What themes do The Lovely Bones and the film of The Motorcycle Diaries have in common?

If I had to answer this
question, I would want to focus on the two central characters of both of these texts and the way
that the novel and the film charts their development, maturity and understanding of their
identity. In a sense, both of these texts concern the journey of their protagonists. Susie has
to struggle to accept her death and the way in which she can only look on life and her family
and their struggles as an observer who is unable to direct or help. Through the course of the
novel, she, like her family, are able to accept that she has moved on. Likewise, in the film,
Che Guevara learns so much about himself and the world through his road trip in South America,
particularly about the injustice, poverty and prejudice that he sees. What is so fascinating
about this text is that we see a revolutionary in the making. He leaves his home in Argentina as
a normal young man, with thoughts of earning money and meeting women. However, through the
people that he meets and the experiences that he goes through, he realises there is a higher
calling on his life, and at the end of the film we see his commitment to revolutionary
change.