Analysis Of The Achievement Of Desire By Richard Rodriguez

Richard Rodriguez’s “The Achievement of Desire” is a retrospective style essay, where he explains the extraordinary educational experiences he endures and the cultural conflicts he undergoes. Richard tackles a psychological battle that makes him choose between education and family: growing up with poorly educated, immigrant parents, who had to make many sacrifices to achieve their greatly improved, yet relatively low economic status, which they are very happy with; while at the same time being surrounded by peers in his school, with the American mentality of improving from generation to generation. Richard’s ambition to learn, and to be like his teachers, separated him from his cultural background. Almost immediately, at a very young age, Richard …show more content…
Even though Rodriguez obtained the best education one can get, in my perspective, he lacked one of the most important aspects in a person’s life: an opinion. He constantly tried to discover himself in books, instead of going out and discovering himself in the real world. “What did I see in my books? I had the idea that they were crucial for my academic success, though I could not have said exactly how or why” (Rodriguez). He constantly relied completely on his books. He was even unaware of the colossal influence these books were. They were, in a way, dominating his personal point of view, which in fact, he did not even have. He did not have a personal view due to his identity crisis. Instead of creating a self-formulated view, he imitated and reproduced what he learned and read. During his schooling years, one could say Rodriguez resembled a sponge. He would absorb exclusively the information required to do well on the tests, but he never analyzed or criticized things he learned in the classroom. He lacked a point of view; and even worse, creativity. This is also reflected in his essay; Rodriguez’s opinions and views are always suggested after Richard Hoggart’s quotes. This makes one think, are the points of view in the essay his own, or are they just based on Richard Hoggart’s opinions? Are his opinions even self-formulated, or are they greatly influenced by the numerous books Rodriguez has …show more content…
As it was reflected in the film, An Education, education is essential in a person’s life, providing dignity and independence to oneself. But Rodriguez’s views are a bit more extreme, he sees education as the only way to obtain status and wealth, which to him seemed very tied to the American identity he so much tried to avoid on his early years. Even though, yes, formal education is fundamental in a person’s life, there are a variety of ways to also obtain dignity, independence, wealth and status. Like I have stated, sometimes experience can be worth more than normal, simple education. While education is extremely necessary and influential to oneself, there are many other factors that could prepare a person for success in his/her future: traveling, going to foreign countries, practicing a sport, learning a different language. The aspects that could impact a person’s maturity and success are