Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Hunger

Good Essays
657 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hunger
Hunger
Nilsa Mariano stated that “The blonde, tall woman of solid build and thick glasses who thinks the children at her school should continue to develop their artistic side because after all the school isn’t raising rocket scientists here” (522) because she wanted the children at her school to embrace their origins without the fear of being ridiculed or criticized. This was achieved when the narrator spent time with them every day at her school helping them to improve their artistic sides and the result of it was immense. “The school was about 30 percent Latino or from Spanish-speaking homes” (Mariano, 522) yet the school system only adopted a bilingual system which made cultural integration difficult for the Latinos, Blacks and Asians.
Hunger for expression in one’s native language is vital and her perspective is well spelt out, but I believe she is wrong. Her saying considers the expression of the student’s artistic origin and not just the conventional art and language forms, what she expected was that the students should understand their language and culture as well as any other as it would be unjust for them to study art and culture forms without studying theirs as well. The concept is good but the approach is not because this will estrange the students to idea of embracing other methods of learning and thus the isolation of their interest and make a self-centered approach of learning since they will have it in mind that everything from then on should revolve around their origin. Also, the use of a multicultural learning approach may more or less make the students have a go at language and arts but may just be average in all the languages since their focus will be split by this approach.
The kids had a negative effect from her perspective because this completely criticizes and disapproves the tall blonde woman educational curriculum. The students want to disapprove of any other culture that is not theirs. This effect can outlast the initial stage of learning and pell-mell into the future. When the students completely believe that there are second class citizens and see themselves as not a part of the community. It could also lead to lack of interest for other cultures as the students begin to develop a form of resistance from anything that is non-Hispanic. The reason for this lies in their thirst for expressive freedom and the need to break free from what they have viewed as chains; the lack of native expression at school.
Educational system indirectly made the Hispanics to hunger for the need to explore their native arts. In some cases, students are assumed to be dull because of their nationality or race. Becker and Andrew expresses this concern that “there are many cases of schools deciding students of color are 'not college material' and enrolling them in less than the most rigorous courses” (1). This negative effect can only be understood when felt, it is therefore, “no doubt that Generally speaking, school systems suffer from institutional racism” (Becker and David) proposed this (1)
The hunger the students had was not a usual hunger; it was not one for food but for acceptance, for acknowledgement and notice, Mariano reports that “the hunger to be recognized as real people, with gifts and talents that the world needs, The hunger to feel that they, too, could speak, dream, dance, and eat in Spanish, without fear of being seen as different or less” (522) is all they desired. The tall woman of solid build and thick glasses deeply expressed herself without any sentiments because she felt their culture is as important but the negative effect on the kids also had its own effect.

Reference
Becker, David. “Change in education: As Latino students near a majority in public schools, questions arise on how California will address shift.” Business and Economics Jul 24, 2006 : 1. Print.
Nilsa Mariano. Hunger. (522)

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Hunger

    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the story hunger author Anne Lamott introduces herself and her struggle with food addiction and her battle with eating disorders that she suffered in the early part of her life. In this story she talks about her life how she was growing up, her personal obsession with food, her battle with alcoholism, and addiction to eating. Lamott in the short story hunger also covers her struggle for life with the eating disorder bulimia. The author throughout her story learns that her addiction and her battle with alcoholism were only symptoms of deeper lying problems, and eventually the manner in which she overcame all of that against all odds. The road was not simple but as you read the story “Hunger” and you connect with the author and her struggle then you really sees how hard the battle really was, not only did she overcome all of her disorders and addictions but she had a new lease on life, she learned to live once more.…

    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Se Habla Espanol by Tanya Barrientos was about a Latina girl who struggled with her identity. She was born in Guatemala but has lived in America since she was three years old. In the beginning she was somewhat embarrassed by her Hispanic heritage. Tanya felt inferior to the white people because of how she looked and because of her last name. The tone of the essay was a serious and desperate cry for help. It seemed she was speaking to anyone who could listen and relate to her. Tanya wrote from her point of view and how she felt like a “gringa” trapped in a Latina girl’s body.…

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Se Habla Espanola

    • 640 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Barrientos audiences are anyone who struggles with fitting in society just she do. When Barrientos expressed her disagreement of American society’s alleged of Latino being Mexican to her father, he sent her on a vacation to Mexico and after seeing how beautiful Mexico is, adjusted Barrientos negative understanding of Hispanics. “I found out that he was right, I loved the music, the art, and the architecture. “He’d planted a seed of pride, but it would take years for me to figure out how to nurture it” (85). Barrientos limitation of speaking Spanish hinders her bonding with her origin because Spanish aside from English was a way that Latinos connected. Barrientos was left questioning how she would fit in as Latino if she could not speak proper Spanish.…

    • 640 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Stereotype About Identity

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages

    ‘It’s Hard Enough Being Me’ by Raya is a short story about her own experience. It seems to be the cultural awakening of a female college student that occurs when she goes off to college in New York. Coming from the Mexican American family, Raya did not think much about where she comes from and who she is until college. Raya says, “In El Sereno, I felt like I was part of the majority, whereas at the College I am a minority” (119). Now that she is in a new environment, she feels detached from the society. Moreover, Raya’s mom did not want to teach her Spanish because she des not want her daughter be called “spic” or “wetback” (119). Raya had the advantage of being Mexican and Puerto Rican, but never had the chance to develop her main language when she was a little girl because it would be used against her. In this essay, the author uses the emotional appeal to show that how she is treated by Mexicans when she can’t speak perfect Spanish as well as how she is treated by Americans while attempting to speak the language. “Soy yo and no one else. Punto.”(120), this last sentence in her article uses two competing languages and it…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Living as a Hispanic individual during the 1950’s and 1960’s proved to be difficult. This struggle was widely seen in the rural Hispanics schools. Many students in schools of east LA lived this while many not knowing it.…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anzaldua

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When analyzing Gloria Anzaldua’s writing “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” it is important to look at her background. She comes from a very diverse background; her parents were immigrants, she was born in south Texas, and she identifies herself as a Chicana feminist. The different discourse communities seen through her writing is the struggle she has between the different languages she has to adapt to around different people in her life. Writing from the borderlands between American, Mexican, Spanish, Indian, Chicano, and Mestiza culture, Anzaldua creates a representation of the wide range of forces within herself and the culture from which comes.…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As a son of Mexican American immigrants, Richard Rodriguez recounts the story of his childhood and his struggle to assimilate into American culture. In Aria: A memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, Rodriguez always felt like an outcast whenever he set foot outside of his house. As a young child, he exclusively spoke Spanish to members of his household and tried his best to learn and speak English in the real world. He “regarded Spanish as a private language. It was a ghetto language that deepened and strengthened [his] feeling of public separateness” (Rodriguez 505) because it identified him as a member of his family and it served as a link to his own Mexican heritage. By speaking Spanish, he communicates a certain level of intimacy with all of his relatives. However, as his narrative progresses, he finds himself slowly breaking away from that intimacy as he begins to speak more English, both by force and social pressure. Teachers scolded him if he spoke anything but English and his peers Americanized his name into Richard (rather than calling him Ricardo.) He began to feel like a traitor by mastering this “public language” when his relatives began treating him differently. His bilingual childhood was an enormous adversity that Rodriguez had to overcome.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Born in a Mexican immigrant family and moving to a city in California, Sacramento, Rodriguez had already known from the start that he’s “different” from the rest of the children in the area. He was hispanic. He felt the difference expressively at school and it was not just because of his physical appearance. The difference of is what isolated him the most. They differed socially. He felt a disconnect between Spanish, the language he used at home which offered comfort, versus English, the language used in the public world which to him was foreign. Rodriguez felt the separation from his English-speaking classmates, as he struggled to master this “public” language and hopefully gain acceptance. Since its founding days, U.S. had always been a melting pot of diverse ethnicities. Welcoming newcomers while insisting they learn and embrace its civic culture. It was suggested that those who come here in America should become Americans. Upon entering grade school, it was a massive culture shock for Rodriguez. He was put in an ESL class expected to learn English, to speak English, and communicate in English, but of course in a “English as a Secondary language” setting. It was a challenging transition, however, with practice, Rodriguez began to slowly adopt the English language giving him and his…

    • 1207 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Her mother would tell her that she needed to master english, while her teacher would tell her that she would never belong in a class that spoke English. As her mother would say “I want you to speak English. Pa’hallar buen trabajo tienes que saber hablar el ingles bien. Que vale toda tu educación si todavía hablas el ingles con un “accent”, my mother would say, mortified that I spoke English like a Mexican “(Anzaldua 31) Anzaldua struggled to find her roots, to find a side that she identified with the most. Anzaldua explains this struggle in the following quote “We are constantly exposed to the Spanish of the Mexicans, on the other side we hear the Anglos’ incessant clamoring so that we forget our language...Neither eagle nor serpent but both. And like the ocean, neither animal respects the borders.” ( Anzaldua 33) Anzaldua was able to accept both sides of her culture without no longer feeling ashamed of her roots, she learned that she would never fit in perfectly, she would have to accept both sides of her culture and embrace…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hunger Of Memory Analysis

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In his autobiography, Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez discusses his early life as the son of Mexican immigrant parents and the beginning of his schooling in Sacramento, California. Knowing only a finite number of English words, the American life is an entirely new atmosphere for Rodriguez and his family. Throughout his book, Rodriguez undergoes a series of changes and revelations that not only hurts him but enhances him. It’s the journey of a young man who experiences alienation that changes his way of life before assimilating into the world of education. Rodriguez was submitted into a first-rate Catholic school in the white suburbs of Sacramento,…

    • 1430 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Latinos in America

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Many Americans don’t realize that the choice in language is not determined by the individual but lies in the choice parents or caregivers. This choice is one that will haunt individuals for the rest of their lives. In Barrientos’ case, her parents decided it would be best for her to only speak English. As Barrientos grew up, she embraced her parents choice, saw this as a positive trait, one that differentiated her from most Latinas. She enjoyed defying expectations. Since childhood, she felt that speaking Spanish translated to been poor, holding less desirable jobs and discrimination towards the Latino community. It is because of this that she enjoyed attending a public school that attracted few Latinos, she wanted to distance herself from the rest. In her opinion, not speaking Spanish gave her an edge over other Latinos and allowed her to successfully fit into the American Anglo society. In…

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story, the author is getting pulled in various directions. Rodriguez wants to stay true to his Mexican culture for his parents' sake claiming they, “...grow distant, apart, no longer speak,” but also wants to belong in American culture where his education has driven him to a position not many Mexicans get to or have to opportunity to be (Rodriguez 105). This story confronts the idea that anyone can succeed as long as they are willing to sacrifice their cultural identity in the process.…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scholarship Boy or Not?

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Rodriguez’s parents had very little schooling. He recalls that in third grade he was “annoyed when he was unable to get help”, on a simple mathematics assignment (546).In Hoggart’s recall on the other hand, the student was much more independent and rarely turned to his parents for aid. It is obvious that in the light of family support Rodriguez was “better of”. His mother was: “a new girl to America [she] had been awarded a high school diploma by teachers to busy or careless to notice that she hardly spoke English” (552). Rodriguez became very conscious and somewhat ashamed of his parents language barrier. Even…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    When reading this passage, it is evident that Anzaldua feels strongly about her Hispanic background and doesn’t concur with the ideology of the university and their attempts to rid students of their accents. I also construe, through reading the passage, that even though many natives don’t approve of her Chicano way of speaking, she is pleased with her heritage and culture and doesn’t concern herself with others opinions.…

    • 1605 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay Barrientos argues that the language she speaks defines her identity and who she is as a person. As Barrientos was growing up, she realized being Latin-American was not what she wanted to be, she decided to didn’t want to speak Spanish, as Barrientos says, “To me, speaking Spanish translated into being poor.” She also said “It meant waiting tables and cleaning hotel rooms. It meant being poor.” She thought if she stayed away from Spanish stereotypes they would…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays