Later these Federals that he insulted by spitting in one of their beards attacked him at his home, burning it to the ground. They were able to destroy Demetrio's life in a single instance. Demetrio was already a well established person in his own community that had many friends. Those same friends came along such as Anastasio Montanez, Quail, and Venancio came in the revolution to be alongside their friends and help them fight, not because they believed in the ideals that the revolution stood for. Then there were those people like Luis Cervantez, Blondie and War Paint who were swept by the spoils of war that the revolution could offer. Innocent people who wanted nothing to do with the revolution were also swept away by its force. Those people like Camilla, were taken away from their families by the revolution through no fault of their own. Camilla is like those towns people who were stuck in the middle of the war and could not escape it no matter how hard they tried, caught in the cross-fires created by the revolution. "Los Adelitas", the women of the revolution, is the role that Camilla and War Paint would play. The lure of the revolution was summed up best by Solis, "You ask me why I am still a rebel? Well, the revolution is like a hurricane: if you're in it, you're not a man . . . you're a leaf, a dead leaf, blown by the wind." (71) Solis, who is to General Panfilo Natera what Luis Cervantes is to Demetrio Macias, is telling us that he had no choice about the revolution it simply took him away. The dead leaf is representative of these people's lives that they have lost and they are now like walking spirits going along with what any commander is telling them, no questions asked because they have no direction of their own. The only thing they know now is what they are told to do and for others they know only their desires and wants. .
Unlike Demetrio there were those characters that placed themselves in the revolution for self gain.