I found this book to be quite dry. I know it is written in the form of a diary, but much of what Che says is very dry and repetitive: talking about ambushes, traveling, meeting local people, recruiting, challenges they faced, etc. Nevertheless unlike the other diary we’ve read, this diary had a purpose behind it which was to keep down all important details, maybe because Che believed that they could be of use sometime later on in the revolution or post-revolution. Therefore, Che already writes his diary in a somewhat more formal way than how most diaries are written, and the way he writes (i.e. his language) reflects that and is detailed and concise. Nevertheless, somethings in this diary are worth noting. For example, how he portrays himself in such great ways. Page 2 where it says “but the respect he inspires and the power of his stony gaze deeply affects and confuses them”. Then on page 7 “Che is transformed into a hardened symbol of resistance, a symbol of the fight for what is just, of passion, of the necessity of being fully human, multiplied infinitely in the ideals and weapons of those who struggle”. This quote besides idolizing Che, also represents what the Cuban Revolution meant to Cubans. For them the revolution was a symbol of resistance, and it was a fight for justice; and when it says “of the necessity of being fully human”, it suggests that fighting for a good cause is natural and nothing to be ashamed of, that having these feelings makes us human. On page 6 it is also interesting how Che says, “A phrase comes to mind, one of those that reduces great truths to a few words “in a revolution, if it’s a true revolution, you win or die”. This quote is interesting because Che is suggesting that certain revolutions are true or not. In other words, in a true revolution there is really only one cause, you fight to win, or you die. Maybe Che does not see or believe in some “middle point” as this means that what was fought for has not yet been achieved. Besides, this quote also shows how much a soldier he is, that when on the field it’s either life or death. I also like this quote on page 19 where he mentions that “he did not see the struggle in Bolivia as an isolated occurrence, rather as part of a revolutionary liberation movement that would soon extend to other countries in South America. This quote shows us that Che’s ultimate goals was to spread the revolution, to free all the people who were enslaved or lost their land, he saw this a global problem, one that required everyone to join in. This global problem he refers to as “being converted into economic colonies of Yankee imperialism” (page 27). Despite his maybe seriousness and dedication to the revolution he is also depicted as a caring man. Page 28 describes him in this manner “Che did his utmost to safeguard the withdrawal of these comrades to a safer place”. This quote seems to want to portray Che as this protector. Lastly, page 31 made me realize of another interesting thing. It says that this book was translated into other languages and sent to different countries thereby to help “spread the revolution” which was Che’s goal, going back to what I mentioned previously, that Che did not want this to stop in Bolivia, he wanted this to expand. The end of the book also has 2-3 interesting things. On page 266 he says, “in publicly announcing the first battle of the war, we are establishing what will be our norm: revolutionary truth”. The part “revolutionary truth” really furthers his cause and the revolution, making the revolution seem more honest, without bad intentions, a revolution based on the true conditions that led to its genesis, and once again goes back to what was mentioned earlier when he seemed to suggest that there are “true and fake” revolutions. I especially found interesting what he said further down the page, “today we make an appeal to workers, peasants, intellectuals, to everyone who feels the time has to come to confront violence with violence….”. At the beginning of the semester we had to come up with what ideas we associate with revolutions, one of which was violence. Here Che not only mentions that reality, but he also seems to justify it implying that the only way to win a revolution is by violence and destroying the enemy. I end with page 276 where he says “a worker has the obligation to struggle with all their strength against the common enemy”. Here once again he seems to be justifying revolution and violence and implying that it is a moral duty, because otherwise you are allowing the enemy to win and continue his oppressive ways of ruling. Then I liked how he says “I invite you to join workers of the underground….”. By saying underground it shows that revolutions start from the lower class, those left at the bottom who are forgotten by the government. And finally, he ends with these words “we await you”, once again showing that his goal was to spread the revolution and await more people to join in his cause. The revolution for him was a global project.