Richard Rodriguez Complexion

Richard Rodriguez’s story, “Complexion”, is a memoir based on the author’s struggle regarding his race and identity as a Mexican American. As a boy, Richard despises his dark skin color, believing that it represents inferiority and poverty. His mother influences such notion by trying various home remedies to whiten his skin, resulting Richard to feel insecure and detached from his body. Moreover, he experiences an identity conflict with his race and society’s interpretation of complexion. This internal and external battle is one that any person of color can identify with. For this reason, I argue that Richard Rodriguez’s conflict on race does not extend beyond his subject position of a person of color. The author’s appearance along with the
For instance, his uncle was paid very poorly when he worked in construction. “Sometimes they promised him one salary and paid him less when he finished”, his mother recounts. She went on to say, “[Your uncle] looked so tired when he left. Already with a hunchback. Still in his twenties” (451). The author also recounts the times his father worked in different factory jobs “for the unskilled”, facing racism and mistreatment each time: “At one place there were fistfights; at another a supervisor who hated Chinese and Mexicans. Nowhere a union” (452). This excerpt relates to minority groups as many have blue-collar jobs and have faced similar injustices. Other examples include mistreatment, poor pay, and unfair hiring decisions in job opportunities. My friends and I have faced several prejudices when it came to applying for jobs. I heard stories of it occurring to my parents, but I thought that through my education employers would see pass my race. It never became more clear to me about the inequality people of color face when my friends and I applied to be a math tutor at a middle school. Through the application process, we were often asked about our race, gender, ethnicity, and national origin. They also asked whether English was our first language and whether we were fluent. We were asked very
The author’s identity conflict regarding his race extends beyond Latinos, as other minorities have encountered similar identity struggles in our cross-cultural society. Most importantly, because his story is based on general issues concerning dark complexion, racial slurs, and labor, this essay represents a variety of people. Altogether, Richard Rodriguez educates readers about the results of racism and prejudice in racial groups, and uses his experiences as an example of the injustices people of color face in the world