Chapter 10, Death and Its Public Summary and Analysis

Evita was extremely ill. In one of her final speeches, she appeared very sick and wasting away. Peron gave a speech about all of Evita's accomplishments, something he had never done. She was overwhelmed with emotion and gratefulness. She then gave one of her most powerful speeches and the people were overcome with emotion. Evita afterward found herself in and out of hospitals and confined to rest, even despite a hastily conceived coup against Peron staged by General Menendez.

Evita did not die immediately and thus gave many final speeches. These speeches seemed like a managed melodrama meant to drag the people into a frenzy of mourning. Eventually she had a hysterectomy to fight her cancer and recovered somewhat. Her speeches began to take on messianic themes about the afterlife and political violence...