Jan
19
My Message
Posted by: Brian | January 19, 2009 | Comments Off on My Message
Who are these people that Eva Perón loves so much that their suffering causes her pain? According to her, they are the women, the workers, the poor and the humble; and she loves them all, for they are “her” people. To Eva, the wife of former Argentinean president Juan Perón, these are the people who represent the real spirit of the country; so much so that she identifies with them to a far greater extent than with the people surrounding her in her role as the wife of a president. She describes herself as “a humble woman from the country…who would not let herself be dazzled by power or glory”; however, to an outsider, she appears to be living a life far removed from that of the average working class. To a certain extent, Eva herself seems to feel that her words are incongruous with her own life; she defends herself by saying that although she too “wore all the honours of glory, vanity, and power”, and accepted graciously everything that was offered to her due to her status, she still guarded her heart and remained true to “her” people.
To me, the most interesting thing in “My Message” is that Eva seems to divide an entire population into two neat categories. Firstly, there are those people who support Perón; to her, these are the ordinary people of Argentina, the only ones who are passionate enough to be willing to die for their beliefs. The second group consists of the people who are against the president; they are described as being influential and generally of higher social status, and stand for everything imperialistic.
“My Message” is a passionate statement from a woman whose entire life’s purpose was to support her husband and help him carry out his vision; while reading, I was astounded by the conviction and dedication with which she approached her self-appointed duties. Whatever your opinion is regarding the validity of her declarations, there can be no doubt that her commitment.