88 pages • 2 hours read
The Motorcycle Diaries
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During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
INTRODUCTION-CHAPTER 10
Reading Check
1. How long were Guevara’s travels?
2. What does Guevara ask Chichina to give him?
3. What does Guevara realize he has in Benjamín Zorrilla?
4. What does Guevara refer to wire as?
5. Which health issue is “irritated” by Guevara’s sheepskin pillow?
6. Where do Guevara and Granado spend the night before sailing to Chile?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why do Guevara and Granado decide to embark on their adventure? What were some of the steps they needed to take?
2. Who is “Comeback”? What are the two words that Guevara uses to describe him?
3. What is the “first commandment for every good explorer” (Chapter 3)? How does this commandment have two different parts to its understanding?
4. Who is the “Granddaddy of the Southern Argentine Barbecue” (Chapter 6)? How do Guevara and Granado help this person?
5. Describe the contents of Chapter 8. How does it differ from the prior chapters?
6. Summarize the letter that Guevara receives from home. How does this letter coincide with the next step in his journey?
Paired Resources
“Argentina: A South American Power Struggles for Stability”
- This 2022 article from the Council on Foreign Relations explores the impact of “Peronism” on Argentina’s political economy.
- Argentina’s development as a state relates to the themes of Pan-Americanism and The Exploitation of the Working Classes.
- Based on the text as well as the above resource, how was the figure of Juan Perón viewed by Argentinian citizens?
- IMDB provides information on Director Walter Salles’s 2004 adaptation of Guevara’s account.
- As the film version of the text, this resource connects with the same themes of the account: Pan-Americanism, The Exploitation of the Working Classes, and Resistance to an Unjust Order and Oppression of Indigenous Peoples.
- Compare and contrast the characterization of Guevara in the film adaptation to the account.
CHAPTERS 11-22
Reading Check
1. How does Guevara and Granado pay for their and their bike’s passage on the boat?
2. Which type of abode do Guevara and Granado stay in while in Los Ángeles?
3. When does the next boat leave for Easter Island?
4. Why does Rosita choose not to go to the police?
5. How do Guevara and Granado reach Antofagasta?
6. What is located in Chuquicamata?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Compare and contrast what Guevara notices regarding the Indigenous peoples of Argentina and Chile.
2. What headline does Guevara see in the Chilean newspaper? How does this headline affect his and Granado’s journey?
3. How does Guevara describe Santiago? Summarize what the pair are seeking to do in this country.
4. Describe Guevara’s thoughts on the relationship between poverty and illness. How does this affect the relations within families?
5. Who do Guevara and Granado befriend in the city of Baquedano? Identify why Guevara feels camaraderie with these people.
6. Summarize Guevara’s reflections on Chile. In which areas does he mark needs for notable improvement?
Paired Resources
“How did Chile Acquire Easter Island?”
- Lopez’s 1998 article in the Rapa Nui Journal explains the colonization of Easter Island.
- The European colonists’ treatment of Indigenous people on Easter Island relates to the theme of Resistance to an Unjust Order and Oppression of Indigenous Peoples.
- Based on the text as well as the above resource, how did colonialism shape the acquisition of Rapa Nui?
“Mine Owners, Moneylenders, and the State in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Chile: Transitions and Conflicts”
- Volk’s 1993 article in the Hispanic American Historical Review examines the impact of the mining industry on Chilean state development (please note: this resource connects with the main Activity).
- The discussion of labor codes and regulations connects with the theme The Exploitation of the Working Classes.
- Based on the text as well as the above resource, how does Chile’s economy depend on the mining industry? In which ways does this shape their treatment of miners?
CHAPTERS 23-38
Reading Check
1. What does “Tarata” mean in the Aymara language?
2. Why does the drunk sergeant offer to give Alberto 200 soles?
3. Which city is called “the navel of the world” (Chapter 27)?
4. What is the “somewhat animal-like concept the Indigenous people” (Chapter 31) have?
5. Why does Guevara believe that he and Granado “fell out of favor” (Chapter 32) with the Civil Guard?
6. Which family member does Guevara write a letter to in this section?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Summarize Guevara and Granado’s conversation with the schoolteacher in Peru. What subject is this person particularly passionate about?
2. What does Guevara determine at the end of his visit to Cuzco? What leads him to this conclusion?
3. Summarize Guevara’s observations regarding the hospital at the Huambo colony for people with leprosy.
4. What is the pair’s “brilliant ‘anniversary’ routine” (Chapter 35)? How does this routine help their travels?
5. Describe Guevara and Granado’s time in Lima. Why are they motivated to see the city?
Paired Resources
“The Epic Motorcycle Trip That Turned Che Guevara Into a Revolutionary”
- History.com’s resource on the importance of Guevara’s trip on his future revolutionary actions
- This resource touches on the same themes of the account: Pan-Americanism, The Exploitation of the Working Classes, and Resistance to an Unjust Order and Oppression of Indigenous Peoples.
- Based on the text as well as the above resource, how is Guevara’s account an example of a bildungsroman?
“From a Secret Safehouse, Peru’s Indigenous Revolt Advances”
- AP News explores the struggle of Indigenous peoples against the contemporary Peruvian state.
- This article focuses on the Resistance to an Unjust Order and Oppression of Indigenous Peoples.
- Compare and contrast Guevara’s observations with the contents of the article above. Has the situation for Indigenous people in Peru improved since Guevara’s writings? Explain.
CHAPTERS 39-45
Reading Check
1. How do Guevara and Granado plan to travel to Manaos?
2. From which city does Guevara write to his mother?
3. To whom does Guevara ultimately pledge his loyalty?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Summarize the speech that Guevara gives on his 24th birthday. What concept does he introduce to his audience?
2. Why do Guevara and Granado transit through Colombia quickly? Where is their next destination?
Recommended Next Reads
Guerrilla Warfare by Che Guevara
- Guevara’s 1960 account is a collection of essays related to his opinions on militarism and political revolution in Latin America.
- Shared themes include Pan-Americanism, The Exploitation of the Working Classes, and Resistance to an Unjust Order and Oppression of Indigenous Peoples.
- Shared topics include Guevara as the author, Latin America politics, and pro-communist political sentiments.
- Guerrilla Warfare on SuperSummary
Traveling with Che Guevara: The Making of a Revolutionary by Alberto Granado
- Granado’s 1978 book highlights the infamous trip with Ernesto “Che” Guevara from his perspective.
- Shared themes include Pan-Americanism, The Exploitation of the Working Classes, and Resistance to an Unjust Order and Oppression of Indigenous Peoples.
- Shared topics include Latin American journey, the growth of Che as a revolutionary, and pro-communist political sentiments.
Reading Questions Answer Key
INTRODUCTION-CHAPTER 10
Reading Check
1. 9 months (Introduction)
2. Her bracelet (Chapter 3)
3. The flu (Chapter 5)
4. “Our friend” (Chapter 5)
5. His asthma (Chapter 9)
6. The police station (Chapter 10)
Short Answer
1. With both men recently unemployed and Guevara “feeling uneasy, more than anything because having the spirit of a dreamer,” the two friends decide to embark on a road trip to North America on Granado’s motorcycle. After making this decision, the friends prepare with research, visas, and engineering preparation. (Chapter 1)
2. Comeback is a dog who is traveling with Guevara and Granado. Guevara describes him as a “symbol and a survivor: a symbol of the union demanding my return; a survivor of his own bad luck.” (Chapter 2)
3. “The first commandment for every good explorer is that an expedition has two points: the point of departure and the point of arrival. If your intention is to make the second theoretical point coincide with the actual point of arrival, don’t think about the means—because the journey is a virtual space that finishes when it finishes, and there are as many means as there are different ways of ‘finishing.’” (Chapter 3)
4. The “Granddaddy of the Southern Argentine Barbecue” refers to Don Pedro Olate, the nightwatchman of a national park. He offers Guevara and Granado the positions of his “first and second assistants” at a local barbecue in exchange for some meat for their future travels. (Chapter 6)
5. Unlike the previous chapters, Chapter 8 consists of a letter that Guevara writes to his mother. He recounts some of the events from the previous chapters, as well as urging her to write him back; he also encloses a letter to Chichina. (Chapter 8)
6. Guevara receives a letter from Chichina breaking up with him. He recognizes that he is leaving his homeland and now moving to his next destination, as this moment is “a kind of crossroads; at least in that moment it was for me. I was looking to the future, through the narrow band of Chile and to what lay beyond.” (Chapter 10)
CHAPTER 11-22
Reading Check
1. “[W]ith the sweat of [their] brows” (i.e., physical labor) (Chapter 11)
2. A fire station (Chapter 15)
3. In 6 months (Chapter 16)
4. Because the last time she went, they called her “crazy” (Chapter 16)
5. They stow away on a boat. (Chapter 17)
6. A copper mine (Chapter 19)
Short Answer
1. Guevara remarks that the Indigenous people in Chile seem to be “untouched by the exoticism” that he sees in Argentina. Guevara attributes this to the fact that “Anglo-Saxon immigrants in Chile do not mix, thus preserving the purity of the Indigenous race, which in [his] country is practically nonexistent.” (Chapter 11)
2. In Temuco, the two friends learn that an interview they gave the previous day in a newspaper had been published under the headline “TWO ARGENTINE LEPROSY EXPERTS TOUR LATIN AMERICA BY MOTORCYCLE.” As a result, Guevara and Granado use their status as “experts” to secure accommodation, food, and roadside assistance. (Chapters 12-13)
3. With their motorcycle finished, they negotiate a ride with a truck driver in exchange for labor to Santiago in order to secure visas to Peru. Guevara describes Santiago as a city that is a faster-paced version of their hometown of Córdoba. (Chapter 15)
4. Guevara notes that when poverty affects the health of certain individuals in the community, “they stop being father, mother, sister or brother and become a purely negative factor in the struggle for life and, consequently, a source of bitterness for the healthy members of the community who resent their illness as if it were a personal insult to those who have to support them.” (Chapter 16)
5. In Baquedano, the pair meet a communist married couple who spent time in prison and had to leave their children with a neighbor. As a “living representation of the proletariat in any part of the world,” Guevara feels “brotherly” towards this couple, offering them a blanket despite the freezing weather. (Chapter 18)
6. In a reflective chapter, Guevara remarks on the following differences between Chile and Argentina. First, he notes the lack of sanitary and hygienic conditions in hospitals in Chile; secondly, he discusses the lower quality of living in Chile with high unemployment and low protection for workers, along with a “confusing” political system with anti-communist/proletariat sentiment. (Chapter 22)
CHAPTER 23-38
Reading Check
1. “[T]he apex, or place of confluence” (Chapter 23)
2. To “stand 20 meters away with a cigarette in your mouth [so he can] light it with the first bullet” (Chapter 26)
3. Cuzco (Chapter 27)
4. “[M]odesty and hygiene” (Chapter 31)
5. “[B]ecause Alberto had reacted violently on seeing Civil Guard soldiers insulting an Indigenous woman who had come to bring food to her imprisoned husband” (Chapter 32)
6. His papi (Chapter 38)
Short Answer
1. Guevara and Granado meet an Indigenous schoolteacher from Peru who is particularly passionate about the advancement of education. In particular, he wants to reshape the education system so Indigenous people are not undermined by a pro-colonialist education that espouses pejorative views of native communities. (Chapter 24)
2. At the end of his time in Cuzco, Guevara determines that the city should not be visited merely for a single painting or object, but rather, “It’s the whole of the city together which creates the impression of the peaceful, if sometimes disquieting, center of a civilization that has long since passed.” (Chapter 30)
3. Guevara is particularly struck by the poor sanitation methods and lack of adequate, timely healthcare for those in need. Although he acknowledges the positives of the new facility for people with leprosy, he also remarks that there is still a significant amount of work to be done. (Chapter 32)
4. As Guevara and Granado are particularly low on food, they use the “anniversary” routine as a staged conversation with strangers with hopes that the person will buy the pair food and drink in order to “celebrate” the anniversary of starting their trip. (Chapter 35)
5. Guevara and Granado’s primary motivation to go to Lima is to find work so they can save up money for the trip. While there, they visit a hospital for people with leprosy as well as the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. (Chapter 36)
CHAPTERS 39-45
Reading Check
1. By river on a homemade raft (Chapter 40)
2. Bogotá, Colombia (Chapter 42)
3. “[T]he people” (Chapter 45)
Short Answer
1. At a dinner at Dr. Bresciani’s house in the San Pablo colony for people with leprosy, Guevara makes a birthday speech thanking the group for their hospitality. He also makes a comment that “the division of [Latin] America into unstable and illusory nations is completely fictional” and he “propose[s] a toast to Peru and to a United Latin America.” (Chapter 40)
2. Although they are offered jobs in Bogotá, Guevara and Granado have an altercation with the police which makes them decide to leave for Venezuela quicker than expected. (Chapter 42)
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