Hunger Of Memory
(Richard Rodriguez)
This extremely controversial book is the biography of
Ricardo Rodriguez and follows his life from childhood,
when
he moved with his Mexican parents, brother and sister to
a
middle-class white California neighborhood. It never
occurred to his parents that they could not live
wherever
they wanted to - and that has made all the difference in
his
life. From the bellowing neighborhood "gringos" to the
nuns
who encouraged his parents to speak only English at
home,
the story painfully describes the loss of Ricardo's
mother
tongue. As Spanish fades and "Richard", as he is now
called,
belongs more and more closely to the white English
society
in which he is educated, he describes the silence that
falls
between him and his family, despite their pride in his
successes. Richard compares himself to the "scholarship
boy"
he reads about and rejoices in his integration even
while
mourning the loss of his culture and, in a way, his
family
ties and closeness. Rodriguez describes in-depth the
forces
that make him want to fit in to the dominant culture
(including the shame he comes to feel for his parents?
faulty English and Spanish accents) as well as the
processes
involved in integration and the teasing he undergoes
from
his siblings and relatives for his desire to ?become
white
?. This book came out in the 80's and was received with
vicious criticism. This man, who has reaped the benefits
of
both bilingual education and affirmative action, they
said,
now has the gall to speak out against both?!? And this
in a
time when both were gaining ground politically and seen
by
the public as the ultimate solution to the "problems"
brought on by multiculturalism. Hunger of Memory is
unique
in that one feels the politics throughout and, while the
author's agenda is very clear the whole time, it is an
extremely intimate and personal portrayal of a boy (and
then
a man) whose identity ultimately shapes his destiny.
Resumos Relacionados
- My World
- Still Rooted
- The Time Of Our Singing
- Supremacy Of The English Language
- My Sister's Keeper
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