English Advanced: AOS - The Motorcycle Diaries & related

[aireiya]

Hi! I just finished editing my AOS essay from the end of last year and was wondering if I could get some feedback on it. Sorry if it sounds clunky and thank you in advance!!

The Motorcycle Diaries vs Ode on a Grecian Urn essay
Discovery has always been an integral part of humanity’s purpose. Curiosity that acts as a gateway to other possibilities such as changing political beliefs and realizing a new source of creative inspiration. In Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara’s travel memoir, The Motorcycle Diaries, Che’s initial discovery of the country’s ancient and sublime landscapes, when juxtaposed to the capitalist exploitation of the South American working class, stimulates an emotional shift from political apathy to altruism. Similarly, John Keats’ romantic poem, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ (1820), is centred on his discovery and meditation on the illustrations painted onto the ancient urn. Progressively, Keats’ delight and wonder crescendos as he experiences an epiphany. These texts explore how initial discoveries ultimately affects an individual, causing emotional changes.

Che’s memoir is entirely comprised of vignettes which illustrate his growth through witnessing the allure of the land juxtaposed to its exploitation. When he and Alberto first discovered Carrué, their initial trek ‘through deep mud … the huge figure of a stag dashed like a quick breath … this tremor of nature cut straight to our hearts. We walked slowly so as not to disturb the peace of the wild sanctuary with which we were now communing.’ Use of simile within the spiritual imagery furthermore creates a captivating mental image of the area’s vitality mirrored by Che’s wonder of the sublime. The respect and awe that he demonstrates towards the lakes of Carrué (‘walked slowly … not to disturb the peace’) is contrasted by the shock and emotional weight he experiences when observing the capitalist exploitation of Latin American land and people at mines of Chuquicamata. Visceral imagery and the deathly lexical chain of ‘suffocation … monotonous … soulless’ powerfully connotes the degradation and exploitation of the lands. This is furthermore highlighted through the land’s personification within ‘they display their gray spine … they wait for the soulless arms of mechanical shovels to devour their insides…’ which accentuates the environment’s suffering, weakened state. Che’s discovery of Chuquicamata, a place of ‘beauty without grace, imposing and glacial … spiced with inevitable human lives … who die miserably … when all they want is to earn their daily bread,’ ultimately serves as one of the pivotal experiences which trigger his political shift due to his growing thirst for equality which had initially stemmed from curiosity and impulse.

In the Motorcycle Diaries, Che’s interactions with the South American peoples provoke discoveries of social inequity which emotionally transforms his perception of purpose and human experience. Initially, Che’s apathy regarding the poverty is demonstrated through olfactory imagery as he states that ‘our distended nostrils inhale poverty with sadistic intensity.’ In contrast, this attitude is challenged in a later recount of his encounter with a destitute couple in Chuquicamata which had moved him emotionally to the point where he had developed empathy for ‘the couple, numb with cold’ and who ‘had not a single miserable blanket.’ Emotive tones within the recount along with the intimate nature of the diary form accentuates and foreshadows his humanitarian purpose which is to build an equitable society. Che’s radicalization into Marxism is therefore highlighted in the vignette ‘so we understand each other’ in which he writes ‘the person who wrote these notes passed away the moment touched Argentine soil again.’ Through using death imagery, Che suggests his younger self’s metaphorical death and inability to return. The use of third person furthermore highlights the separation of the new from the old, symbolizing the birth of a transformed individual with reformed attitudes catalysed by his emotionally confronting experiences.

Similarly, Keats’ poem, Ode on a Grecian Urn, illustrates his curiosity and appreciation for the ancient upon seeing the urn for the first time, prompting speculation. The poem depicts his insights throughout the progression of his stream of consciousness. Keats’ curiosity and involvement is declared throughout the poem through a plethora of rhetorical questions such as ‘What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit?’ His questioning, paired with his use of mythical imagery within his descriptions and assumptions of the tales that lie behind each illustration, emotionally involving him, awaking his creative muse, as he contemplates transcendence. His fascination with time and the artefact’s enduring quality is heavily evident in his use sibilance and personification as he calls it an ‘unravish’d bride of quietness … thou foster-child of Silence and Slow time.’ Although he exhibits awe and curiosity throughout the entirety of the poem, Keats displays frustration through the use of an exclamation mark. This is seen in the last stanza at which he proclaims, ‘Thou silent form! Dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!’ as the urn had given him multiple prompts and ideas but remains incapable of answering his questions. ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ ultimately allows the audience to experience Keats’ discovery of the silent world told on the urn and how it had prompted both speculation and wonder.

Although discoveries tend to spark due to something as light as curiosity or improvisation, they have the ability to branch off into larger, unexpected outcomes. These texts explore the inspiring quality of discovery that enlightens humanity, urging them to reshape their awareness of themselves and our purpose.