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pressures of conformity brave new world
how society pressures conformity
how society pressures conformity
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Richard Rodriguez lived a life that went against the norms of society. He rejected the same policies and practices that opened many doors and helped him to become a very well know writer. Richard Rodriguez was born in San Francisco on July 31, 1944 to Mexican immigrant parents. From a very young age Richard realized that in order to make it in America he had to conform to American society. He would continue on this path of conformity until he reached the breaking point in his life. Richard Rodriguez typifies nonconformity through his educational choices and his literature. His views on society would have a lasting impact on the social structure of America. Nonconformity according to Oxford Dictionaries means “Failure or refusal to conform to …show more content…
In Hunger of Memory he basically said that in order to become successful in the U.S. you have to Americanize yourself and forget about the culture that made you who you are. He pointed out that policies like Affirmative Action may give an unfair advantage to non-English speaking citizens, and how society forces American values on immigrants. Richards also brought up the question of what price to pay for success and if it is worth it at the end. In his second work Days of Obligation he talks about how he tried to get in touch with his Mexican culture once again. This piece shows how hard the road back to being reconnected with your roots is and why you should weigh your options of how far you are willing to go in order to achieve success. Both pieces show the hardship a person goes through in order to make it in America and have that American …show more content…
He is important to society because he brought attention to the flaws that many of us ignore, he makes us think about the choices we make and the things we follow. Richard has taught me that if you believe that some societal values are wrong, don’t be afraid to go against them, be afraid of what will happen if you do follow them. If there is a moment where I don’t agree with something whether it is in my educational career or at my job I should step up for the changes I want to see. If there is no one who goes against the norms and no one to create new ways of thinking then we wouldn’t have some of the great innovations that we have
In “The Achievement of Desire,” Richard Rodriguez references Richard Hoggart’s book The Uses of Literacy in order to explain his experience and struggles as a student by comparing his story to Hoggart’s story. Rodriguez introduces Hoggart’s personal experience in order to justify his behavior at home and school. Rodriguez considers himself to be a “scholarship boy” because according to Hoggart, a “scholarship boy” is the student that is a good student but a bad son (518). At a young age, Rodriguez began to develop ideas and costume different from the ones his parents taught him; Rodriguez indifference to the Hispanic culture caused him to physically and mentally alienate from his family members (515). Hoggart did not have Mexican descendants but he still alienated himself from his family, as he believed he had to accustom to a life in school that did not match his life as a son (518).
In Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez situates his individual experiences with education in such a way as to expose what he sees as the fallacious logic behind bilingual education and affirmative action. He uses arguments to propagate the systematic problems with such programs. His autobiography explains in great detail the entangling problems all American children face by instituting bilingual programs and affirmative action endorsements.
He learned over some time, that it is possible for one to retain separateness but keep individuality, and one can be a public person as well as a private person. He says that at first he wanted to be like everyone else (fit in), and only when he could think of himself as American it was than okay to be an individual in public society. He speaks of a man from Mexico who held on to Spanish: "For as long as he holds on to words, he can ignore how much else has changed his life" (35). The message is to not take words for granted and not to misuse words because they certainly do have meaning. For example, `brother' and `sister' is becoming a public repetition of words. The meaning will become lifeless. Words mean something when the voice takes control "the heart cannot contain!" (39). It forms an intimate sound.
He begins his book with his short story, The Boy without a Flag. This story is really touching, especially for very patriotic people that live in the United States, but that come from other parts of the World, in this case Puerto Rico. In this story the reader can see exactly how, many Puerto Ricans feel when living on other grounds. Throughout time the boy that Rodriguez presents us realizes he has his culture and that he wants to preserve it as much as he can. “Because I’m Puerto Rican. I ain’t no American. And I’m not no Yankee flag-waver” (Rodriguez 18). All of this starts when he begins reading books about his culture and important figures like, Pedro Albizu Campos, this makes his culture feeling increase, not wanting to follow the American standards.
A novelist and a poet, Julia Alvarez is considered to be one of the greats when talking about American literature. At her current age of 64, she has a numerous amount of writings and has won many awards. Personal life experiences from her youth to the Civil War to now have highly influenced her works (Heredia). Descriptive and influential, it is clear why Alvarez’s publications have influenced society the way they have today.
And there is no exact point of view advanced through the film. As Malik said, “it wasn’t just one story it was a lot of stories”; the film is not just about Rodriguez but Rodriguez’ fans, his family, as well as unknown record companies. In the interview, the interviewee asked such a question, “What about the issue of racism in America as a factor in his lack of success?” Malik answered, “Yes I could make that assumption...So yeah the racial question, of course it’s part of it, but there were many problems.” But Rodriguez failure in the 70s could ascribe to himself in a way; “this is also a guy who performed with his back to the audience a guy who didn’t like interviews or having his photograph taken, so there were many things.” So I consider what the film shows audiences remains
Sidney Hillman was known for being one of the greatest labor leaders in U.S. History. In the first strike he led in America, he became known to many for his efforts for workers and the conditions they worked in. This was just the start for him, for he became well known and extremely wanted by many, even Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was passionate in fighting for the rights of workers and this was a hard task since striking was frowned upon, occasionally leading to arrests. For someone who started off wanting to study religion, he made a huge influence on many when he found his interest in economics.
It was almost like he was learning two languages at once. This made it a bit more difficult for him and his parents to understand what the whole schooling/ education system was. Rodriguez spent a lot of his time reading while Hoggart says, “reading is a woman’s game.” (PDF). By him saying this, he is implying that men are more likely and more accustomed to do activities outside, while women are supposed to stay inside and read. Rodriguez’s parents did not understand this whole concept because of their lack of the language. This changed Rodriguez’s life in a very big and impactful way. The education helped Rodriguez in a weird way with him saying that “ If, because of my schooling, I had grown culturally separated from my parents, my education finally had given me ways of speaking and caring about that fact.” (355). This means that he had grown distant to his parent from being involved with his parents through the whole education process. It took time away from them being together, taught him different cultures, and made him make decision in which his parents were not fond
In order to broaden your understanding of [gender, race, class, incarceration, injustice, or any other social issue] , you should read Richard Rodriguez’s “The Achievement of Desire.” This piece of writing is a perfect example of working hard to achieve one 's goals even after crossing into a new country. Twenty years ago Richard first came to this country barely able to speak English, Richard had an ambition to be successful in life at an early age. The first time I read his article i thought i can relate to it at a personal level. I came to this country at the age of 9 years old. I remember when i first walked into my first middle school with my mom. She was registering me and my sister to the local middle school where some of my cousins were already attending. Since the “No Child Felt behind Act” was active, even kids like me with no papers were permitted to enjoy the same education like everyone else.
While staring back into the faces of small children much like his younger self, Rodriguez starts to run through points of his life where the need to know more pushed him further from his family and their norms and culture. Mainly focusing on the bright future an education offers him, he continues to knowingly distance himself from his family. Douglass went through similar situations on his path for education. Focusing on his chance for freedom, with no family ties to distance
Rodriguez, Richard. ?Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Education.? Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez. New York: Bantam, 1982. 11-40.
These essays seem to have different stories, but both have many apparent similarities. In Brent Staples’ essay he discusses how society treats him like a threat and how he can do nothing about it. Likewise, in Richard Rodriguez’s essay, he talks about how he feels that society judged his skin color to be too dark and ugly. Both men felt like outcasts in their surroundings and neither could do anything to change that. Because of this discrimination, both men had to change their lifestyles. Staples adapted to how society viewed him and learned to live that way. For example, he always made sure to keep a certain distance between him and other pedestrians at night to make sure they felt safe. Rodriguez states many times in his essay how much he wanted to just be shirtless in the sun, but could not do it because he was sure his friends would judge him. So although he had urges to do certain actions, he held them back to adapt to the way he felt that his family and his friends saw him. Another similarity these two authors share is how they handled this hate. Staples writes that he learne...
Rodrigue’z change from Spanish to English is one of the leading factors to his strong beliefs in assimilation. He feels that assimilation is necessary for immigrants to be part of society and to be successful in the USA. Undoubtedly, this had a negative and a positive effect on him and his family. To begin with, growing up Hispanic in America was a big struggle for Richard Rodriguez. He began his schooling in Sacramento, California knowing less than fifty English words. Rodriguez not only faced the obstacle of mastering the English language, but also that of fitting socially into a classroom of wealthy white children. As a result of being the son of working-class parents, both Mexican immigrants, Rodriguez felt a socially disadvantage...
Martin Luther King is widely known as one of the greatest speakers to ever approach our nation. The impact he made on America was so much more than effective; it was incredible. The speech Martin Luther King gave took place 48 years ago, and even today people remember and quote the words he spoke. Being a man of Christ, he allowed the Lord to use him in furthering the kingdom of God. He is a man that has gone into history, and every child who goes through school is made known of works. Martin Luther King's passion for the civil-rights movement was so strongly effective and evident that it changed our nation.
In rejecting his family, Rodriguez “abstracted from immediate experiences” and often isolated himself to focus on his studies trusting that it would pay off in the future (Rodriguez 532). As he approached the age of thirty as a graduate, he wondered about the reasons for his academic success and came to this epiphany: “A primary reason for my success in the classroom was that I couldn't forget that schooling was changing me and separating me from the life I enjoyed before becoming a student,” (Rodriguez 516). As Freire suggests in his theory, Rodriguez was aware he was distancing himself from his family and accepted that it was essential to repress his “embarrassing” family as a part of the effort to free and find himself. In his mistake, he fled his family to pursue a false education that Freire maimed as the “banking concept.” Instead of properly educating himself, he only did what was necessary to appear as a good student. For example, Rodriguez read to earn extra credit and to be praised by his teachers, but never stopped to comprehend the text. In his case, he sacrificed the connection with his family only to pursue an education that would not educate him or help him discover