Hunger of memory

The autobiographical book, Hunger of Memory, published by Richard Rodriguez is an interesting account of his education. It narrates the experience of a young Spanish boy being assimilated from his native Spanish culture and eventually adopting the American culture, seemingly by default. Hunger of Memory narrates the privileges enjoyed by Richard, a Spanish minority, and the impact it had on his attitude and his perspective. This book is about the effect of language, education, and the environment on Richard’s transition from childhood to adulthood. The story is centred on Richard Rodriguez, a young man who is privileged to have an education as opposed to his unlearned Spanish counterparts. In order to acquire an education and fit into a school, he had to become a part of the American public society especially by convert understanding (Rodriguez, 2004).

He begins his story by recounting his first couple of months in school. His first few days are awkward and lonely. He is afraid to speak because he knows very little English but is eloquent in his native language Spanish. He, however, realizes how important it is for him to learn English in order to fit into the American education system and benefit from it. The nuns at his school realize the boy’s dilemma and request his parents to start speaking English at home.

They advice his parents to speak English at home in order to help their children learn how to speak English faster. Rodriguez explains that this changes a lot in his home. This hastens his assimilation to the American culture. In fact, he eventually becomes comfortable speaking English at home and is confident enough to answer a question in class. This assures him that he finally belongs to the public. This, in his view, is the first step for him and his family toward becoming Americanized.

Rodriguez admits that something was lost when he and his family switched from Spanish to English. However, he is quick to point out that he gained important things. Two of the most important ones were maturity and a public identity. He clearly appreciates the change that lingual change brought about and as a result he does not support bilingual education. He refutes the claims made by bilingual education activists who claim that failure to teach children in their native language will cause them to lose their individuality. He asserts that lingual assimilation is a valuable and necessary adoption.

Rodriguez is keen on obtaining information and learning as much as he can from books. This clearly sets him apart from his uneducated Spanish counterparts, and his family, and native friends. He shows how education has changed his perspective and view of everyday issues so much so that there is an obvious difference between his attitude and that of his native counterparts. His alienation, in addition to being attributed to education, is also attributed to his religion. He attests to being a Mexican Catholic, and this actually is what sets the confessional tone for his narrative.

He also attributes his alienation from the Mexican identity to the fact that he is a catholic. In complexion, Rodriguez admits that in spite of his assimilation to the American culture, he does not entirely lose sight of his roots. He says that his dark complexion and Indian looking features are a constant reminder of his ethnicity. They remind him that his assimilation does not really change who he is physically, and even though he manages to fit into the public society, he is still Spanish, and his ethnicity remains the same in spite of his assimilation to the American culture. They are a constant reminder of what he tries everyday to escape, his Spanish ethnicity. He is offered a teaching position at Yale, but he turns it down because he is convinced that the position has resulted from policies that marginalize and discriminate him as a less deserving candidate, therefore less qualified.