The Motorcycle Diaries

As I ventured through the cumbersome Mauritian village of Flic en Flac, i observed the daily endeavours of the natives. Maids walking to their job with an hourly rate of $2, goats walking all over the grimy road, and vendors selling coconuts and pineapples from tin booths. Although Mauritius is a photographer’s utopia, once I truly explored the villages my exposure to the different cultural frameworks, ultimately challenged my moral conscience. My perspective of the island developed from an idealistic picture-perfect haven to a more genuine and realistic understanding.
Correspondingly, Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s retrospective memoir, The Motorcycle Diaries entails his physical journey throughout South America. He explores how the confronting
She explains “… as he discovered the reality of our continent… mature as a human being…dreams and ambitions change…”. This foreshadows Guevara’s experience, how it will change his purpose in life. Furthermore, Guevara reflects upon this growth in the Vignette “So we understand each other”, stating, “the person who wrote these notes passed away the moment his feet touched the Argentine soil… I am not the person I once was”. Similarly, in The Imitation Game directed by Morten Tyldum, the protagonist Alan Turing experiences several confronting situations relating to societal frameworks. The film portrays the internal and external conflict Turing endured throughout the 1950s when homosexual acts were considered “gross indecency,” and punishable by imprisonment or chemical castration. Morten integrates the cinematic technique of flashbacks to help the audience gain insight into Turing’s past dealing mostly with his relationship with Chris and following their interactions as they get closer and eventually admit love. By jumping in-between, his past and present, momentum forward emphasises and reflects the internal conflict Turing is going through.
His moral conscience was challenged by the decision to win the war however, this meant they must sacrifice a co-worker’s brother who was on the boat about to be attacked. Morten employs the use of close-ups on the characters to enhance the turmoil the characters experienced. Guevara’s values and moral conscience provoke the unexpected discovery of injustice and exploitation evident in the “chuquicamata” entry. Upon Guevara’s reflection of his stopover in Chile, he visits the Chuquicamata mines and learns that the mountains are “spiced as they would with the inevitable human lives”, where people have died “miserably in one of the thousand traps set by nature to defend its treasures”. This acted as a catalyst in his emerging realisation for his intense interest in nature and reveals the imagery of destruction, evoked through the harrowing personification of the mountains. Guevara’s moral conscience was tested once more in “Dear papi”, as his compassionate treatment of ostracized lepers’ conflicts with prejudiced cultural expectations; “their appreciation sprang from the fact we never wore overalls or gloves, that we shook their hands as we would shake anyone’s”. This catharsis provides a sense of moral fulfilment through undermining discriminative and prejudiced behaviour. Guevara is subsequently inspired to “rid [himself] of the weight of small