This past
week, we have been talking about the Cuban Revolution. Similarly to the Mexican
Revolution, I had not been introduced to the topic before in previous classes.
I think this is because the United States has had a rocky relationship with
Cuba until recently. That’s not to say we have a good relationship with Cuba
now, but it is slowly becoming friendlier and more inviting. Just recently we
began talking about Fidel Castro and his rise to power, and I was surprised
with how much I didn’t know about Castro and his early life. When talking about
Cuba in past classes, obviously Fidel Castro was brought up, but all that was
said was that he was a dictator who separated Cuba from the rest of the world.
I had no idea that he was an illegitimate child and because of this was
insecure about his upbringing.
In
Professor Serrata’s part of the class, we watched a movie called the Motorcycle Diaries. The movie was about
a medical student named Ernesto and his friend Albert who take a trip around
South America. At the beginning of their journey, they are carefree and enjoy
each of their stops. Ernesto soon learns, however, of the poverty that is
stricken throughout Latin America. He begins helping others and ends up at a
leper colony where he bonds with his patients. At the colony, he makes a speech
that foreshadows his influence in politics and the motivation he’ll have in the
future. I liked the movie because not only was it entertaining, but it also
showed the progression of Ernesto’s passion, eventually leading to his
political influence.
This is my first time learning about the Cuban Revolution in depth as well. I am really surprised at how little we were taught about it in previous classes considering it had such a major effect on the world. When Castrol was brought up in my previous classes, he was portrayed as a dictator as well, with I think is kind of a debatable topic. There is no one way to describe his leadership because so many people have vastly differing opinions of it. I was so surprised how much I did not know about Castro and the history of the Cuban Revolution as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI also recognized how little I knew about Cuba and Fidel Castro. Prior to this class, I had only heard of Castro in regards to the Cuban Missile Crisis. I cannot identify any other instances in any of my history classes where we talked any more about Castro, or Cuba for that matter. I think that the United States kind of shielded its past with Cuba due to its less than favorable and failed covert attempts to overthrow the Castro’s revolutionary government. The movie, The Motorcycle Diaries, was one of my favorite movies we have watched in this class. I also thoroughly enjoyed to see Ernesto’s progression from a medical study looking to have a good time to one of the most prominent political figures in Latin American history. It also amazed me that the movie was completely true and Ernesto had such a transformation in character in real life.
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting to start learning about the life of Fidel Castro. By learning about his early life and experiences in life it helps to provide insight into why he decided to have the beliefs and policies that he did. I think it would be good for high schools to focus more on the aspects of Castro's life before he gained power in an attempt to allow children to have a more complete sense of who he was as a person. Schools only focus on the decisions that he made when he was in charge of the country but need to also start including the reasoning behind why he came to those ideas.
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