The Motorcycle Diaries

In The Motorcycle Diaries, Guevara and Granado encounter people belonging to a number of ethnic groups: Indigenous people (referred to as “Indians” in the text), mestizos, Black people, and others. Characterize Guevara's attitudes toward these groups. Does he treat them as equals? Seem to favor some and disfavor others? Exhibit a mixed or contradictory set of attitudes toward them?

If you knew nothing about Che Guevara beyond The Motorcycle Diaries, how would you expect the rest of his life to unfold based on this text alone? Describe his career, family life, middle age, and old age as you imagine them based on this text alone, and explain what in the text led you to make these predictions.

Some psychoanalytic interpreters have claimed that the real reason for Guevara's radicalization is simply a broken heart: having been abandoned by Chichina, Guevara throws himself into politics as a distraction from his pain. Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation? Why? Provide evidence from the text to support your argument.

At the beginning of The Motorcycle Diaries, Guevara is impressed by the differences between Argentina and Chile. By the end of the book, he proclaims his Pan-Americanism. What do you think changed his mind? What similarities do you think he sees among Latin American countries? Give specific examples, and support each with citations from the text.

On a few occasions, Guevara and Granado paint a rosy picture of Argentina as a land where life is good and the gap between rich and poor is not as great. Why do they do this? What aim are they trying to achieve, and do you think they are successful? To what extent do you think Guevara and Granado believe their own portrayals?

Guevara is a leprologist, and visits several leper colonies throughout his journey. He also suffers from asthma and treats at least one patient with the same disease. Analyze the role of disease in The Motorcycle Diaries: what does Guevara learn from observing sick people in Latin America? What effects does Guevara's own illness have on his experiences and his way of thinking about the world?

The Motorcycle Diaries gives the reader a rare chance: to see how the same writer represents himself and his experience to three audiences: (a) himself, when writing his diaries; (b) his mother, in letters; and (c) his father, in letters. Sometimes the same events are reported more than once–first in the diary, then in a letter; some events are omitted from the diary and included in a letter, or vice-versa. What differences to you see among the three different "Ches" that are projected to these three audiences? What are the similarities?

Alberto Granado is at once ever-present and silent, since the text is Guevara's diary and not Granado's. Choose a chapter of The Motorcycle Diaries and rewrite it, recounting events from Granado's perspective with Guevara in the supporting role. Feel free to add details, change emphases, or omit certain information as you see fit.