First Person Narration In Hunger Of Memory By Richard Rodriguez

In Richard Rodriguez’s autobiography, Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, Rodriguez recounts his own life growing up as a bilingual student in Sacramento, California. His autobiography addresses a multitude of different subjects, ranging from the discomfort of adjusting to American culture, to alienation due to his ethnic background, to the difficulties of the American education system. Rodriguez’s use of first person narration helps embody his feelings and outlooks at the moment, dramatically influencing the weight of his observations. His use of first person narration, ethos, pathos, and logos combine to captivate the reader within his stories of his past experiences. Rodriguez’s use of first person narration goes hand in hand with his establishment of ethos within his essay. Ethos is considered the moral element of literature and the credibility of the speaker. The use of ethos often determines whether or not the audience of a piece will trust the thoughts and actions of the speaker. By using pronouns such as “I” and “we,” in reference to both himself and his family, it allows the audience to gain first-hand accounts of a young Hispanic boy in a new American society. Rather than reading statistics of the number of children whose first language is not English and their success in the American education system, or
His essay, “Aria,” depicts the struggles a bilingual person will undergo as they attempt to both assimilate into the American culture, and attempt to simultaneously preserve their culture. The concepts that are emphasized within his essay include: the struggles of minorities in adjusting to the American culture and lifestyle, the revamp of certain educational aspects that are meant to benefit students, but in the long run, damage the students, and the struggle of preserving cultures, all of which are applicable in modern