Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro's biography Evita is a cogent work that incorporates the childhood, acting career, politica

Authors Avatar

Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro’s biography Evita is a cogent work that incorporates the childhood, acting career, political emergence, and subsequent adoration of the Argentine populace. Arguing that Evita’s underprivileged childhood is the explanatory variable for her future actions, goals, and ambitions, the authors assert that Evita shou7ldered the burden of Argentina’s poor workers, or descamisados, and by doing so, solidified the regime of her husband Juan Peron.  Utilizing a thematic and chronological style, Fraser and Navarro clearly demonstrate that politically, socially, and economically Evita Maria Duarte de Peron strove her entire life to overcome the scarring poverty induced by her childhood and prevent others from suffering a similar fate.

        Evita was born on the featureless pampas in the hinterland of Argentina in 1919 a bastard child.  Such a “second marriage” between her mother and an already married public servant were not unusual in the era, yet her father Juan Duarte’s return to his first family in a neighboring town impoverished mother dona Juana and her five illegitimate children.  Determining to abandon such a dismal life, and the unpromising future that poverty on the pampas entailed, Eva left her small town of Junin in 1935 to pursue a dream of becoming an actress when she was merely fifteen.  Evita, even at this tender age, was ambitious, for she “…had no money, little education, and no proven talents, but she wanted to conquer the city and be a star.”

        Experiencing little success, Evita scraped by as a mediocre actress in theatre, radio soap operas, and even starred ina few motion pictures until her star crossed with that of Juan Peron, an up and coming military officer in the military government that had ousted civilian rule in 1943.  They met during a fundraiser for the destitute families of an Andean earthquake that had rocked the western city of San Juan, and she shortly thereafter became his mistress.  Again demonstrating her resolve and desire to “make something of herself,” Evita had merely loaded up a truck with her own possessions, took them to Peron’s apartment, and told the girl who was living with the colonel to leave.  Again and again, as the authors demonstrate, Evita sought to alter her prescribed position in the social strata of Argentina.  So, as it was, “for the first year and a half of their life together Peron and Evita lived not as collaborators, but as colonel and mistress,” which was not an approved action by Peron’s military contacts.  This unsavory relationship contributed Evita to become a liability, both militarily and politically, and even led to Peron’s brief imprisonment by the Navy in 1945.  However, the authors point out that, even at this early stage of Peronism, Evita was becoming an integral part of Peron’s propaganda machine, using the experience and contacts garnered through radio to slant the media’s portrayal of events in a favorable light towards her lover. 

Join now!

        When Peron and Evita emerged victorious overlooking the crowd of “shirtless” working-class supporters in the Plaza de Mayo in 1945, Evita achieved the dream of shedding her past.  She was soon married to Peron (for no Argentinean head of state had ever blatantly lived with a mistress), president of one of the richest nations that arose out of the ashes of the Second World War.  Evita even doctored her birth and marriage certificates to hide her illegitimacy, thus fully transforming herself from rags to riches.  She consciously wore extravagant jewelry and clothing in an effort to convey this image.  As ...

This is a preview of the whole essay