Patrick Wygant
Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez
1. “Those gringo sounds they uttered startled me. Pushed away. In that moment of trivial misunderstanding and profound insight, I felt my throat twisted by unsounded grief. I turned quickly and left the room. But I had no place to escape to with Spanish. (The spell was broken.) My brother and sisters were speaking English in another part of the house.” (Rodriguez, 21) This quote asserts the dominance of the English language, and white culture. In order to assimilate into Delpit’s Culture of Power, “the rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of those who have power.” Those who have power are the English speaking white people, and in order for Rodriguez to properly assimilate, he must abandon his Spanish speaking culture. This is similar to Wind Wolf, and how he needed to abandon his culture in order to “be white”
2. “My mother! My father! After English became my primary language, I no longer knew what words to use in addressing my parents.” (Rodriguez, 23) This quote is a sad depiction describing Rodriguez’s life after his assimilation into white culture. Rodriguez no longer has the privilege of addressing his parents. Being forced to learn the English language destroyed Rodriguez’s own culture, and way of life. It forces one to think, how good is white culture if it can destroy families.
3. “Most of those people who called me pocho could have spoken English to me. But they would not.” (Rodriguez, 30) After Rodriguez has worked to get into white culture, he is shunned, and taunted by his family. The culture of power allows Rodriguez to work publically, but he is now denied a private life with his family.
I enjoyed this reading, but felt bad for Rodriguez throughout the piece. He was forced into the white culture of power, and the price he paid was his relationship with his family. This text is similar to the reading about Wind Wolf, who was also forced to abandon his culture in order to become something, that other people want his to be. This article seems to make an argument for teaching more language classes in school, in order to preserve other people’s cultures.
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I agree it does remind me of Wind Wolf, but his father was afraid that this would happen. His culture would die out. Just as Rodriguez's Spanish did in his own home.
ReplyDeleteI also felt bad for the young boy in this article because he had to sacrafice an intimate relationship with his faimly in order to succeed and feel confident in todays society. Off topic good job today in class- I'm glad that you were on my debate team.
ReplyDeleteI have this one on the Kindle, and it translates well. Footnotes, TOC work fine. But most of all, it's the text and the mechanics. This is a classic in the San Francisco community college arena, where English 101 instructors push the text, through anthologies that have included it, or the book itself. He was a bit more frequent on NPR 5 or so years ago, but not as much. As soon as affirmative action comes into play again, they'll call him back. Some say he's too flowery, something characteristic of minority English students. There are two other books that come to mind when I think of pulling this one up: Reality Hunger: A Manifesto and Ilustrado: A Novel. I'll be rereading Hunger of Memory shortly.
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