Week of 3/17: Santa Evita

When we were reading the book Santa Evita, I was struck by the attitude of hopelessness portrayed throughout the whole book. Tomás Eloy Martinez seems to ridicule the complete absurdity of the men that obsess over Evita's body. They spend years trying to sexualize a dead body - for what reason? To gain a few moments of pleasure before Evita is finally buried? Martinez seems to suggest that life can be spent on frivolous, even reprehensible goals, and in death, the person is no different than anyone else, so who cares? That message also seems to apply to the rest of Argentina's history. Time marches on, people waste their lives attaining meaningless goals, and nobody is the better for it. As my high school science teacher put it, "If you believe in atheism, then you exist simply to pass on your DNA." Needless to say, that mindset is completely depressing. Religion, I believe, shows the true purpose in life - to glorify God. Regardless, Santa Evita provides a powerful picture to the reader, and it is not a positive one.

Comments

  1. Victoria MillerMarch 18, 2022 at 7:31 PM

    Hi Seth, reading your post was really interesting. I also thought that the book seemed to have a very hopeless attitude. The thought of only existing to pass on DNA is something I hadn't thought about while reading the book but I makes you question if the work that Evita put into making a better Argentina was worth all the strife she got and the shortened life span. However, whether something is worth while or not can only be decided by the person involved.

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  2. Professor StarkMarch 22, 2022 at 8:53 AM

    Thank you, Seth, for the blog. I appreciate what you wrote about the sense of hopelessness conveyed in the novel but I would argue that Evita's life did have a positive impact and serves as a powerful example of what somebody can do if they set their mind to it and pursue their ambitions/goals. Her actions inspired woman to act, imagine themselves, and move beyond traditional expectations that man had of them.

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