Analysis Of Richard Rodriquez's Essay 'Achievement Of Desire'
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In Richard Rodriquez’ essay, “The Achievement of Desire”, experiences with education and how a desire to acquire knowledge has the possibility of straining family relationships are explored. Rodriquez describes himself as a “scholarship boy”; the type of student who is “Always successful” but “always unconfident”, he was “anxious and eager to learn”, in conjunction with being “an imitative and unoriginal pupil” (339). In essence, Rodriquez is saying that while he was curious and excited about learning, he was also dubious of himself and his ideas; Rodriquez reflects on his experiences in the classroom when he states “A primary reason for my success in the classroom was that I couldn’t forget that schooling was changing me and separating me…show more content… Several years later, Rodriquez comes to the conclusion that “because of my schooling, I had grown culturally separated from my parents, my education finally had given me ways of speaking and caring about that fact (355). At this point, Rodriquez realized that although his parents are not enlightened in the same way as the instructors he idolized, they possess the knowledge of his culture that his education lacked. My similar experience with education has allowed me to relate to…show more content… I believe this is extremely prominent in some of the books that I have read in high school such as Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, and To Kill a Mockingbird. I struggled to read these books because I wrestled with the ideas they brought forth, but after completing them, I grew to appreciate and love these novels. These are the books that taught me how to look beyond the words and discover a meaning in them. While I never would have chosen these books on my own, I am thankful that they were required reading because they opened my mind to a new genre. When I am allowed to choose a book I want to read, it is generally some romance, history, self-help type book such as The Fault in Our Stars, A Million Little Pieces or Orphan Train. These books tend to contrast significantly with the insightful, “thinking-required” books that I have read for school. In school, the instructors were concerned with literary elements such themes, symbols, and important quotations. While there is a reason we learn these elements and how to examine them, when I read for pleasure, I like to believe that the curtains are purple because the author liked purple, not because it is a symbol of wealth or