Richard Rodriguez 's Hunger Of Memory

Rodriguez offers a different standpoint on bilingualism, and an argument he presents is that one must be willing to give up part of their native ways when learning a language to fit into the public. Rodriguez considered Spanish a private language and English a public one. This perception made him reluctant to learn English, but at the same time, it motivated him to become a part of the public by learning its language. Rodriguez uses his family life as an example of his native identity. He was not an English speaker when he was young, but upon learning the language, he drifted away from his family, and describes it rather frankly: “I was an American citizen. But the special feeling of closeness at home was diminished by then. . . . No longer so close; no longer bound tight by the pleasing and troubling knowledge of our public separateness . . . . When I arrived home there would often be

Many individuals from another culture strive to live the “American Dream.” In the excerpt from the novel, The Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez, he leaves Mexico to become a middle-class American man and further his education. Sherman Alexie writes “Superman and Me,” which shows how Alexie, a Spokane Indian, teaches himself American literature. Both of these stories intertwine to show how different cultures step out of their own and try to live the American Dream. This leads the audience wondering if culture affects how far individuals go in life? Whereas Alexie describes the ideology of an American Dream as an Indian young boy teaching himself how to read from comic books, Rodriguez describes the ideology of American Dream by escaping Mexico to seek higher education in America.

Although bilingual education has some merit, avoiding the implementation of the more popular language of a community is detrimental to the incorporation of mostly you people in society and hinders their ability to develop a keen sense of identity. For example, "language gets learned as it gets used (7).” In other words, one masters the language as he speaks it. Speaking and language skills tend to sharpen if they are used regularly. Rodriguez argues that learning both languages and using them rather than leaving one begins to lead to a better sense of identity and freedom. But according to Rodriguez it makes one become insecure, growing up

Rodriguez builds a formidable case against bilingual education with his bilingual childhood experiences. Rodriguez grew up speaking Spanish, but then learned how to speak English later in life so he knows what effects bilingual education has on bilingual kids who grew up speaking a private language at homes. When Rodriguez first came to the United States in Sacramento, California he understood “about fifty stray English words” (Richard Rodriguez “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”). He was a Mexican immigrant whose family only knew how to speak Spanish. The neighbors of Rodriguez’s family didn’t like them, so when they were out walking they would tell Rodriguez’s parents “Keep your brats away from my sidewalk!” (Rodriguez 571). Rodriguez loses the “special feeling of closeness at home” when he learned English (Rodriguez 577). Personal experiences are what makes him a credible author. Rodriguez used strong ethos and pathos appeals, but he didn’t use strong logos appeals. He didn’t use facts or reasoning in his memoir to prove his points against bilingual education.

Richard Rodriguez, the author of Hunger of Memory, is a Mexican man who rose above prejudices to become a distinguished member of society through education. Sherman Alexie, the author of “Superman and Me,” is a Native American man who grew up on an Indian reservation with a love of books and a penchant for learning in an attempt to exceed further than the predetermined path set in front of him. Rodriguez perceives education as something that has built a division between him and his family but allowed for assimilation into American life and achieve more than the initial expectations of him, meanwhile, Alexie, who remains close to his family and defied all odds, perceives education as a life-saving tool that could potentially change

Rodriguez is ashamed. He is ashamed with the fact his espanol is no longer his main language. The author presents, “I grew up a victim to a

    As I read the “Hunger of Memory” I noticed that we share a lot in common with the protagonist Richard Rodriguez, who is also Mexican and faced a similar situation like Thai immigrants (Rodriguez, 1-5). In fact, we have a couple of common interests and ideas regarding education, race, and language. As the prologue begins, Richard narrates how he feels a disadvantaged boy due to the tension between the public and his private identity. He regrets having adopted the English language the fact that is has reduced the intimacy

Richard became resentful to his parents when they could not help him with school work which only pushed him to read more and more and pushed his family’s bond even farther away. He slowly became embarrassed at his family’s lack of education. He was ashamed when they had a difficult time to speak English in public. Throughout all this a small part of him was still grateful of their support towards him and the way they wanted him to succeed. His parents sent him to a school totally out of their economic abilities because they wanted to provide him with the best education possible. After he graduated from high school he was accepted into various colleges like Stanford and later went to Columbia and Berkeley for graduate school. Throughout his life he always struggled with the way he was labeled as a minority. A life changing event for Rodriguez was in 1967 when African American civil right leaders worked together to bring attention to the poor education African American students were receiving, and how due to this they weren’t adequately prepared for college. This brought a light to Hispanic- American activists they complain as well that there were not enough Hispanic students attending college and concluded that it was because of racism and the way society had them labeled as a minority group. Soon after this he was offered various offers for academic

This story takes place in old Sacramento, California around the 1950’s. A lot of this excerpt from Hunger of Memory covers Richard Rodriguez's childhood and how he has become a grown-up. He is the third of two Mexican immigrants in Sacramento and has two sisters and one brother. Rodriguez shows his youth as "unusual," because of to the battle between his private family life and his public life outside of the family. Before Rodriguez was seven, Spanish was the everyday spoken language and is a part of his home, (qtd. par. 17)…

For many Americans, it goes without saying that for immigrants to this country, there is no higher virtue than complete assimilation. This silent bias is the cause of much of the conflict in the U.S. throughout history and today. One of these troubles is shown in Richard Rodriguez’s autobiography Hunger of Memory, where he describes his experiences at age six, when he first began to be diverted from his culture. He then explains the exact moment when there was a damaging change in his life, when the nuns from his school paid his parents a visit at home. They insisted that English be the only language practiced in his home. He describes the clear ethical dilemma of being involved in a kind of English-Only Movement that affected him in his family’s day to day interaction. Compromise, and a cultural exchange is important, but it becomes a problem when there is a loss of identity that consumes a way of living and begins to change relationships within a culture or family. There are many models of assimilation, but the predominant model in America today is the one-way assimilation like Rodriguez experienced with his family. Unfortunately, since the start of the Twentieth Century, the United States immigration policies have used one-way assimilation to reinforce an ethnic hierarchy in American Culture. Of these policies, the naturalization process, educational structure, and the recent occurrence with child immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border, has highlighted one-way assimilation

Every student has their own unique cultural identity. They may certify under certain group of different race, social class, or religion. To enhance academic success, understand and have a certain level of influence to student’s identities is necessary. Adapting and preservation should be two key elements for cultural identity realization. Furthermore, practicing to recognize their root’s culture their perceptions of education should be the requirement for every school nowadays.

In the Hunger of Memories Rodriguez worked very hard to to become a student and acheive what he did in college. He felt as if he overcame the obstacle that minorities face such as getting a good education he would be different. One thing when he became a student, he was considered a “minority student”. He felt as though he shouldnt be considered minority because he was a student but now he is just categorized as the minoirity student. It is such a struggle because you are trying to hold on to who you truly are, but in order to be normalized you have to get rid of things that make up who you are. Things such as your language which is looked down upon if you do not try to assimlate and speak English.

Richard Rodriguez explains in his essay, “Hunger of Memory” that giving up your first language, may be worth what you end up gaining from it. He believes that bilingualism is being able to speak more than one language, nothing more. In the beginning of Rodriguez’s essay, he describes how the English language brought him and his family together. Rodriguez would explain how him and his family would always be “laughing as we would try to define words we could not pronounce” (62-65). In this excerpt, Rodriguez talks about how he and his family would bond together as they tried to learn English. To Rodriguez, English was what brought their family together, but at the same time, it was tearing them apart. The more they spoke

Why should people nowadays see languages as a big prize? A person speaks more languages have more opportunities are skewed to him because he benefits the profit comparing to a person who speaks only one standard language. It is time for globalization and its effects on children for speaking other languages as a must. In two articles “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez and “Whose Voice Is It Anyway?” by Victor Villanueva, the two authors both expressed their opinions on native language and how the assimilation impacts a child. However, Rodriguez believed that the assimilation was beneficial for him as he had grown up in the English-speaking world and he disliked bilingual education which created many controversy.

Every person has a different bond with bilingualism. For Martín Espada, a Latino Poet and activist, bilingualism means speaking two languages but also letting the two languages become a part of him. When a part of someone’s identity is threatened, they don’t just sit back and let it happen, they fight back. This is the same for Espada. He’s been fighting back for the right to speak Spanish because for him he finds that “the best way