Hunger Of Memory Richard Rodriguez

People can live drastically different lives, but through sharing experiences they become alike. Richard Rodriguez, the author of Hunger of Memory, finds this to be especially true as he takes his audience through his life story by sharing his thoughts on the events as they take place. The autobiography tells the life story of a Mexican immigrant’s difficult upcoming in American society. When creating this work, Rodriguez strayed from the traditional methods of an autobiography such as blandly giving information facts, dates and events. Rodriguez’s stream of self-consciousness approach allows the audience to experience his emotions, partake in his experiences as if they were present and feel a personal connection to him.
Through his stream …show more content…
During his life, Rodriguez has many coming of age experiences that have shaped who is as a person, one of them specifically is his experience with the catholic church. Rodriguez expresses that his family “found themselves at ease” in their American church (81). He describes the experiences there to be “something I(he) enjoyed” (81) as it “opened doors” (82) to a deeper level of understanding of life as well as a connection with his parents. The church was “an extraordinary presence in my(his) world” as he only lived “one block” away (85). This providing easy access to the teachings and learning that taught Rodriguez his morals and beliefs on life. He shares in detail why his experiences in the church were so important to him to allow the reader to see his roots and possible think about their own and their impact just as he does. Another experience Rodriguez describes in detail, his realization of his pigmentation. Since Rodriguez lived in and attended primarily white schools and community events, he began to recognize his differences from them. He would walk past “’all white” swimming pools”, and hear about the” relegation of dark people to menial poor” (126). This would puzzle him as he knew his own skin was much darker, but he did not want others to assume he would not be as successful because of it. He includes this realization when he is about 12 to 14 years old, to give the audience an insight of what his world was like for him. By sharing his experiences through his subconscious thoughts compared to the traditional manner of stating them without much personal imput, it provides a bluntness that reaches out to the reader and makes it easier to understand the significance of each lesson and teaching had on his