Preview

Summary Of Richard Rodriguez's Aria

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
842 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary Of Richard Rodriguez's Aria
Literature > Richard Rodriguez’s Aria

Richard Rodriguez’s Aria is a personal memoir about bilingual education. Throughout his essay he represents the power of the individual to defeat the language barrier and he tells how he overcame this particular problem as a child. He is very happy to celebrate his new name because he feels that he is part of the American society as a public individual, he is no longer afraid to express himself in public and by loosing the language of home he began to feel that his childhood started to end.

The acquisition of his new name was beneficial to Richard because it was the first step that made him realize he is indeed American and he is part of the American society. As a result of the language barrier he could not communicate with his teachers, hence he could not learn because his environment did not really foster an understanding of the English language. His words could not form complete thoughts and he stayed quiet all the time in school. Throughout
…show more content…
He was scared to speak up because he didn’t just have to express himself, but also he had to be understood by others. After the nuns were visiting Richard’s home his family started to speak English at home and he begun to feel that he was loosing the strong attachment to his private language. Everywhere he went in his home the family members were speaking in English. After he couldn’t hide behind his private language anymore the silence was broken in public language. One day in school he spoke out loud and got very confident because he wasn’t even thinking that it was strange that his classmates understood him. He wasn’t a socially disadvantaged child anymore and he started to feel that he belonged in public as a public

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    What motivated him to learn English was his realization that he’s an American. For Amy Tan,…

    • 1352 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Col/536 Week 1 Assignment

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Tom's difficulty with language affects his ability to be an effective speaker, specifically to communicate ideas and information for a variety of purposes, situations, and audiences. Tom's language difficulties will interfere with peers and adult's ability to effectively understand his intended message, therefore, creating educational and functional barriers. Tom's strengths seem to be in the area of expressive…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Richard Rodriguez is an American journalist and essayist who often writes about his life and the obstacles he has faced during so. He has become widely known due to his popular book, The Hunger of Memory. In the excerpt that’s presented, Rodriguez talks about how his life has changed tremendously due to education, and he goes on to describe how he feels “assimilated.” Rodriguez comes from Mexican Origins and is the son of Mexican Immigrants and throughout the excerpt he has an internal fight due to the fact that he feels as if he is now a stranger to his once familiar culture. However, the one thing that has taken Rodriguez as far as he has come is his education.…

    • 172 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    An excerpt from Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez: An Auto Biography tells the story of a boy named Rodriguez who was forcibly required to aspire to English language and forget about his Spanish past. When Rodriguez began going to a Roman Catholic grade school in California with his two siblings, he only knew a handful of English words. He was quiet and could not pay attention in class since he wasn't comfortable with his English capabilities. He barely ever spoke out in class which slowed down his learning compared to the rest of his classmates. After a while, nuns from his Roman Catholic school visited his home and warned the parents they should begin talking more English then eventually strictly English in their household.…

    • 237 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Aria; A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, Richard Rodriguez reflects of his childhood and raises his opinion of bilingual education. In his essay the address that it is not possible to use native language as well as English in public and school. Rodriguez originally from Mexico was a native Spanish speaker, Rodriguez describes that before school age the only time he would hear "broken English" was when he and his parents went out into public, therefore feeling as though his native language was a "private…

    • 87 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Richard becomes friends with other black boys with his neighbors in Arkansas. Finding that they share the same hostility and the same pride they would gather round and talk about the white culture and why they behave or act that way. Wright remarks that Richard and the other boys did not fully understand what the motivations of the white people are. One day Richard got into a fight and a broken bottle gave him a deep wound behind the ear and would require stitches. “Once, in a battle with a gang of white boys, I was struck behind the ear with a piece of broken bottle; the cut was deep and bled profusely. I tried to stem the flow of blood by dabbing at the cut with a rag and when my mother came from work I was forced to tell her that I was…

    • 220 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    He says, “I wanted to tell him that I was going north precisely to change, but I did not. ‘I’ll be the same,’ I said, trying to indicate that I had no imagination whatever.” (256). He does not say his thoughts, but rather tells the exact opposite of what he is planning to do. He shows that he is a Maverick and uses words to his advantage. Richard also constantly puts “sir” at the end of each statement he makes. He states, “No, sir. I don’t… Well, sir. I don’t know…” This gives a sarcastic and mocking tone from Richard. Clearly, Richard is “attacking” the men very subtly with his words of “sir” because he views the people in the North with disdain. Richard despised the North and before he left for Chicago, he mocked the white men with words like “sir” as weapons to express his hatred and disgust of the North.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    mother tried to convince to change, he insists on pursuing learning. She asks Richard what he…

    • 1438 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Then for God’s sake, learn how to live in the South” (pg 183). This shows that Richard struggled to live in the South as an African American in the early 1900’s.…

    • 222 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He may have reached the north, but poverty was still on his tail. He looked for job interviews, and with dedication, he was hired at the postal office. As if poverty had not had enough, the Great Depression affected the whole country, and ultimately the postal service ran out of business. An illness swept through Richards family, which only brought more hardship to Richard. He had to work in shady businesses to earn money for his family, but then again, it went out of business. Wandering around, he met a group of communists introduced by a friend, and they let Richard write what he wanted to write for their group, John Reed Club, and Richard resisted to join but joined anyway. He met weird people, very different and very simple-minded people. It was as if Richard was a genius and all the others were normal. After leaving the group, he grew up some more.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    His essay, “Aria,” depicts the struggles a bilingual person will undergo as they attempt to both assimilate into the American culture, and attempt to simultaneously preserve their culture. The concepts that are emphasized within his essay include: the struggles of minorities in adjusting to the American culture and lifestyle, the revamp of certain educational aspects that are meant to benefit students, but in the long run, damage the students, and the struggle of preserving cultures, all of which are applicable in modern…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Black boy, an autobiography of Richard Wright’s early life that investigates the suffered life of him in Deep South and the urban north. The story expresses Richard’s feeling and view on his society. As he grows up he begins to observe how his family members behave differently towards white. Most of the time Richard question his mother on his ethnicity, but there is no answer given to Richard’s question. This is because he is protected and forbidden to know about his condition in which he lives in. As it may depress him, perceiving racial discrimination where white and African American are segregated economically and spiritually. Even though Richard has been forced to keep ignorant on his actual environment he still sees racism in his surrounding…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    udwig Wittgenstein once said in his book Logico Tractatus Philosophicus ,“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.” This quotation means language has no limit, it’s something that can be translated into a wide variety. Both Amy Tan in the essay, “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez in the essay, “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” write about their struggle with their identities not only because of their race, but also the language there families speak. Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez both struggled with there families language conflicting with the need to speak the language of society. While children they share similarities with their struggles, and they differ in their perception of the importance of maintaining their families…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the greatest questions we ask ourselves is “Who am I?” We gain life experiences, entertain ourselves with personality tests, and even inquire psychics about our being. The truth is, our identity is not a static matter. Richard Rodriguez struggles with his cultural identity between California and Mexico. His conflicting feelings are conveyed within the introduction of his written work, Days of Obligation. Through juxtaposition, paradox, and oxymoron, Rodriguez compares the cultures, and eventually comes to the conclusion that both represent him equally.…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    As a young girl growing up in Haiti, I experienced first hand that the path my parents chose for themselves was not the life that I wanted for myself. I was able to relate closely to Richard Rodriguez in “The Achievement Desire” because he faced many struggles that I too faced as a young girl. My parents always pressured me to work hard at school, I was always suppose to have my homework for Monday done by Friday night, which made me so mad at my parents. Just like Rodriguez was furious at his parents for forcing him into English classes, which started his separation from his parents. “The Achievement Desire” written by Richard Rodriguez is a story of a man who found himself through education. His whole life he was eager to read books and learn more . He was the kid in class who always raised his hand, and would always be caught reading a book at home all by himself. He came from a middle class Mexican family that had struggled to make it to where they were. His parents were somewhat educated, but worked hard to make a living, similar to mine. His siblings were also smart, but Richard always felt like he was by himself. He had great parents but hints that there was never that special bond between them. His family and school were two different worlds that he had to learn to live with. His values of family and education, which I am also able to relate to along with his inner struggle to separate from the life led by his parents. throughout the essay, I will be discussing the similarities and differences Rodriguez and I shared, such as, our immigrants parents, the language barrier between ourselves and our parents, and wanting a better life for ourselves…

    • 2095 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays