The Achievement of Desire

The Achievement of Desire

      The Achievement of Desire by Richard Rodriguez is an autobiographical essay relating Rodriguez’ coming of age story.

       In the very first paragraph, Rodriguez mirrors himself with a young girl who is extremely enthusiastic about her school work. He says that “it is myself (as a boy) I see as she faces me now (a man in my thirties.”  Rodriguez sees himself in the girl because when he was younger he used to want to learn everything he could. He would spend his afternoons at school just so that he would be able to be with his teachers, whom he saw as authority figures.

      His parents encouraged his education, but eventually his education separated him from his parents. His parents could not help with his homework as English was their second language. Moreover, eventually Rodriguez saw his parents speaking in ways that his teachers would discourage. This led Rodriguez to feel a bit ashamed of his parents. Furthermore, when family members would come to visit and speak Spanish, Rodriguez would cower away and read in his room. The “Spanish sounds” did not attract him. He slowly cut away his Mexican roots, and rather chose to continue his American education.

     Eventually Rodriguez went off to college at Stanford University. He described his visits home to his parents as being cold and lacking in conversation. They would talk as if they did not know each other. With these words, it seems to me that Rodriguez regrets the fact that his education caused him separation from his family. He seems to feel alienated, and seems to want to reconnect with his parents.

  

      I feel like many students who come from families whom have recently immigrated to America would feel the same way as Rodriguez. Even I feel this way sometimes, as I have only just immigrated to America 10 years ago. It is not education that is the boundary separating me from the rest of my family though, it is the new culture. When Rodriguez chose to go to college outside of his home his parents asked him “Why aren’t colleges here in Sacramento good enough for you?” My grandparents and my mother asked me the same thing when I left to come to Gainesville. It is just not common in my country to leave one’s home to go to college. Everyone just goes to the local college, and studies there.