The achievement of desire

Richard Rodriguez’s essay “The Achievement of Desire” can be described as an autobiographical text in which the author includes some self analysis in comparison to what he describes as the only description of “myself”(Rodriguez p.547): The Uses of Literacy by Richard Hoggart. What Rodriguez is doing by writing this essay is to add further notion of the “scholarship boy syndrome” for future scholarship boys. His motif for doing this could be to make the reader reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of starting this profound experience as scholarship boy. At the end of his educational career Rodriguez makes it clear that he has suffered too much for the detachment from his family. This separation led him to miss out on a vital part of his life: family and friends. He does not want other people to experience this “loss” and his writing serves that purpose. The incorporation of Hoggart’s views shows us that besides being a good writer, Rodriguez is an excellent and tenacious reader. My personal opinion is that Rodriguez radically changed after having read The Uses of Literacy, his life goal has been to get an education and when he finally gets it he feels like he left something behind. Rodriguez is present in 3 different ways in his essay; the child Rodriguez, fully immersed in the educational system is the perfect example of the “scholarship boy”. He sets himself definite boundaries between school life and “home” life but doesn’t balance the two as he gives more importance to the apprehending and instructive aspect rather than socializing with his family and friends, “the balance is lost”(Rodriguez p.549). In fact, he rarely mentions his social life and friends because he has no time for them. Reading and studying are his main focuses -- “but then, with ever-increasing intensity, I devoted myself to my studies” -- in the early stages and this sets him apart from the “normal” children of that age who play and have fun (Rodriguez p.547). What drives Rodriguez