Dark Skin By Richard Rodriguez Analysis

Many young people receive a significant volume of pressure to live up to their families ' expectations. Additionally several parent expectations can damage a child 's self-confidence, self-image, and mentality. Even if the parent means well, children can perceive their good intentions in a different manner. As a Mexican-American Richard Rodriguez felt pressure from his mom and other family members to shield his dark skin from the sun, he speaks on his insecurities in Complexion. Rodriguez recounts a night as a child where he attempts to wash his darkness off, he remembers“(in my mind I heard the swirling voices of aunts, even my mother’s voice, whispering, whispering incessantly about lemon juice solutions and dark, feo children.)”(673). Dark skin to a Mexican-American exemplify a negative stereotype of an immigrant worker who is non English speaking, impoverished, and dark skinned from doing the outdoor manual labor. Rodriguez speaks of his thoughts on himself at thirteen, saying “ I was too ashamed of my body. I wanted to forget that I had a body because I had a brown body”(673). Ignorantly Rodriguez 's mother ostracized her son from the family by pressuring him …show more content…
Children are manipulated into the consumption of religion. A child born into a family with a strong religion is expected to blindly follow through with the same beliefs. Expectations placed on the youth in religion may create fear of rejection from such a distinct society. Langston Hughes experiences this fear after going to a church revival in Salvation. Hughes lies to his entire church when the pressure to see Jesus become too much to bear for him “ Then I was left all alone on the mourner’s bench. My aunt came and knelt at my knees and cried, while prayers and songs swirled all around me in the little church. The whole congregation prayed for me alone, in a mighty wail of moans and