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Analysis Of Rebuttal To Hunger Of Memory By Richard Rodriguez

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Rebuttal to Hunger of Memory Richard Rodriguez came from a Hispanic family that had little to no knowledge of the English language. That required his entire family to speak English at home and for him and his siblings to endeavor daily tutoring sessions. He stated in his memoir that learning the public language of English would drain the intimacy out of his first language: “Once I learned the public language it would never again be easy for me to hear intimate family voices (240).” This outlook has shaped his entire life. This had caused Richard to feel alienated at home, and at school, and felt ripped apart from his mother tongue, causing him in his adulthood to detest bilingual educators. I disagree with him. In his memoir Rodriguez …show more content…

Rodriguez was required to attend tutoring sessions everyday for a year. Though in his mind he was still very reluctant to learn the language. “They [his teachers] understood was that I needed to speak a public language. So their voices would search me out, asking me questions . . . But I couldn’t believe that the English language was mine to use. (In part I did not want to believe it.) I continued to mumble, I resisted the teacher’s demands . . . Silent, waiting for the bell to sound, I remained dazed, diffident, afraid . . . (239).” He rebelled against learning the language in fear of losing the familiarity and his identity, though eventually he gave in. “One day in school I raised my hand to volunteer an answer. I spoke in a loud voice . . . that day, I moved very far from a disadvantaged child I had only been days earlier. The belief, the calming reassurance that I belonged in the public, had at last taken ahold (240).” In this excerpt he exclaims that he had lost the intimacy of his mother tongue, of being forced to learn a language that he was completely against: “At last, seven years old, I came to believe what had been true since my birth: I was an American citizen (240).” In this realization he succumbs to the fact that in being an American citizen he would have to understand English: “Only when I was able to think of myself as an American . . . could I seek the rights and opportunities necessary for full public individuality

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Tan was raised in the English society and was already assimilated into society as she grew up. The language Tan was familiar with like Rodriguez was familiar to Spanish was her mother’s language, which she refers to as her “mother tongue” (Tan, 313). Tan writes about her experiences of her mother’s language as a child, and says, “…when I was growing up, my mother’s ‘limited’ English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English” (314).

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Most individuals are apprehensive about changes, but there may be no reason. Changes can bring benefits to those who experience them. In the essay “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” Richard Rodriguez explores his life as a bilingual child. He discusses the many changes he experiences as he goes from being fluent in Spanish to being fluent in English. Rodriguez dissuades the reader against bilingual education which is the education of nonnative English speakers in their native language.

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Rodriguez’s English was not the best, and because of that he would either be silent or quietly mumble when asked to participate by one of the nuns (73). Since his lack of participation was noticeable and showed little progress, some of his teachers visited Rodriguez’s home to ask his parents to “encourage your children to practice their English when they are home?” (73). Rodriguez one day walks in on his parents speaking Spanish, but when they see him they switch to English, which offends and over the days that follows angers him enough to decide to seriously learn English. Rodriguez even willingly decides to participate in class (74).

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Rodriguez claims people have an advantage when knowing the English language. When he spoke out in class and his classmates understood him, “That day, I moved very far from the disadvantaged child I had been only days earlier. The believer, the calming assurance that I belonged in public, had at last taken hold” (Rodriguez 97-100). When Rodriguez finally was able to speak English and get over the fear of speaking, he was able to believe in himself more. He was also now able to understand the people around him, their tones and the way they spoke finally registered to him and made him feel accepted in public life that he once never thought he could be a part of.

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Being born to parents who speak Chinese, my first language was Chinese. Growing up, I struggled learning the complex language of English. I had to be in ELD, English Literacy Development, class for years and only until I went to middle school, did I not go to ELD anymore. I was relentlessly made fun of for my grammar in school and I was always afraid to bring Chinese food for lunch because I was scared of people making fun of me.

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In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus should be considered a hero! Odysseus has done more good deeds than bad deeds throughout the years of the Odyssey. Odysseus has saved lives more than he has taken them for no good reason. Odysseus has honored people more than dishonored people. Today’s hero code is completely different than in Odysseus’s time.

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However, in order for one to truly understand the arguments made by the authors they must also understand the context behind these arguments; therefore, knowing how the individual authors’ definition of bilingualism lets the reader truly absorb what points they’re trying to make and why. In Espada’s essay, he defines bilingualism as a way for a person to remain in contact with their different cultural identities. There are many areas in the essay where the reader could interpret this definition from. However, the most significant piece of evidence appears at the beginning of the essay where Espada mentions his friend Jack Agueros’ analogy to describe his bilingualism “English and Spanish are like two dogs I love. English is an obedient dog.

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In Richard Rodriguez’s essay, “The Achievement of Desire” he brings you through important memories of his life that impacted his education, and more specifically his reading and writing. As a child, he was eager to learn and ready to soak up all the knowledge he could get. He received many awards and good feedback from his teachers which gave him all the more motivation to learn more. Soon his motivation came out of annoyance of his parents.

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She struggles occasionally from day to day tasks. Since Tan’s mother English was poor, she tends to ask Tan for help “...she used to have me call people and the phone and pretend I was she” (300). Tan’s mother would tell Tan to pretend to be her to complain, ask for more information, and even

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When she was around others she would talk differently than how she talks with her mother. “…all the forms of Standard English that I had learned in school and through book, the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother” (118). Throughout her story she refers to the English her mother speaks as “Broken English” because her mother would say sentences like “Why he don’t send me check, already two weeks ago, but it hasn’t arrived” (119). Her mother didn’t have much difficulty understanding or reading English. When Tan was younger, she would feel embarrassed when her mother would speak because many people couldn’t understand her well.

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“My classmates reacted as though I’d attributed the delivery to the Antichrist. They were mortified” (Ibid, 464). He quickly discovers that he is not on one side of the cultural divide but two sides. He neither understands nor is understood. This series of events leads to him questioning the reason for learning a new language and inferring that he would rather be ignorant because he doubts his ability to learn.

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