The Achievement Desire “Richard Rodriguez”
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“The skies the limit.” In life, the choices we make not only affect us today but those in our lives tomorrow. My parents mad choices that have affected my life. I have chosen to push further and higher to be even greater then they were, allowing their mistakes to be a stepping stone rather than an obstacle.
As a young girl growing up in Haiti, I experienced first hand that the path my parents chose for themselves was not the life that I wanted for myself. I was able to relate closely to Richard Rodriguez in “The Achievement Desire” because he faced many struggles that I too faced as a young girl. My parents always pressured me to work hard at school, I was always suppose to have my homework for Monday done by Friday night, which made me so mad at my parents. Just like Rodriguez was furious at his parents for forcing him into English classes, which started his separation from his parents. “The Achievement Desire” written by Richard Rodriguez is a story of a man who found himself through education. His whole life he was eager to read books and learn more . He was the kid in class who always raised his hand, and would always be caught reading a book at home all by himself. He came from a middle class Mexican family that had struggled to make it to where they were. His parents were somewhat educated, but worked hard to make a living, similar to mine. His siblings were also smart, but Richard always felt like he was by himself. He had great parents but hints that there was never that special bond between them. His family and school were two different worlds that he had to learn to live with. His values of family and education, which I am also able to relate to along with his inner struggle to separate from the life led by his parents. throughout the essay, I will be discussing the similarities and differences Rodriguez and I shared, such as, our immigrants parents, the language barrier between ourselves and our parents, and wanting a better life for ourselves rather than the life of our parents.
As a child that grew up in Haiti, I could relate to Rodriguez in some ways. My mother moved me from Haiti to the U.S. when I was about ten years old. My mother always knew the opportunities I had and she wanted me to take full advantage of all of them. My parents always pressured me into doing “better than them”, they never want me to end up like them, doing dead-end jobs after dead-end jobs. They were not able to get an education in Haiti because life was very hard and they had to start working with their parents at an early age in order for their families to survive. Since, I had the opportunity to get an education, they didnt want me to throw it away so, I wasn’t allowed to have friends, go out, or even talk on the phone unless it was a family member. My mother always told me that “school is my best-friend”, she wants me to succeed in order for me to take care of her when she is old and unable to work no more. I wasn’t as studious as Rodriguez but I loved going to school and learning. My experiences and Rodriguezs experiences are similar in some ways but very different.
Rodriguez, the son of Mexican immigrants is taught values about family, which is the most important value for his parents. However, when he started advancing in school he had to forget those values. The value he placed on his education was something that was foreign to his parents and he had to deal with that on his own. Rodriguez talks about his separation from his parents as a young boy due to the difference of his set of values, which he finds better than his parents. Most children have the opportunity to strive to be better than their parents regardless of circumstances, family history, no matter if their parents are educated or uneducated because it is always good to chose your own world instead of your parents. When an immigrant child is moved to America, most parents pressure their kids into achieving in school, like my mother always say “ Melissa, gade tout opotunite ou genyen devan ou, ou kapab ale lekol, gen yon bon vi, mwen mem, mwen pat jamn gen opotunite sa yo paske mwen te dwe ale travay pou mwen ka ede fanmi mwen. Mwen pa mande ou fe anyen, selman ale lekol.,” (“Melissa, look at the opportunities you have in front of you, you can go to school, have a good life. But I never had those opportunities because I had to go work to help my family. I dont ask you for much, all I ask you is to go to school”), immigrant parents consider their children to be the key to a better life if they succeed in their studies and obtain a degree.
Growing up with immigrant parents, I understood how it felt like to go home and ask your parents for help on the homework but they could not help me because of the language barrier. I had to stay after school to do my homeworks just in case I needed help because I knew my parents would not be able to help me. Rodriguez faced similar problem. For example, Rodriguezs father tried helping him one night with a math homework but he couldnt because the instructions were in English, “I was oddly annoyed when I was unable to get parental help with a homework assignment. The night my father tried to help me with an arithmetic exercise, he kept reading the instructions, each time more deliberately, until I pried the textbook out of his hands, saying, “Ill try to figure it out some more by myself” (pg 563). This shows the language barrier between Rodriguez and his parents. He was frustrated that he wasnt able to get help from his parents. He wanted his parents to be just like his teachers, he admired his teachers because he found them to be smart. Because of his parents lack of education , although he knew that his family loved and cared for him he allowed himself embarrassment of them, embarrassed by their lack of education. Rodriguez perceived his parent’s life as inferior to the new life he indulged through his education. “I was not proud of my mother and father. I was embarrassed by their lack of education. It was not that I ever thought they were stupid, though stupidly I took for granted their enormous native intelligence. Simply, what mattered to me was that they were not like my teachers” (pg 568). Rodriguez was always embarrassed by his parents, especially if they went to his school for an award ceremony or a parent teacher meeting, he did not want his parents to communicate with his teachers, “I heard my father speak to my teacher and felt ashamed of his labored, accented words” (pg 568). I experienced the same embarrassment Rodriguez felt towards his parents because I was always embarrassed of my parents; I never wanted