ipl-logo

Analysis Of Ari Memoir Of A Bilingual Childhood By Richard Rodriguez

556 Words3 Pages

Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” is written by Richard Rodriguez and “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What Is?” is written by James Baldwin. In their presentations, both authors imply that language is a part of a person’s culture and a key to one’s identity and how people around them were all trying to change in order to make them similar to everyone else. “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” is written by Richard Rodriguez. He was born in San Francisco and raised in Sacramento, California. Rodriguez was a literary scholar and teacher who later became an essayist and journalist. This presentation is based on language and identity. Rodriguez states that it was a struggle growing up in an English speaking environment because of his heritage. He didn’t feel like he fit in with the other kids at his school. He learned that going back and forth with switching languages had some positive and negative effect on him. Throughout his essay, he shows that after a while of practicing English he diverted from Spanish to English becoming his first language. …show more content…

Spanish was the language that created this bond and closeness within his family that was unbreakable. After struggles in school, Rodriguez parents decided it was time to push him and his siblings to adapt to a different language (English). Six months later he spoke English fluently while losing the Spanish speaking side of himself. According to Rodriguez, “I came to feel guilty. (This guilt defied logic.) I felt that the intimate bond that had once held the family close” (336). As he drew closer towards being Americanized, he realized that the feeling of closeness at home was decreasing. Rodriguez lost his identity because of the teachers who taught that Spanish was an inappropriate language and that he needed to speak a public

Show More
Related
102 Words | 1 Pages

Gloria Anzaldúa, in the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” (1987), claims her experiences as a Chicano taught her that her culture was not looked at highly in comparison to the English language. Anzaldúa argues her view about her Chicano language by giving examples of both cultures Chicano Mexican and American cultures. Anzaldúa’s purpose is to inform her audience on how it is to grow up in a Chicano speaking family. Anzaldúa writes in a frustrating tone throughout the story of her life experiences. Thesis: Anzaldúa use of her personal experiences, and Music, Film and Literature are relevant sufficient and

Read More
557 Words | 3 Pages

How is this purpose conveyed? The audience for this piece are people who are interested in Rodriguez’s childhood and education and seeing how scholarship children can become successful. The writer’s purpose is to explain why and how he became a scholarship and academically successful in a bilingual household with the family’s main focus on Spanish. This purpose is shown as the writer takes the reader on a journey through his childhood.

Read More
701 Words | 3 Pages

Rodriguez would speak English in school because to him it was a “public language”, while Spanish was a “private language” (72). Rodriguez

Read More
487 Words | 2 Pages

In his widely admired piece, Aria, author Richard Rodriguez carefully illustrates the concept of individuality being influenced by the people and community surrounding oneself, through his personal experiences as a bilingual student in America. Rodriguez shares his story in order to inform the general public and to simply raise awareness of the struggles and hardship that bilingual people endure while forced to learn a secondary language to survive in a judgemental environment. Richard Rodriguez, also known as Ricardo, states that he first started to associate Spanish with being his “home language” or “family language” even before he started to learn language itself. He writes about his happy home life, and the strong connection he has with his family when they speak Spanish. He also writes about the strange sounds of English, the language of ‘los gringos’.

Read More
145 Words | 1 Pages

Richard Rodriguez’s claim about a person's identity is the using race as a basis for identifying Americans is not valid; culture should be what defines a identity. Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were being “welcomed within a new community for reasons of culture. “ (136-137). Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were welcomed when they were identified by their culture. Richard Rodriguez also says “I am Chinese, and that is because I live in a Chinese city and I want to be Chinese.“

Read More
283 Words | 2 Pages

If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is? By James Baldwin explains to the reader what black English is and where black English comes from. Baldwin writes about how humans use language as a means of controlling the world around them. Baldwin explains that people may speak the same language in one area of the world, but then people who speak the same language elsewhere are no longer speaking the same language. Baldwin using French as an exampling, Baldwin compares french-speaking people from Quebec to people who live in Paris.

Read More
525 Words | 3 Pages

Antonio was intimidated by English at school because he came from a Spanish speaking family. Spanish was all that he knew and to him that was normal but to the other kids and teachers at school it was weird and abnormal. There are many examples of dichotomy in the book. For example the vaquero’s and the farmers had different lifestyles and there was constant fighting. With Antonio’s dad being a vaquero and his mom being a farmer, he grew up listening to the constant bickering about who was better and how they should raise their kids.

Read More
601 Words | 3 Pages

He supports this argument by telling his own story of being forced to learn English by the bilingual education system. The experience he had learning English made him experience great embarrassment, sadness, and change. Rodriguez concludes his experience by discussing how English had changed his personal life at home: “We remained a loving family, but one greatly changed. No longer so close;no longer bound tight by the pleasing and troubling knowledge of our public separateness.” By learning English, Rodriguez’s family is finally able to integrate into society without language barriers.

Read More
813 Words | 4 Pages

He later found the different between the two languages. For example, classroom language is the same as public language while home language is the same as private language. Rodriguez felt more comfortable in speaking Spanish, his private language, than English. Therefore causing him to not really participate or speak in class. Out of the blue, his teacher came to visit his family asking “ to encourage your children to practice their English when they are home.

Read More
943 Words | 4 Pages

In her writing, Tan often describes her experiences as the child of Chinese immigrants, growing up in northern California and living in American culture. Tan explains how she has learned to embrace the many Englishes her mother speaks and how her background has also caused her to have different Englishes. While others classify her mother's English as "broken" she finds no fault in it. In Tan's view, just because something is broken does not necessarily mean that it is in need of fixing. In her essay, author Amy Tan addresses the connections between languages and cultures in describing the different Englishes her mother uses.

Read More
1312 Words | 6 Pages

However, the journey to learning a new language at a young age is something his parents can never relate to. Richard Rodriguez shares many experiences with his parents once they move to the United States

Read More
678 Words | 3 Pages

This quote explains that the author feels out of place. When Barrientos came to the United States she stopped speaking spanish, partly because her parents wanted her to speak english. One reason she did not want to be classified as Mexican American was that society has negative connotations outsiders. Learning spanish

Read More
500 Words | 2 Pages

Spanish was my first language and neither one of my parents knew english. I would go to school and just listen and try to learn every little thing I could get my hands

Read More
199 Words | 1 Pages

When I came to the United States I did not know a word of English, to be able to learn I submerge myself in the language and the culture. I was able to learn the language within six months, but what I did not noticed was that in part, I lost the ability to speak perfect Spanish. I was so concentrate on fitting in and learning the language, that I lost part of my Hispanic culture. I noticed that I had difficulty reading and writing on the language I had learned many years ago. To regain part of my culture, I began to read my mother’s favorite book in Spanish.

Read More
651 Words | 3 Pages

Time after time, I encountered people of my culture who needed assistance, only now, I could help on my own. At this point, I had taken my high school's Spanish classes, I practiced Spanish with my parents, and my Spanish had improved significantly. Whether I was at work or in a hospital, I quickly realized that my bilingual identity was also developing another part of my personality: a passion for service. I felt determined.    Although helping others was reason enough to continue my language studies, I had other relationships left to amend.

Read More

More about Analysis Of Ari Memoir Of A Bilingual Childhood By Richard Rodriguez

Related Topics

Open Document