The Achievement of Desire
Richard Rodriguez’s “The Achievement of Desire”
A middle class Spanish boy from Sacramento, who calls himself the “scholarship boy”, overcame a whirlwind of emotions, decision and regrets in trying to become an educated man. He looked to his teachers as his parent figures, mimicking and idolizing them. To him education was imitation. He became very puzzling to his family because he wanted to change who he was by trying to cover all trace of his Spanish heritage and soon even lost his accent. He was teased by his siblings and parents for spending numerous hours with his head buried in different books. Richard was embarrassed by his mothers and fathers lack of grammar and education. He would ignore his parents and isolate himself from the family, but they were still very proud of him and wanted him to have a good education. They sent Richard to parochial schools and to a college they couldn’t afford. For years, reading was a pleasurable activity for him, but soon after grad school he became scared of the silence in his life and grew impatient with books and realized that he wanted something more pleasurable out of life. He was tired of being alone and realized that being who you are is never something you should change or be ashamed of.
To succeed in your educational path you must put time and effort into your work, but not so much time to where you become lost in it and forget who you are and where you came from. Richard Rodriguez forgot himself. He was in the wrong for isolating himself and for being ashamed of his parents when they did everything they could to help him succeed. He worked very hard to get where he is today, but along the way he forgot what was most important to him. He soon realized that there was more to life then he had seen and quickly changed his outlook on what he wanted to become. He found himself again and came to the conclusion that life is better when spent with family who loves you.
A middle class Spanish boy from Sacramento, who calls himself the “scholarship boy”, overcame a whirlwind of emotions, decision and regrets in trying to become an educated man. He looked to his teachers as his parent figures, mimicking and idolizing them. To him education was imitation. He became very puzzling to his family because he wanted to change who he was by trying to cover all trace of his Spanish heritage and soon even lost his accent. He was teased by his siblings and parents for spending numerous hours with his head buried in different books. Richard was embarrassed by his mothers and fathers lack of grammar and education. He would ignore his parents and isolate himself from the family, but they were still very proud of him and wanted him to have a good education. They sent Richard to parochial schools and to a college they couldn’t afford. For years, reading was a pleasurable activity for him, but soon after grad school he became scared of the silence in his life and grew impatient with books and realized that he wanted something more pleasurable out of life. He was tired of being alone and realized that being who you are is never something you should change or be ashamed of.
To succeed in your educational path you must put time and effort into your work, but not so much time to where you become lost in it and forget who you are and where you came from. Richard Rodriguez forgot himself. He was in the wrong for isolating himself and for being ashamed of his parents when they did everything they could to help him succeed. He worked very hard to get where he is today, but along the way he forgot what was most important to him. He soon realized that there was more to life then he had seen and quickly changed his outlook on what he wanted to become. He found himself again and came to the conclusion that life is better when spent with family who loves you.