Intimacy In 'Aria' By Richard Rodriguez

Intimacy is a valued trait. It is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “close familiarity or friendship”. People are creatures of relationship, and close relationships are coveted. Intimate relationships must grow and thrive to remain healthy. Therefore, for one to maintain an intimate relationship, communication is essential. In “Aria”, an essay by Richard Rodriguez, he clearly has an intimate relationship with his family. Richard claims that “language is not intimacy”, meaning that the language one speaks does not bring about intimacy, but rather the meaning that a language or the words within that language hold convey the intimacy. Rodriguez shapes this idea by describing the weight that Spanish held in his life, using metaphors and personification to illustrate his connection

The man had called out, saying “Hijito…”, which equates to “my boy” in English (Rodriguez 312). The weight that certain languages carry for individuals is demonstrated here. If the worker had simply said “my boy” to Rodriguez, he would have thought nothing of it, but because the man said “Hijito…”, he resurrected deep emotions within Rodriguez by using a language that Rodriguez held to a high standard. The man

used Rodriguez’s private, intimate language. Rodriguez also writes about an experience he had with a nun when he hears the nuns singing. He said that the nuns’ singing assured him that his family was remembered in their prayers. Traditionally, individuals remember the dead in their prayers, and Rodriguez uses the metaphor of his family being dead to signify the effect that no longer using Spanish had on him. He saw himself and his family as dead to the others who shared their private and intimate understanding of the Spanish language. Rodriguez also personifies Spanish in the same passage when he states that the voice of a Spanish woman “came near, like the face of a never-before- seen relative” (Rodriguez 312). Here, Rodriguez used