Rodriguez & His Lack of Hunger for Memory

If you were to ask me what my honest opinions would be on Richard Rodriguez's Hunger for Memory I would say that I was disappointed. I may have gotten the wrong impression for his overall perspective on his upbringing, but the general tone I received was that he was trying to hide his culture and where he came from. In Rodriguez's memoirs, he often explains how he asked his mother to speak English in a Spanish-speaking household, and how he would hide his good grades from his siblings so that he didn't have to deal with the ridicule that he would receive if they found out about him. Rodriguez also explained the times when he would hide in his closet just to read a book and this gave off the impression that he wanted to escape his atmospheric reality.



I was unimpressed by his lack of pride in his family and culture. And the reason being is because I saw a lot of myself in Richard Rodriguez. Perhaps, it was because my mother didn't attend college, or because my dad didn't put his degree in finance to use. I wanted badly to be that one person in our small family to prove that not only could I balance my love of learning and reading books with being able to participate in leisurely activities throughout my teenage years, but that I could also use that same balance when I graduated and advanced in my career. The only incredible difference from that of Rodriguez's family and my family (because I can't seem to help myself from comparing) is that my parents spoke English to me and didn't raise me to speak Spanish. Perhaps, this is why Rodriguez felt so inclined to get as far away as he could from his culture.



Undoubtedly, one would always want to move away from stereotypes. I believe that this was the motivation that sparked Rodriguez for being so successful. In the section "The Achievement of Desire", Rodriguez truly expresses his discontent with his parents' lack of desire for educational advancement. "If, because of my schooling, I had grown culturally separated from my parents, my education finally had given me ways of speaking and caring about that fact." (585) This quote justifies how Rodriguez always intended on growing apart from his family; as extreme as this may sound, he intended on hurting his parents and siblings and in turn choosing a path where he knew that his relationship would falter. One could argue that if his parents didn't make the decisions to stay focused on providing financial means of stability for their family, then Rodriguez wouldn't have been exposed to the level of schooling that created a flourish of desire for learning. While I stand behind Rodriguez's pushing his parents to speak English and try to read books in English, as well, I don't think he should have created such a distance between him and his family. What does it matter if your siblings tease you or your parents don't seem to understand? It's all a sign of love and care, no matter what way you look at it. Maybe if Rodriguez would've held on for a while longer, rather than giving up, he would've reached through to his family and they would've been on the same educational level (or close to it as possible) as he was.