Aly Fawzy

Culminating Exercise
Reading: Thematic statements

Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which

cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when
taken little by little. Throughout the story of Imaging Argentina, the theme of
perseverance is put into play. The plot is based on the peoples perseverance
to defeat the corrupted regime.
When Carlos lost Cecilia, he suffered the grief of a man who mourns the loss
of someone whose fate is unknown. Despite the dilemma and the oppression
he suffered, he tried to find her when there seemed to be no help at all.
When he discovered his gift, he wanted to know the fate of Cecilia, but rather
than push the situation, he is patient. He recognizes that the right situation
must present itself in order for his vision to be successful. He figured that he
has been gifted this power in order to help the people of Argentina, therefore
the helped the people with his visions and later used it to find Cecilia, but he
never gave up on finding Cecilia nor helping Argentina.
The mothers marching counter to the generals at the Plaza De Mayo is
another example of perseverance. With the mothers' march, their stoic
strength demonstrating against the generals provides hope to the people of
Argentina as well as inspiration and motivation for Carlos, in order to wisely
use his visions. In the wider world; in countries such as Syria and Egypt,
people are marching and protesting against their governments to gain
freedom and justice, despite all the bombings and the abductions they suffer.
The peoples main reason for protesting is not causing chaos; rather send a
message to the generals. This is shown by Carlos when he exposed a
government spy in his garden, he let him leave safely without any harm, in
order to send a message; the greater message, to the generals; that they are
not like them. They want peace for Argentina.
The people that attend Carloss garden meetings believe in Carlos and his
gift, and they believe that at the end they will nail justice and equality. They
share their stories with Carlos and the people; they always have hope. This is
a good example of perseverance because it involves a lot of Argentinians
that lost their family and friends, and never gave up on finding them. In the
wider world this shows that people have to work together as a whole to gain
justice, unfortunately sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.

Aly Fawzy
Cecilias perseverance and determination to return to Carlos plays a big role
in the story. Not only Carloss perseverance was the reason for finding
Cecilia, if Cecilia had lost hope and given up, she wouldve been dead. She
suffered a lot of torture and rape, but thinking about Carlos and her daughter
kept her going. In the wilder world Cecelia is representing the people of
Argentina; she is what the people have inside them; perseverance.
One of Carloss close friends, Esme, is one of the biggest inspirations of the
novel. Esme is one of the reasons why Carlos didnt give up on his gift. She
showed Carlos that she could do anything for him, despite the difficulties or
the delays in achieving success. Her dedication and commitmen.t for the
purpose that the Argentinian people are trying to achieve is incredible. She
also shows up to every garden meeting, even when she experienced the loss
of her lover, Silvio. She did not give up and still managed to help Carlos
through all times. The perseverance that is shown through Esme helped
Carlos all the way to the end and in some way, inspired him to work harder
because of her help and support.