Summary Of Ari A Memoir Of A Bilingual Childhood

Culture is part of our identity. Identity are the qualities , beliefs, and characteristics that make a particular person or group different from others. People start forming their their identity at early age. When people decide to change their culture when they are young adults they will change their identity at the same time. In the articles “Aria. A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” written by Richard Rodriguez and “And then I went to school” written by Joseph Suina, they illustrated us how people change. People change when they enter into a new culture because they start to think and act different. These changes can affect their identity, their way of think, and what they believe.

The author’s lives before new cultures could be identify as
humble, peaceful, and without stress.
During the years that nothing new has being introduced into Suina and Rodriguez’s lives that can change their way of thinking and what they believing. In the article “And then I went to school” written by Joseph Suina, he illustrates how peaceful and without stress his life was before electricity entered into his Pueblo. Suina himself writes, “I listened to one of her stories or about how it was when she was a little girl… she softly sang a song for a ceremony. In this way, I went off to sleep each night.” in other words, what Suina was trying to show us in this quote is how peaceful his life was without electricity and without a new culture enter into his life. Adapting to the American lifestyle was difficult for Suina and Rodriguez because they did not know the language, how to act, and how to think as Americans. Not knowing how to act and think as Americans will affect their identity because they will try to fit in and as consequence they will change who they are. In the article ‘Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”
written by Richard Rodriguez, he tells us how difficult his childhood was when he started going to school because he could not understand very well what his teacher was trying to say because he did not know enough english. Rodriguez states, “when I first entered a classroom able to understand about fifty stray English words… I was fated to be “problem student” in class” (Rodrigues P. 652). Basically, Rodriguez is saying that when he starts going to school his childhood stated being challenging because he could understand very well to his teacher and he could not express what he was thinking. Not understanding what his teacher was saying to him affect his identity and his way of thinking because a new language and a new culture have to be learn to be able to understand what other people is saying. Another person that was trying to fit into a new culture to be able to understand what other person was say is Joseph Suina. In the article “And then I went to school” written by Joseph Suina he demonstrates how challenging the school was for him because his teacher talks to him in a language he did not understand. Suina himself writes, “I could not comprehend everything that was happening, but I could understand very well when I messed up or was not doing so well. Negatively message were communicated to effectively and I became more and more unsere of myself” (Suina P.18). In other words, what Suina shows us is how unsure he feels in the classroom because