The Achievement Of Desire Richard Rodriguez Analysis

Imani Gibson
Prof. P. Thur
Expo-25
03.12.14
Essay One: Analyzing the Hold of ‘Tradition’ over Richard Rodriguez In his essay “The Achievement of Desire,” Richard Rodriguez chronicles his journey as a student describing his path to academic success as one of constant, internal turmoil. Rodriguez narrates as a fully educated, successful (by society’s standards) grown man, conveying the sense of loneliness and loss that he no doubt achieved along with his education. On the surface it would appear that he is simply recounting the struggle associated with being from a non-educated, middle class family. Rodriguez is constantly conflicted with self-confidence and the loyalty between home and school. This conflict does make him feel that he
Acknowledging Hoggart’s description of, ‘a scholarship boy’, one who does not think for himself, but mimics others…seems to be the place where he believes he began in his academic career. He writes, “The scholarship boy is a very bad student. He is the great mimic; a collector of thoughts, not a thinker;”(529). While reflecting back as an adult that being a mimic does not make one a good student, it was necessary in order to be taught how to succeed with a ‘good education’. This reflection shows separation from being that scholarship boy as he is able to explain what it means to be one, which would in turn infer how not to be one. A separation from this scholarship boy is suggested when Rodriguez speaks of this type of student as if in the third person. After spending a good part of the essay drawing upon his own experiences and reflections, Rodriguez dives into a full description of the scholarship boy, narrating in a way that he is speaking of someone other than himself. The transition in this type of speaking is interesting and suggests that the authority that Rodriguez has adopted into his own belief system is one that he embraces fully. Rodriguez’s metamorphose into a successful scholar grants large tribute to the system that is indirectly named. Rodriguez’s negative light on Hoggart’s opinions of a scholarship boy, while still acknowledging that a successful
As lonely as that ‘family’ may be, his reflections would not be made possible had he not conformed to the structure of the system. This essay was intended to guide all of the aspiring scholars out there so that they may be aware of the changes that will take place. Unlike Rodriguez, these scholars will be able to understand the changes that will no doubt take place, hopefully making it a bit easier to go through the conformation. Rodriguez uses the approach of narrating his own experience, rather than labeling these students as Hoggart did by describing a ‘scholarship boy’. It is not to the tradition that Rodriguez speaks, but it is to those aspiring to be in it and those afraid of not embracing it. As Adrienne Rich writes in her essay, “When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision”, “We need to know the writing of the past…not to pass on a tradition but to break its hold over us” (19). Suggesting that to acknowledge the rules around an authority, we can break away from it. This would be true in Rodriguez’s case had he acknowledge the Anglo School system, which he does not, suggesting an acceptance of its