Summary Of Days Of Obligation: An Argument With My Mexican Father
March 10, 2011
ENG 351
“Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father”
Richard Rodriguez
This book is written in a quick, quick witted, volatile changeable style. Rodriguez tries to expel of the tensions in his life and life in America. He parallels or relates the views of young and old, catholic and protestant, communalism and individualism, cynicism and optimism and the past and future in his own life. When Rodriguez goes to Mexico, he feels unwelcome. To me, he seems to feel that he is overeducated and superior to his peers in Mexico. A lot of Rodriguez’s opinions have come from his father’s view of the world. His father viewed it as a sad place, whereas when Richard was young, he viewed it as a fiesta. However, …show more content…
He has so many different viewpoints and issues. While he does stick with the reoccurring themes in the novel such as AIDS, barbarism vs. civilization and religion, all of them are developed independently. He thanks the church for the schooling he received, yet throughout the years, not only has he lost the strength in his faith but he foresees immediate crisis for the church. He goes from being negative and hating life in America to stating, “I became Americanized, I ended up believing in choices as much as any of you do” (pg 172). He feels now as if being Chicano it is holding him back even though he is trying to get to the level he should be at as an American. In doing further research, I have found that a lot of the readers of this book also feel the same way. One essay I read stated that Rodriguez is “a walking dichotomy.” I completely agree with this because he is gay, a devoted Catholic, Mexican even though he barely speaks Spanish, American but still feels that he is different than the rest of America, Mexican-American who despises Chicanos, a gay man who sets himself apart from gay men, and an English scholar who leaves the
ENG 351
“Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father”
Richard Rodriguez
This book is written in a quick, quick witted, volatile changeable style. Rodriguez tries to expel of the tensions in his life and life in America. He parallels or relates the views of young and old, catholic and protestant, communalism and individualism, cynicism and optimism and the past and future in his own life. When Rodriguez goes to Mexico, he feels unwelcome. To me, he seems to feel that he is overeducated and superior to his peers in Mexico. A lot of Rodriguez’s opinions have come from his father’s view of the world. His father viewed it as a sad place, whereas when Richard was young, he viewed it as a fiesta. However, …show more content…
He has so many different viewpoints and issues. While he does stick with the reoccurring themes in the novel such as AIDS, barbarism vs. civilization and religion, all of them are developed independently. He thanks the church for the schooling he received, yet throughout the years, not only has he lost the strength in his faith but he foresees immediate crisis for the church. He goes from being negative and hating life in America to stating, “I became Americanized, I ended up believing in choices as much as any of you do” (pg 172). He feels now as if being Chicano it is holding him back even though he is trying to get to the level he should be at as an American. In doing further research, I have found that a lot of the readers of this book also feel the same way. One essay I read stated that Rodriguez is “a walking dichotomy.” I completely agree with this because he is gay, a devoted Catholic, Mexican even though he barely speaks Spanish, American but still feels that he is different than the rest of America, Mexican-American who despises Chicanos, a gay man who sets himself apart from gay men, and an English scholar who leaves the