He grew up with his mother and two younger sisters. His mother raised him to be polite and to have respect and value others, but that was not all she taught Rodriguez. She taught him to be greedy, vain and to resort to violence if it could help him get his way. His mother raised him how her parents raised her. “They are a highly dysfunctional and abusive family.” Growing up he had a rough relationship with his mother. They lived in poverty, food and money was scarce. Not only was his family struggling financially but also emotionally. His mom divorced his dad to go live with a man she had been …show more content…
cheating with. This devastated Rodriguez as he sat outside of the courtroom waiting. His mother won custody and from that point on she isolated him and his sisters from their father. He and his sisters obeyed their mother out of fear that she instilled in them. He never questioned her motives or the beliefs she was teaching them. Until a secret was revealed to him, that would tear the bond with his mother
In the summer of seventh grade Rodriguez’s younger sister finally decided to tell that she was being raped and abused by their mom’s boyfriend. He remembers sitting beside his sister in the CPS playroom as everyone looked and criticized his mother. He wanted to defend his mother but, he could not believe his mother had allowed this to happen. Now she was not worth defending and had lost respect for his mother. He felt like his mom could not protect them and he started to see her flaws in the way she ran their lives and in her beliefs.
When Rodriguez began to defy his mother’s authority it brought along troubles not only from her but also from his moms side of the family.
He started to wonder if the beliefs they imposed were right. Fighting, yelling, and violence was now a routine in a home that was once filled with god and loved. To cope with the struggles in his life, Rodriguez read books.
He read books such as Immanuel Kant Critique of Pure Reason, and Marx’s Manifesto, which taught him to view this life in a different way. Rodriguez said he learned a lot from these books such as historical materialism, dielectrics transcendentalism, and metaphysics. “These books influenced me the most by teaching me to question everything and to look at everything analytically.”
For a year and two months Rodriguez dealt with his broken family. Freshman year was when Rodriguez came to his breaking point, he had attempted suicide many times. “I used to wear my tuxedo that I wanted to be buried in at night because if felt ready to die.” Lost and confused Rodriguez looked for a way to escape. To him, running away was the only option
left.
Rodriguez ran to his father whom he had been isolated from for all most ten years.