A Memoir Told From Different Perspectives

       Just having begun reading The Motorcycle Diaries, I was intrigued by the preface in the book. I thought this memoir would be a historic one, with the main topic being the famous political events and the role Ernesto “Che” Guevara played in them. However, this is not the case. According to Aleida Guevara, her daughter, the book will have a completely different approach. She states, “…I do not doubt that when you have finished the book you will want to go back to enjoy some passages again, either for the beauty they describe or the intensity of the feelings” (p. 1). The book will not be remembered by the importance of the figure it emphasizes on (“Che” Guevara) but by the way he is described and presented. It is very interesting to observe the way Aleida begins to briefly describe her father’s personality and mission in life. She is one of the persons that know him the most, which engages me to the text and makes me want to keep on reading. It is very different when a memoir is narrated from a third person point of view or by another individual, since the intimacy to the main character is never the same. Therefore, by being the daughter the one narrating the memoir, I seek to learn the details about Guevara’s life that are not commonly depicted in the news.

       The magnitude and importance of “Che” Guevara is pointed out from the first sentence in the introduction, which declares, “If there is one hero in Latin America’s struggle for liberation – stretching from Bolivar’s time until our own - … that hero is Ernesto Che Guevara” (p. 15). I really liked the beginning of the introduction, since it not only explains what the book is going to be about, but it provides clear examples of the main techniques that are going to be used for description. In addition, this imposing first line makes me reflect upon the fact that all great heroes in history had once been regular people with dreams. The desire to pursue those dreams and their determination is what made them heroes. In this book, the focus will not be to analyze Guevara’s life as a hero (which is what most historical books do) but to comprehend his early life as a motivated and goal-striving individual. What importance does the motorcycle adventures have in Guevara’s life? How did Guevara become the great hero we know today? I expect to answer this and other questions while reading The Motorcycle Diaries.