An individual’s discovery is transformative on their perceptions of the world. This is the case for the book ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and Keats’s sonnet “On first looking into Chapman’s Homer”. In this book, we are taken on Che’s journey as he travels Latin America as a young man, before the fame. His diary entries lead the reader into his own eyes, as a typical young man on an adventure, not the revolutionary figure we all associate him with. Through his descriptive entries of the landscape he journeys across, we discover his deeper connection to the land of South America and the love he has for its people. As well as the beautiful things that South America has to offer, Ernesto consequently discovers the inequality and poverty the plagues the continent. This discovery then leads him to a greater self-awareness which leads him to a higher calling in life. Upon making these discoveries, che comes to a realisation that he needs to adopt in order to help people. In the sonnet, we are faced with a similar path of discovery as the one we see in ‘The motorcycle diaries’. We also see how the language Keats uses adds depth to his discoveries.
The motorcycle diaries allows the reader to discover life of Guevara before he was the revolutionary ‘che’. Through his diary entries, we are able to see the young minded personality that is normally overshadowed by his public figure. Upon discovering the young Ernesto Guevara, we are faced with his youthful tendencies as well as the weaknesses which plague him. The heroic figure of Che is challenged when we learn that he needs “take a few puffs of my asthma inhaler”. This defies our image of che the revolutionary hero and allows us to develop a connection to his humanised personality. We also witness the young Ernesto display characteristics of a typical male which also defies his image of South America’s saviour. Ernesto tries his luck with a married woman