My shiny padlet by Yiran Zhang

My shiny padlet by Yiran Zhang https://padlet.com/yizhang10/l6lqkro6ckazpyt8 Made with an open mind en-us 2021-02-09 20:10:39 UTC 2021-02-09 23:14:28 UTC hello@padlet.com part 1 yizhang10 https://padlet.com/yizhang10/l6lqkro6ckazpyt8/wish/1185036017
A more appropriate song for this book-to-movie adaptation is a Spanish song called "Al Otro Lado Del Rio". The overall rhythm of the song is light, and most of it is played on the guitar, although simple and straightforward but without losing vitality, just like the book Che Guevara and Alvito decided to go to North America dialogue,

"Why don't we go to North America? "

"But how?"

"On La Poderosa, man." (Guevara 5).

It has a straightforwardness that only young people have, a spontaneous, go-go feeling. And look at the lyrics.

I dip my row in the water

I take your row in mine.

These two lines are exactly in line with the two young people in the book, Che Guevara and Alvito, who support each other on their way to Latin America and overcome all kinds of difficulties. And the next lyrics

Above all, I believe that

All is not lost.

So many tears, so many tears, and I,

I am an empty glass...

Here again, it can be seen as Che Guevara's grief, resignation and inability to help the people under the control of capitalism, after seeing the many difficulties he encountered along the way,

There was very little I could do for this very sick old lady. I could only advise her to improve her diet and gave her diuretic tablets and some asthma medication. With the old woman's gratitude and the cold eyes of her family, I left there (Guevara 56).

These last two verses

I, quite serious, keep rowing,

and deep within, I smile.

I think I have seen a light

across the river.

and

I hear a voice that calls me,

almost a whisper.

These two lines represent Che Guevara's journey to find the path of revolution and his determination to help the people in their revolution. All in all, the song fits the book "The Motorcycle Diaries" in many ways and creates a metaphorical connection to the book.

]]> 2021-02-09 23:10:47 UTC https://padlet.com/yizhang10/l6lqkro6ckazpyt8/wish/1185036017 Part 2 yizhang10 https://padlet.com/yizhang10/l6lqkro6ckazpyt8/wish/1185039267
I think Che Guevara's family background and political position are very important, which can help me understand better. In Che Guevara's time, the political initiative was basically in the hands of capitalism. In the book , "I was feeling uneasy, more than anything because having the spirit of a dreamer I was particularly jaded with medical school, hospitals and exams" (Guevara 8). This quote can easily be misinterpreted if one does not know the context; what can a medical student have to do with politics? One would read on with such a mindset and end up reading the book only in its superficial sense, i.e. a travelogue. But this is not the case. It is true that Che Guevara was originally a medical student from a privileged family, but the most important thing about his family background is not here, but that Che Guevara's family members were all left-wingers, i.e., communists. It was from this family background that Che Guevara grew up in a communist atmosphere. It was this childhood exposure that laid the foundation for his later path to revolution. And Che Guevara most believed in the ideology of Marxist ideas, this book deeply influenced him, which also made Che Guevara received a lot of influence on everything he said and did afterwards. And The Motorcycle Diaries this book is Che Guevara wrote when he was very young, at that time he only knew the concept of communism, because he did not really see the cruelty of capitalism, so there is no revolution this idea. Therefore, The Motorcycle Diaries describes what Che Guevara saw and heard along the way, and saw many countries and people oppressed by capitalism, and it is with these backgrounds that Che Guevara's psychology of helping people's revolution gradually grew up, and it can be said that without these backgrounds, Che Guevara could not have been created today. If one does not know Che Guevara's background, one would only take this book as an ordinary travelogue of Latin America, rather than learning about Che Guevara's inner revolutionary journey. Therefore, Che Guevara's family background and political stance can help to understand the book.

]]> 2021-02-09 23:12:30 UTC https://padlet.com/yizhang10/l6lqkro6ckazpyt8/wish/1185039267 Part 3 yizhang10 https://padlet.com/yizhang10/l6lqkro6ckazpyt8/wish/1185039910
I think the series of experiences Che Guevara and I had in this book, The Motorcycle Diaries, are very similar. We both left home at a young age, Che Guevara wanted to travel around Latin America, and I studied abroad, both wanting to make a career and grow our knowledge. In the beginning both thought very well and did not realize the difficulties they encountered: “The enormity of our endeavor escaped us in those moments; all we could see was the dust on the road ahead and ourselves on the bike, devouring kilometers in our flight northward”（Che Guevara 5）. When I first went abroad, I did see many sights I had never seen before, different countries, cultures and people, and the sense of surprise was almost identical to that of Che Guevara and Alberto when they discovered the sea, “For Alberto, it is a new, strangely perturbing sight, and the intensity with which his eyes follow every wave building, swelling, then dying on the beach, reflects his amazement”(Guevara 6). But then, after the surprise was over, all kinds of problems came, such as not being familiar with the living habits of the family and disagreements, not knowing how to deal with outsiders, and even charging phone bills, something I could do easily in China but became very difficult abroad because I was not familiar with it. Che Guevara and the others did the same thing, with falls, storms, flu, and eventually even their most valuable possession, a Hercules motorcycle, which they had to borrow, hitchhike, and sometimes be a stowaway, but eventually they found a way to solve the problem. I also had a lot of difficulties, but I gradually learned how to solve problems. Without realizing it, I grew up. Che Guevara's journey was for him a process of determination and of helping the proletariat to revolutionize, and my journey studying abroad was for me a process of self-revolution, so this book has a very similar connection to my experience.

]]> 2021-02-09 23:12:53 UTC https://padlet.com/yizhang10/l6lqkro6ckazpyt8/wish/1185039910 Part 4 yizhang10 https://padlet.com/yizhang10/l6lqkro6ckazpyt8/wish/1185041539
This photo shows China being ruled by the Kuomintang in the 1920s and 1930s. Due to the incompetence of the Kuomintang, coupled with the rule of the warlords, the common people throughout China were unable to survive. Often, the rich and powerful were able to eat well, but many ordinary people often froze to death in the streets. This photo was taken by a journalist of refugees huddled over a railing begging from officials. Many young people like Che Guevara, saw these scenes and got the idea for a revolution. “It was then that the doctor felt completely overwhelmed and longed for change and the elimination of an unjust social system” (Guevara 20). Through the suffering of these poor people, the ugly face of capitalism at the time and the need for proletarian and communist revolution were understood:

It is in those last moments, in those who can see only tomorrow at the furthest, that we understand the great tragedy that envelops the life of the proletariat throughout the world. In the eyes of those who are about to sink is the longing for understanding and the desperate search for solace lost in emptiness” (Guevara 20).

The book is ostensibly about Che Guevara's journey in Latin America, but it is actually about the various difficulties, large and small, that Che Guevara experienced and saw and heard, all of which were important factors in strengthening him to help the proletariat and the communist revolution. The Chinese proletarian fighters and Che Guevara were both great communist leaders who fought hard for the proletariat. Although this photograph alone cannot describe in more detail the journey toward revolution in China at that time than Che Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries, it conveys the same meaning as Che Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries.

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