Post #5

Summary:

              This is the last post for this book. Through pages 175 and 212 I read about how Richard decided to write this book; this autobiography in which he expresses his feeling and exposes the private life to the public. He explains how hard it was to actually write this book. He mentions how his mother didn’t like how he expressed his family’s problems in the open. In a letter she told him that she didn’t like that los gringos were going to read the book and be satisfied by how separated he felt because of his skin color. In the last pages, Richard writes about how hard it was for him to reflect back on his life and actually write about it. When he finally decided to write it he spent most of his time in his house alone, with his phone off, writing. He was separated from the real life and was living in the past. Most of the time when he would run out of money he would start a job. Then he would go back to writing again. Reflecting back to his past, had been like a roller-coaster ride for Richard. He though back at the time he was in the 6^th grade and when his teacher told him to write an essay about his family’s life. He remembered that he actually made everything up and that he didn’t feel comfortable writing about his family. Every memory reminds him of how his life has changed. Before he didn’t like writing or even talking about his family to other people and now he is writing a book which everyone is going to read based on his life. He remembers when he was a kid and the worm feeling he got from hearing his mother speak Spanish and speak back to her in the same language. Now he barely speaks Spanish. He remembers how close his family used to be and now at the dinner table for Christmas, they often say a word to each other. Richard feels very distant from his mom and his dad.   

Quote:

“A new paragraph changes the tone. Soft, maternal. Worried she adds, ‘Do not punish yourself for having to give up your culture in order to “make it” as you say. Think of all the wonderful achievements you have obtained. You should be proud. Learn Spanish better.”(Rodriguez 192-193)

Reflection:

Those are the words that Richard’s mother wrote to him on one of her letters after hearing that Richard was going to write a book about his life. She didn’t agree with him about the book being about his personal life and the life of his family. She wasn’t happy that her son completely gave up his culture and created the distance between his family and himself.

Post #4

Summary:

           In the pages 121 through 174 Richard talks about his skin color. He states that he is darker than anyone else in his family. He appeared to be darker then his siblings which were light skinned and fit perfectly fine with the society of los gringos (the whites). His older sister was dark as well but not as dark as he was. Richard talks about how hard it was in the summertime to protect himself from the sun. He would get really dark and people would mistake him for being black. His mom would tell him to put on a t-shirt every time he went out. Separation by race is really clear in this book, especially throughout these pages. Richard observed how darker people were treated. They worked for the rich white people most of the time and did the hardest jobs. Richard didn’t wanted to be treated that way and his mom as well. She was really glad that Richard was getting a good education. Richard felt left out most of the time in his classes since he was the only dark person. But he was really glad that people wouldn’t bring it up in their conversations.

Quote:

       “My older sister never spoke to me about her complexion when she was a girl. But I guessed she found her dark skin a burden. I knew that she suffered for being a ‘nigger’. As she came home from grammar school, little boys came up behind her and pushed her down to the sidewalk” (Rodriguez 124).

Reflection:

          In this quote Richard explains how bad the separation of skin color was. He describes how his sister was pushed on the sidewalk just because she was dark skinned. Later on he also explains how she never got a boyfriend in high school and how she found it disturbing to be treated that bad. Seeing how his sister was treated, Richard himself was scared to talk to a girl because he thought he was going to be judged from his skin color.

Post #2

 Summary: Pg. 42- 82

Even though Richard didn't speak a lot of English, he was determined to become successful. Supported and influenced by the nuns, Richard became interested in reading. He wanted to learn to speak proper English, different from what his mom and dad spoke. He liked to read a lot. Sometimes the members of his family would find him in the closet reading a book. He was amazed by how much information and knowledge the books held and he wouldn’t understand it when his mom would ask him what was so special about the books. Sometimes he would feel embarrassed from the way his mother and his father spoke to the teacher whenever they would ask about Richard. When it was time for him to go to college, Richard wanted to move away from his home and live on campus. His mother and father wouldn’t agree with him. Money wasn’t the only reason they didn’t want Richard to leave. They didn’t want their family to grow apart. Every time Richard went home, he felt more and more distant from his family. He remembered the old days when they all would sit in the dinner table and talk. Now it seemed like they had nothing to say. His mom would ask him about the awards he had won proudly but after a while silence would take over. “Nothing is said of the silence that comes to separate the boy from his parents” (Rodriguez 72). When he heard two Spanish academics speaking to each other, he realized how far away had he moved from his past. He wanted to get part of it back and to feel less alone. But he found really little of it in his memories.

Quote:

“He sits on the seminar room- a man with brown skin, the son of a working-class Mexican immigrant parents. (Addressing the professor at the head of the table, his voice catches nervousness.) There is no trace of his parents’ accent in his speech. Instead he approximates the accents of teachers and classmates.” (Rodriguez 70)

Reflection:

Richard has come a long way, from the little boy who didn’t speak English to this grown successful man with no trace of Spanish accent. He has become someone really different from what he was before. From that innocent little boy, proud of his family and his Mexican origin, to this man who is very distant from his family. The guy who feels the need to correct his mother and father when they don’t use the right words to express their feelings. The guy that wished his parents knew more and were better educated.

Summery:

In the book Hunger Of Memory, through pages 1-41, the author potraits his life as the spanish guy who moves to USA, where he enters a new classroom, able to understand some 50 stray English words. all his classmates were white, children of lawyers and doctors. Him and his family lived in a neighborhood far from the Mexican south side of the town. He didnt speek English because the only language spoken at home was Spanish. At the age of six he knew enough English for his mom to let him go to the corner store by himself. He addresses the Americans as los gringos and felt like every day he was being judged by them for being a foreigner. In school he felt like he didn't belong there. When the nuns would tell him to speak up so the whole class could hear him, he felt like the English language wasn't his to use. At the school the nuns noticed him being quite and his sister's and brother's difficult progress. The nuns went to his house to speak with the mother and the father to express their concernes. They suggested that the parents should incouraged the kids to speak English at home. From that moment, his parents started to speak English to the kids and so did his brother and sister. This new language spoken at home was making Richard feel unwelcomed and distant from his culure. "The spell was borken"( Rodriguez, 21). At his house, by the age of seven it felt like the more the children spoke English, they shared fewer and fewer words with their parents. The house was becoming quiter every day. He felt unconfortable with calling his parents mama and papa  because those words would remind him of how his life had changed.

Quote:

"i'd hear voices behind the screen door talking in Spanish. For a second or two, I'd stay, linger there, listening. Smiling, I'd hear my mother call out in Spanish (words): 'Is that you Richard?' All the while her sounds would assume me : you are home now; come closer ; inside. With us." ( Rodriguz, 16)

I like this quote because it expresses the worm and inviting feeling of home, that Richard got hearing his mother speak to him in Spanish in a foreign country where most of the people spoke English. A language unknown for him.

Reaction:

I really like this book because I can relate to it. I almost felt the same way as Richard did when i moved here. Is that strange feeling that Richard got from the people who spoke a different language from what he spoke, that i can mostly relate to. Not only me, but all the other people that have moved from another country, and speak another language other than English can clearly understand what Richard was going through. He felt like he didn't belong with "los gringos" as his family called the Americans. He felt different at home, where he felt like he was always welcomed and able to express his feelings.