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Summary Of Scholarship Boy By Richard Rodriguez

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Culture is a huge part of people’s lives. They’re born into their race and the cultural history that comes with it. However, there’s always been a certain judgment that comes with the different cultures/races. For example, if someone were to ask, “What is Marcus doing tonight?” The other person may reply with, “Which Marcus? The Spanish Marcus or the Indian Marcus?” Now there’s the whole saying where people argue, “Oh well, I don’t see color.” But the human race as a society, changes their opinion of a person once knowing their race or cultural history. This stereotypical point of view that we see people in bleeds into many parts of society including government, business and academics. How a person is brought up and how they are treated in …show more content…

He illustrates himself in early years as, “ anxious about school.” However, as years went on, Rodriguez became increasingly enamored with school. So much so that he blew off his family life for reading and school work; growing annoyed at their lack of intellect. He started seeing his teachers as his mentors instead of his parents. Rodriguez's main point he tries to draw across from his personal experience is that instead of only focusing efforts on school, that children (who are in the same situation as him) should find a happy medium between school and home life such as bringing the cultural history some kids have to school and growing upon it. In the essay, it seems he regrets that he grew apart from his family during his childhood and this is a piece of literature to tell kids in the same situation as him to accept their culture. Furthermore, in Gerald Graff’s telling of his story, he explains that he shied away from literature and academic work for fear of being bullied not only for being Jewish but being a “nerd”. He recounts, “I drifted by default into the nebulous but conveniently noncommittal territory of the liberal arts.” Later in his life, though, he realized that reading is a conversation and is a lot more involving and exciting than he knew. Nonetheless, there are people in the world, like Barbara Ehrenreich, who think race and culture have no place on

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Graff grew up as a middle class Jew who lived in a racially blended Chicago neighborhood. His dad, who loved reading, tried to impress this habit upon his son, who refused to read anything but comics and sports novels. In one incident Graff recalls that his father locked Graff in his room until he finished reading Magellan. When this incident did not

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439 Words | 2 Pages

Culture People judge others by their culture. which basically means that we don’t treat them the same. Sometimes we don’t even recognize that they are even there. Everybody is different in there own way. Culture consistently informs the way one views others and the world.

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The Unknown War Have you ever wondered why kids get into the gang lifestyle? Well, in the book Always Running La Vida Loca: Gang days in L.A. by Luis Rodriguez, he opens the eyes of readers about his life and what he experienced in the gang life. This book takes place during the 1960’s to 1970’s in Southeast Los Angeles. Rodriguez explains why kids get into this gang lifestyle, he states as a Mexican he was discriminated against at a young age.

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508 Words | 3 Pages

In the article ‘Disliking Books’ written by Gerald Graff, he makes an undoubtable statement, that he is fortunate to understand something most literature or English instructors are not able to see. He talks about his constant uphill battle with literature and reading. He recalls how from a young age he struggled with all subjects, but his hatred was focused more on literature and social studies. As a child the cultural acceptance, at the time, was that boys who enjoyed literature and knowledge would have been labeled as a bookworm, or what we now refer to as a ‘nerd’. Thus giving more reason for other young boys and/or girls to bully one and other, on top of the fact that Mr. Graff was a young Jewish boy growing up in an ethnically mixed neighborhood in

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532 Words | 3 Pages

Hunger of Memory is a memoir of the educational experience of Richard Rodriguez and his journey as a first generation Mexican- American citizen. The book is compiled of a prologue, in which he states his reasons for writing, and six chapters with no specific chronological order. Richard Rodriguez grew up in a white, middle-class neighborhood and attended a Catholic school. He describes his early childhood as a war between his “public” and “private life”: a war between school and home. He struggled when he first started school, because English was his second language and he felt insecure about his shaky ability to communicate through it.

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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.

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644 Words | 3 Pages

One's Cultural Identity Everyone's culture differs, it is one way that distinguishes one from others. It is acquired, everyone is raised from it, and it determines the way one view the world and others. Imagine being in place with others that have different perspective of culture. Culture greatly informs the way one views the world and others.

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Once, American football player, coach and executive Vince Lombardi said “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. Hunger of Memory is the story of Richard Rodriguez, a Mexican American who begins his studies in California without knowing English and steps up finishing his studies at a university of prestige. His life is challenging and full of nostalgia and that is what makes the reader truly get the feeling. In Hunger of Memory, Richard feels a loss, and this is because he gives up his native language; Spanish.

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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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These quotes show his experience transitioning into a bilingual speaker between Spanish and English in the US. Rodriguez remarks, "I easily noted the difference between classroom language and the language of home" (Rodriguez 21). In this example, Rodriguez was able to tell the difference between English, his "classroom language", and Spanish, his "language of home". It is important because, as a person of bilingualism, it is a difficult struggle to separate two languages at school, and most times it can mess with a person's perspective on their identity. But this quote shows his experience slowly transitioning into a bilingual speaker as well as it becoming a part of his identity.

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628 Words | 3 Pages

Every day we use our culture. Whether it be to argue claims, express opinions, or make decisions, culture plays a part in each area. Culture is who we are, one’s identity, its extent is enormous over our views and actions. A person grows up surrounded with culture at a young age. This can affect how they learn and what they learn.

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Living in New York City, we encounter different cultures and groups every day, however growing up all I saw was “White”. White people on the television, White people owning businesses, White people as the President, and so forth. In contrast, the “minorities” were almost always portrayed in a less valuable role, especially through the media. This was very disappointing growing up as a Latina, also known as a “minority”, making me feel as though my culture, along with others, were not as important. Although one may discriminate against your culture, does that make it right for you to do the same in return?

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295 Words | 2 Pages

Richard Rodriguez wrote “Scholarship Boy” to explain the range of conflicting emotions he felt over receiving an education while growing up at home with his immigrant parents. He enjoyed school and learned quickly, but soon he knew more than his parents could comprehend. He was ashamed of his parents for not knowing as much as he did and this drove him away from them and more towards his instructors and his books. Though his parents were proud of him, he struggled to feel anything but embarrassed of them and this affected how he viewed himself and the education he was blessed to have. When Gerald Gaff was young, he did not feel that books related to his life and that they, therefore, were not worth reading.

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1355 Words | 6 Pages

Without the knowledge of what culture is and does, we as a society would be lost. In the essay, “An Indian Father’s Plea” by Robert Lake, the author takes to explain to his audience that your culture can greatly impact your perspective of others. For example, when the teacher Wind-Wolf a slow learner, the father writes a letter explaining why wind-wolf is not, but in fact the opposite. The author said “If you ask him how many months there are in a year he will probably tell you 13. He will respond this way not because he does not know how to count, but because he was taught by our traditional people.”

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866 Words | 4 Pages

Rather than discussing the evils of apartheid, Coetzee lets his readers see how apartheid affects relationships through events in his own life. The relationship between the young boy and his mother is a love-hate relationship. He wants to separate himself from her, and determines to share nothing with her. When his mother doesn´t have enough money for three circus tickets and choose to stay outside in the blazing sun waiting for him and his brother, he sees her behaviour as ‘’blinding, overwhelming, self-sacrificial love’’ that demands ‘’a debt of love’’ which he is unwilling to pay.

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