, the reader glimpses Diego—and Zorro—from a different vantage point, 25 years after the end of the story. In the Epilogue, the narrator Isabel reflects critically on Diego, for whom she confesses her love. Isabel believes that Diego has become fanatically devoted to justice but that he is also flawed, with moments of irresponsibility and recklessness. The Epilogue completes the novel’s portrait of a hero who is also, in the end, profoundly human.