Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez

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Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez (ISBN 0-553-27293-4) is a 1982 autobiography by Chicano intellectual Richard Rodriguez. The book, written as several separate essays, narrates Rodriguez's educational history.

[edit] Overview

The Hunger of Memory autobiography highlights the complexities of Richard Rodriguez's life from his youth to adulthood. He speaks of the distance he felt in American society as a child due to the fact that he could not speak English. He found socialization difficult because he could not fully speak the language of his community or his society. Therefore, he remained a quiet and reserved child for quite some time. However, with the help of his Catholic school teachers, the cooperation of his siblings and the support of his parents he began to speak English more fluently.

Rodriguez also worked very hard to educate himself by reading an incredible amount of books, while also being pushed by his parent's lack of full assimilation to American society. Although the latter seemed to be a negative aspect of his will to succeed, Rodriguez's parents wished him to achieve success better than they did in America. In due time, Rodriguez's ambition finally pushed him as a scholarship student to achieve the success of a controversial author on such provocative topics as Affirmative Action and Bilingual Education.

[edit] Themes

Central to the narrations are Rodriguez's experience of separation from family, personal alienation and finally assimilation into mainstream American society, leaving behind the Spanish-speaking household of his childhood and entering into the English-speaking American public sphere. Rodriguez argues passionately against bilingual education, stating that if he hadn't been forced to learn English, he would have never been able to attain a functional public identity and become a productive member of society, with all the benefits that entails.

The themes of ethnicity, personal pride, and America's immigrant culture and history are also key themes.