Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Motorcycle Diaries, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Class Consciousness
Suppression and Reclamation of Indigenous Culture
Medicine, Politics, and Helping Others
Growing Up
Individuality vs. Ideology
Summary
Analysis
After dealing with various bureaucratic processes and enduring many unnecessary police searches, Ernesto and Alberto cross into Venezuela, which is more prosperous than Columbia. They hitch a ride in a van going towards Caracas, which takes a long time due to dangerous mountain terrain and several police checkpoints. Ernesto has another asthma attack during the journey, from which he only recovers after Alberto gives him an injection of adrenaline.
Again, national borders and the bureaucracies that accompany them don’t serve any purpose besides inconveniencing ordinary people. Current border lines are a relic of the conquistadors, who carved up South America for the benefit of European powers. As such, Ernesto characterizes them negatively.
Themes
