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Hunger Of Memory Martin Espada Analysis

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Unjust Treatment To Bilinguals
What is bilingualism? Is bilingualism just the ability of speaking two languages, or is it simply understanding the two languages? For many, bilingualism is not just fluency in speaking two or more languages. Examples of this are for Martin Espada and Richard Rodriguez. Espada is an essayist and was a tenant lawyer. He learns Spanish as his second language and defends the injustice of Latinos. Rodriguez is a son of Mexican immigrants and didn’t learn English until he was almost 7, he later earns a Ph.D. in English. Espada’s writes an essay, and Rodriguez writes a book called “Hunger of Memory”, both having pros and cons about being bilingual. Espada’s definition of bilingualism is that you need to know and appreciate the language and its culture. For Rodriguez, it is that you must have confidence in the languages you know. For me, it is that you need to understand the culture and know the language. …show more content…

Espada remarks how “roughly half…” of the barrio group who were “...new arrivals, spoke little English: the other half … spoke little Spanish” (241-243). Most of the references to one culture will not apply nor have any affect on the other half. Espada also believes that a bilinguals should have the right to speak their language whenever and wherever. In his poem “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School”, speaks of how boys were speaking in Spanish without knowing the principle was in one of the stalls. Hearing Spanish, the principal decides to ban Spanish in the bathrooms. This suggests that people fear what they don’t know, even if the people speaking it is speaking among

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