"The Achievement of Desire" by Richard Rodriguez Blog

     "The Achievement of Desire" is an autobiographical work that discusses the inner conflict a "scholarship boy" has between his school life and his home life. As he progresses in his education, he becomes more disillusioned with his parents' education. He begins to feel embarrassed by his parents lack of education. Rodriguez begins to distance himself from his family to pursue his educational goals which he feels are more important. This is why he does not grasp the meaning behind the phrase "Your parents would be proud." His parents are proud, yes, but how can he relate all the valuable knowledge he has learned in school to his uneducated parents. Whenever his mother interrogates him about his courses, he only responds with short vague answers because he knows it is futile to explain his complex knowledge.
    As Rodriguez makes his way through college he takes in all his critics praises as undeserving. He feels he has not learned anything at all. In fact, he is not a good student, he is a good "mimicker." The author believes that he has no formed opinion of his own, and that all his opinions are just regurgitated from his previous educators or authors from all the books he has read. This may be stretch, but, I feel that he illustrates this lack of a voice by citing Hoggart so much. Even the final footnote states that all his quotes come from one source: The Uses of Literacy by Richard Hoggart. So are all his viewpoints in the essay coming from him, or is he just taking them from one of his many literary sources?
   Towards the end of the essay he finally feels a sort of nostalgia for the life he once held prior to his education. He refers to an intimate family life where he felt part of a distinct culture that he feels he abandoned so long ago. However, his education has now made him come to realize that he should always stay in touch with his cultural background because that is where he came from.