ipl-logo

The Achievement Of Desire, By Richard Rodriguez

633 Words3 Pages

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. Rodriguez stated in the first portion of his essay, “Proudly I announced that a teacher had said I was losing all trace of my Spanish accent.” He wanted to be more like his teachers and less like his parents. People started to tell him, “Your parents must be so proud!”, and all he could do was smile awkwardly. This is one of the first moments in the essay where you get the sense of Rodriguez’s conflicted feelings. He knew that his parents didn’t really understand all of his awards and they didn’t understand his obsession with knowledge and authority that he’s teachers possessed. …show more content…

Often his parents and siblings would make fun of him for his specific hunger for success. He wanted to be like his teachers, knowledgeable and successful. His obsession with books was not out of joy or for fun, he had one specific goal in mind and kept reading until he reached it. Reading did not come easy as he said it was more of a “chore.” Moving on to college he found his peers annoyed with his readiness to learn, and at the raise of his hand in class. They often thought of him as a teacher's pet. His enthusiasm that he was once applauded for now caused him rolled eyes and

Open Document