Richard Rodriguez's Essay: An Open Letter To Black Parents

Ms. Nelson

English 100

21 August 13 Summary: An Open Letter to Black Parents In renowned sports figure, Arthur Ashe’s, “An Open Letter to Black Parents: Send Your Children to Libraries,” he talks about the fact that a college education is more important than the perks of becoming a professional athlete. While attending UCLA, Ashe came to the conclusion that African Americans were more caught up in the hype of one day becoming a professional athlete, rather than obtaining a lasting college education/diploma. Ashe believes that African Americans should “re-write” their persona into one of profoundness and professionalism. Arthur Ashe states that the role models of the African American society are primarily composed of athletes.
Therefore, the young children in that society tend to model themselves after those people. Instead, Ashe wants to have those role models spread a message that a college education is far more important than being a professional athlete. For example, Ashe has stated many times to high school students that, “For every hour you spend on the athletic field, spend two in the library.” These words are a very powerful message, especially to young adults still searching for their call in this world. In conclusion, although Arthur Ashe may be recognized as one of the greatest tennis players of his generation, his college diploma from UCLA is his proudest moment in life.
In Richard Rodriguez’s “Complexion” he talks about the racism he experienced as a child. Rodriguez places a lot of emphasis on rhetorical devices throughout his essay. The rhetorical devices that Rodriguez primarily uses is, description and symbolism. Through using these two rhetorical devices, Rodriguez is able to relate to the reader in a more personal level, in my opinion. Through description, Rodriguez is able to elaborate on certain details. Through using symbolism, he expresses the emotions and feelings that he feels. Richard Rodriguez writes this essay in order to inform people of the racism that he has experienced. Since Rodriguez was the one experiencing the racism, his essay coincides nicely with the rhetorical devices that he chose. Rodriguez is of the Mexican culture and he recalls times when he was a kid where he was being discriminated. Rodriguez writes that as a young child he was insulted and name called for being of the Mexican culture. He writes how he would never retaliate with another insult back because he would be so embarrassed. The reason as to why Rodriguez was being discriminated was because of his
“complexion.” Through reading this story, it is just another example of how ignorant people are. There are many stories about how people have been discriminated against just due to the fact that they are from a different culture. Richard Rodriguez did the right thing in not retaliating or doing something stupid, in order to not suffer any consequences.
Summary: “Don’t let Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments” In Robert Heilbroner’s, “Don’t let Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments,” he talks about the affects of stereotyping. Heilbroner discusses that stereotyping is evident in just about everywhere we are. The affects that stereotyping has on a person, as stated by Heilbroner, is it makes us lazy thinkers, and is harmful to those whom we are stereotyping. Heilbroner’s suggests that people who stereotype, do it “because it helps make sense out of a highly confusing world” (Heilbroner 373). This makes sense because we try to come up with answers to things we do not understand. Another theory that Heilbroner suggests as to why people stereotype, is because we are raised with a certain mindset about people. In his story Heilbroner gives the reader three ways to get rid of stereotyping. His first suggestion is to “become aware of the standardized pictures in our heads, in other people’s heads, in the world around us” (Heilbroner 374). The second suggestion is that “we can become suspicious of all judgments that we allow exceptions to prove” (Heilbroner 374). And lastly Heilbroner suggests that “we can learn to be chary of generalizations of people” (Heilbroner 375). After reading Robert Heilbroner’s essay, I became more aware to the large amounts of stereotyping that occurs in today’s society. Although I was already aware, stereotyping not only has a negative effect on the person stereotyping, but on the person that is being stereotyped. Through stereotyping, one opens up a path that encourages horrible things such as racism and ignorance.