The story of Ernesto Guevara, a child born into a wealthy Argentine family who became a doctor, seems like a success story. Ernesto Guevara is probably not a name that many people recognize, add the word “Che” to the name – Ernesto “Che” Guevara – and many people recognize the name of a famous revolutionary of the 1960s. Even now, forty-four years after his death, his name and image remain popular. For some, Che Guevara is idolized as a man of the people, a fighter for the freedom of the oppressed, who gave his life in the struggle to liberate the people of the world and live in a "better" society; for others he was a ruthless killer willing to die to be a martyr for his cause. This article will examine the life of Che Guevara and what made him the cult figure in death that he could not have been in life. Ernesto Guevara: the beginning Ernesto Guevara was born in 1928, the eldest of five children of a wealthy, middle-class Argentine family. Ernesto's mother homeschooled him until the age of nine, when he entered public schools. The political climate in Argentina at the time was quite unstable, but “Guevara is not remembered as having any obvious political inclinations as a high school student” (Petersen, 2005, Early Years section, para. 2). After graduating from high school Ernesto took a job at a laboratory studying soil samples in the municipality of Villa Maria; his family moved to Buenos Aires the following year. Shortly after the move, his grandmother died and he decided to become a doctor (Petersen, 2005, Early Years section, para. 3.). He began his medical studies at the University of Buenos Aires. Up to this point in his life he might have been classified as a typical middle-class young man, but change was not far away... half of the newspaper... http://news.nationalgeographic .com/news/2004/10/1014_041014_motorcycle_diaries .htmlPetersen, J. B. (2005). Che Guevara. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.vlib.excelsior.edu /ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=123&sid=9bec1cca-5c95-4e60-a095-110d5c5d6a68%40sessionmgr 111&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1za Rl#db=ulh&AN=17863577Rosenberg, J (n.d.). Fidel Castro: A Biography of Fidel Castro. At About.com online. Retrieved from http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/p/castro.htmSkoller, J. (2005). Shadows, ghosts, fragments: making history in avant-garde cinema. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/excelsior/docDetail.action?docID=10194389&p00=che's%20 afterlife%3A%20the%20legacy%20image.The Motorcycle Diaries (book). (nd) In Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. Retrieved December 15, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Motorcycle_Diaries_(book)