Armin Mehdizadeh Nadery
Creative Nonfiction
Assignment #3
December 2, 2015

Liberty of a Country

Carmen Aguirre’s “Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter” reflected on her past as a member of a revolutionary movement in Latin America after the 1973 Coup d’état in Chile. Carmen and her sister, Ale, came to Canada at a young age but her mother decided that they would go back to South America when Carmen was 11 and Ale was 10.This family had their ups and downs which includes the near death of Carmen’s mother but also the adventure of Carmen in her native country of Chile and neighboring countries in South America. Carmen fell in love multiple times but one question to be asked was: “Could Carmen have loved her partners beside for the cause?”

Carmen has had many partners in her life, many of whom where in part used for her as a cover to not get caught by authority for her involvement in the rebellion against Pinochet. One of her partners was Alejandro, he was also part of a group in Argentina called the Intransigent Youth: “I belong to the Intransigent Youth. But what about you...” (173). He wanted to know more about her since he trusted her even after she opened up to him about her fears when she was a child, more specifically when she was about to get “shot” by the secret police in a firing squad method of execution. .Alejandro and Carmen both got married in Villa Maria, Alejandro’s hometown, however, it was for political purposes as well as a cover for the resistance. They both knew it but eventually after the separation of the group she went to live her own life without giving time and effort to follow instructions which was to: “…be living in Neuquén, Argentina, where you will join the flying club. You will both learn to fly small planes and then you’ll figure out ways to fly to Chile undetected to drop off people and goods…” (196).

As planned, Alejandro and she lived in Neuquén, Argentina, both getting jobs quick. Carmine became an English teacher while Alejandro, an electrical engineer. They lived on food that was mostly canned but they had a roof over their head and their paychecks were actually pretty satisfying considering the jobs they took and the advances used for rent and food. Carmine felt pretty bad leaving his extended family especially her cousin to have a relationship with Alejandro was too artificial for her to, he kept being persuasive about Carmine staying with him. The Cousin expressed his feelings to her : “ I love you Cousin…Please leave your husband and stay with me”(153) and later chased her after the bus was rolling and that she refused to stay, which I found a bit creepy but it was family love anyway.

I lived in Iran until the age of 7, I don’t remember much but I still went back to my native country 5 years after that. I was 12 years old and all I remember was the difficulty I had in speaking fluent Farsi. In my city especially, the accent was confusing to me since my parents had lived to teach me the so-called Tehrani accent which is considered “normal” to most people. I was walking down the marketplace with my mom and a shop owner told me if I wanted a candy, in a shirazi accent and suddenly I didn’t know how to reply back without making myself talk in another accent. I just turned to my mom and waited for her to reply to me and so she did. Later that day, we took the bus to get to my grandmother house and while sitting on the bus I noticed an old lady walking towards and so I decided to give away my seat since nobody wouldn’t. However before I stood up she calmly squished herself into my self-making both of us uncomfortable and then I realized the lack of respect people have for elderly on the bus.

Carmen has lived through an amazing journey throughout her life as a rebel trying to fight for her ideology and for her country. Pinochet had been in power for nearly 17 years and her parents had been on a blacklist for more than 10 years even when the Pope made Pinochet get rid of the blacklist of more than 500 people. They all had to be exiled from the country and to never come back, this made it hard for Carmen’s family. She had to marry Alejandro in Argentina as well as live there for many years, live in Canada and Peru too. After Pinochet death, her project to release a memoir of her was considered though for her and her family but she also wanted to show the truth of life.

800 words