Blog Post #3

Richard Rodriguez
The Hunger of Memory

Connections

Midway through The Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez reflects on a memory of when three of his school nuns showed up at his home to discuss his classroom progress with his parents.  The nuns questioned whether he and his siblings only spoke Spanish while at home.  They questioned whether it was possible for them to try an encompass English while they are at home.  Reading this I immediately connected it to An Indian Father's Plea.  In both situations the school officials are insisting that the families change their practices in order to better fit in with school practices.  The parents of Richard Rodriguez believed this was the only way their children could receive a good education, and so they deserted their native language in order to be better accepted and understood in the school institution.  In this story, the parents are willing to give up a huge part of their culture and lives in order to succumb to the towns norms and culture.  It's hard to think that schools have the power and ability to influence families so much so that they are willing (and sometimes not so willing) to lose a part of themselves in order to receive an education.  In An  Indian Father's Plea however, the father and family were not willing to lose a part of them as easily.  They attempted to get the school to see how much their child has to offer to the school and not just the other way around.  Unfortunately, much like in An Indian Father's Plea, schools today always seem to point the finger at the families to see what it is the families can do to change their ways instead of the other way around.

Point to share:
I thought it was very interesting how in the beginning of his story, Richard Rodriguez had trouble being understood by those in his community when he tried to speak English.  He only knew very few words and when he was sent to the store around the block he spoke very little broken English.  By the end of his story, after being in school for two years he still had great difficulty speaking. However, now it was not English that he had trouble with, but Spanish! His native language, one which he was used to hearing almost every day in his home.  The language in which he felt at ease hearing was now one that he could barely articulate.  He struggled to speak with his grandmother when she came to visit.  The culture he was surrounded with and experienced everyday had now become his own.  His own father was seen as an outcast in his family because he could not speak the language which they all could not once speak.  It was amazing to me, how in such a short period of time the culture of a family could have been totally altered.
Rodriguez talks about the "public language" and how it is presumed to be English.  How can a country made up of immigrants, from all different nations, establish one, single public language?  I thought about how I would feel if me and my family were the minority.  How would my life and my educational experience have been different if I didn't know the language spoken by my teachers and peers?

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