Every year, Richard Rodriguez and his siblings go to their parents’ house to celebrate Christmas. Due to his siblings’ wealth, their parents always receive a lot of gifts. Because of the excessive number of presents, unwrapping them all wears the whole family out, and the siblings begin to leave, despite their mother’s apparent sadness at their departure. Only Rodriguez stays with his parents and notices his mother’s change in moods. In this passage, Richard Rodriguez uses language and details about his siblings, his parents, and himself in order to convey the superficial nature of material success.
Rodriguez first depicts the shallowness of wealth and success through language and details about his siblings. Rodriguez’s siblings have prestigious …show more content…
His mother always expected her children to be wealthy, and said that “they’ll have lots of money to buy [her] presents.” She is correct, and every Christmas now “her feet are wreathed with gifts.” Through predicting solely wealth for her children, and not happiness or virtue, Rodriguez’s mother shows her focus on money and what it can do for her. His mother discusses herself enjoying their money due to a desire to live through her children and their success, possibly as a result of her not being rich. Her wish for them to be wealthy regardless of what else happens illustrates the romanticizing of wealth and the American dream, as well as the intense need to have money, which readers see as shallow or superficial. After they open gifts and everyone begins to leave, the mother shows an isolation from her children when she says “another Christmas,” which is something she says “every year." The fact that she says this when they start to leave, as opposed to when they are sitting and enjoying Christmas together, speaks volumes; it communicates that their leaving and excuses are more associated with Christmas and sentimental feelings than their happy moments opening gifts. This further shows remoteness between the parents and their children because their separation evokes more meaning than being together. As the siblings leave, their mother is “waving toward no one in …show more content…
Once the Rodriguez family opens all of their presents, Rodriguez says that the room “has become uncomfortably warm,” depicting the tension he feels once there is nothing to do; through saying “uncomfortably warm,” Rodriguez shows that Christmas was not necessarily a happy holiday there. The competitiveness that accompanies wealth and the desire to give everyone the perfect present likely cause this tension and lead to discomfort among the family. Once gift giving is done, they believe that Christmas is over, considering that most of their time and energy is put into finding the best gifts; they do not consider the importance of relationships, but instead, only the importance of wealth and power. Once the siblings begin to leave, Rodriguez points out that their mom “seems sad” and “worried,” demonstrating his care for her. The fact that he actually notices that she does not seem well on Christmas says a lot, since his siblings leave without any acknowledgement that they notice how she feels. Readers can further assume that, since Rodriguez is a writer, he likely does not make as much as his siblings; as a result, their wealth blinds them to their mother’s plight, while Rodriguez has his family more in mind, which allows him to see more clearly. He continues to wonder on his mother’s mood, and asks if it is because their Christmas cannot be what they once “remember,”
Rodriguez first depicts the shallowness of wealth and success through language and details about his siblings. Rodriguez’s siblings have prestigious …show more content…
His mother always expected her children to be wealthy, and said that “they’ll have lots of money to buy [her] presents.” She is correct, and every Christmas now “her feet are wreathed with gifts.” Through predicting solely wealth for her children, and not happiness or virtue, Rodriguez’s mother shows her focus on money and what it can do for her. His mother discusses herself enjoying their money due to a desire to live through her children and their success, possibly as a result of her not being rich. Her wish for them to be wealthy regardless of what else happens illustrates the romanticizing of wealth and the American dream, as well as the intense need to have money, which readers see as shallow or superficial. After they open gifts and everyone begins to leave, the mother shows an isolation from her children when she says “another Christmas,” which is something she says “every year." The fact that she says this when they start to leave, as opposed to when they are sitting and enjoying Christmas together, speaks volumes; it communicates that their leaving and excuses are more associated with Christmas and sentimental feelings than their happy moments opening gifts. This further shows remoteness between the parents and their children because their separation evokes more meaning than being together. As the siblings leave, their mother is “waving toward no one in …show more content…
Once the Rodriguez family opens all of their presents, Rodriguez says that the room “has become uncomfortably warm,” depicting the tension he feels once there is nothing to do; through saying “uncomfortably warm,” Rodriguez shows that Christmas was not necessarily a happy holiday there. The competitiveness that accompanies wealth and the desire to give everyone the perfect present likely cause this tension and lead to discomfort among the family. Once gift giving is done, they believe that Christmas is over, considering that most of their time and energy is put into finding the best gifts; they do not consider the importance of relationships, but instead, only the importance of wealth and power. Once the siblings begin to leave, Rodriguez points out that their mom “seems sad” and “worried,” demonstrating his care for her. The fact that he actually notices that she does not seem well on Christmas says a lot, since his siblings leave without any acknowledgement that they notice how she feels. Readers can further assume that, since Rodriguez is a writer, he likely does not make as much as his siblings; as a result, their wealth blinds them to their mother’s plight, while Rodriguez has his family more in mind, which allows him to see more clearly. He continues to wonder on his mother’s mood, and asks if it is because their Christmas cannot be what they once “remember,”