Richard Rodriguez Thesis

Part II
“Didn’t i realize that reading would open up whole new worlds? A book could open doors for me. It could introduce me to people and show me places I never imagined existed. She gestured towards the bookshelves . (Bare-breasted African women danced, and the shiny hubcaps of automobiles on the back covers of the geographic gleamed in my mind.) I listened with respect. But her words were not very influential. I was thinking then of another consequence of literacy, one i was too shy to admit but nonetheless trusted. Books were going to make me “educated.” That confidence enabled me, several months later, to over come my fear of the silence.

In this text, Richard Rodriguez gains his undying interest in reading. This is where he realizes what he believes would be his true calling. He believer reading would open up a new chapter of life to him. Show him places he had never imagined. He wanted to be educated. Achieve more than his parents `did. The fact that he knew books would make him achieve his goal, gave him confidence. He was initially a shy person who kept to himself probably because of his accent. But his tutor found a way through this private tutoring for him to break out of his shell. From then on he improved his speech and reading abilities for him to mould himself to this excellent scholar.

Part III
“But this is
I yearned for that time when i had not been so alone. I became impatient with books. I wanted experience more immediate. I feared the library’s silence. I silently scorned the gray, timid faces around me. I grew to hate the growing pages of dissertation on genre and renaissance literature. (In my mind i heard relatives laughing as they tried to make sense of its title.) I wanted something i couldn’t say exactly what. I told myself that i wanted a more passionate life. And a life less thoughtful. And above all, I wanted to be less