Richard

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Richard
Rodriguez

Richard Rodriguez wrote in his essay, Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood,
about the struggles he faced growing up as a bilingual Hispanic in American
society. Throughout his essay, Rodriguez discussed such topics as assimilation
and heritage. He goes into depth about the pros and the cons of being forced to
assimilate to the American culture. Growing up Hispanic in America was a
struggle for Richard Rodriguez. This was due to the fact that he was a
Spanish-speaking boy living in an English-speaking society, and he felt like he
was different than the other children. Rodriguez attended a Roman Catholic
school where many of his classmates were the children of high-class lawyers and
doctors. He felt out of place because he was a child of two immigrant,
working-class parents. Assimilating to the American culture helped Richard feel
more at ease among the other American students. In school, Richard spoke
English, but as soon as he got home, Spanish was the language of choice. This
had a positive and negative effect on him. By speaking Spanish, it helped
Rodriguez preserve his own culture, but as a disadvantage, it yielded his
learning of English. A few times Richard heard his parents speak English, but
that was only in public. Rodriguez felt safe in his Spanish speaking home
because it was familiar to him. English seemed odd and difficult for Richard
until a few of Richard’s teachers visited his house. They asked Richard’s
parents to encourage the use of English, by using it more themselves. As Richard
began to hear English more and more, “the high, troubling sounds of los
gringos” became unnoticeable to him(92). Learning English helped Richard to
achieve many things. He began doing well in school, he made friends and he began
to feel more comfortable talking to people. It also had a negative effect on him
and his family. Richard stated, “I no longer knew what words to use in
addressing my parents”(93). By speaking English so much, a gap grew between
Richard and his parents. His parents mainly still spoke Spanish, and the
children spoke English. He wanted to forget about his Spanish speaking days, and
felt that his parents should also assimilate to the American culture.
Rodriguez's change from Spanish to English, is one of the leading factors to his
strong belief in assimilation. He feels that it is necessary to be assimilated
to the culture you...

The complete article is about 761 words and 3.04 pages long.

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