Aria Ichard Rodriguez Summary

ichard Rodriguez, in his essay "Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood," wants reader to understand that bilingual education is not needed due to the fact that one can still keep their cultural identity. As he also brings about the point that intimacy is not about language you speak, but much rather about the people you are surrounded by. He points out the obstacles he faced as growing up a Hispanic American growing up in an American society. Many of those struggles he faced were in his early childhood as he battled to understand and learn english. As Rodriguez struggled to grasp the english language, he also found that he was losing the comfort he found in Spanish. He would call this the “private language” of his family that distinguished
him from his peers outside of his home. I believe the intended audience for this essay is for bilingual people just as he was himself not only for Spanish english speaking individuals but for many different languages. He shares his story to this audience to hopefully relate to others that were once in his position. It gives reassurance to others that your self identify will not be lost through the development of learning another language, but the gains that will be attained.