Analysis Essay of Aria by Richard Rodriguez

NOUR BAHRI EN1111 Academic Writing M. Antoniadou 29th October2012 Analysis essay of Aria by Richard Rodriguez (2nd draft) This essay, titled Aria, originally published in 2008, is an autobiographic essay of the authors childhood, Richard Rodriguez. In his essay, Richard is against bilingual educators, who think that children in their first years of give lessons should be educated in their native nameing. According to him this education system is wrong, wont be beneficial, therefore children should be educated in the analogous language as the public one.Rodriguezs main point is to tightly encourage children of immigrant parents to adopt English, the public language as their main language in order to become assimilated in the public society and have a better future. Ricardo describes his childhood as a child of Mexican immigrant parents studying in an English school in America, where he had problems in communicating at school because he did not know the public language, English.At first, he was diffident and timid at school because he was feeling un promiscuous with English, but with his parents and teachers help he raised his hand to volunteer an make out, from that day he moved very far from the disadvantaged child(288). He then started feeling as an American citizen. Although Rodriguez admits that he lost the strong intimacy at home with his parents, he emphasizes that the injury implies the gain(291). Rodriguez supports his argument against bilingual education by using mainly the contrast technique in order for the readers to become to a greater extent sensitive to his topic and argumentRichards entire essay is based on the contrast between the loss in mysterious and the gain in public. By presenting those two opposed extremes, readers become to a greater extent sensitive to his argument as his essay becomes more realistic. In the part of the mysterious loss, Ricardo faces problems at home, since he came to believe that he was an American citizen, a t least(288). So the knightly refers to before Richard believes that he was an American citizen at the age of 7. Ricardo uses oftentimes the negation arks in order to support that they remained a loving family, but one greatly changed, No long-lived so close no endless outpouring, neither my older brother nor sister, Nor did I this last in a separate sentence to accentuate his position and the negation (288). He contrasts this new seat with the one they had in the past where after dinner each night, the family gathered(287). Readers feel that in the past family bonds and ties were stronger and the house was full of joy and laughs, everyone laughed(287).Thereby, Richard used we (we vie) as for him and his family that has a stronger meaning and connotation since they where feeling closer, as a whole. But also, in the past Richard was impatient to go back home, where he could actually speak the language, now he says, gone was the desperate, urgent, intense feeling of being at home (288). Furthermore, after this feeling of closeness diminished, silence started taking trust in the house as Richard explains that as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents (288).So in the past, children were more comfortable in speaking Spanish with their parents and spoke a language, which the parents actually understand and respond with ease, the house was full of language of home(286). By speaking English so much, a gap between Richard and his parents grew. After this process of Americanization, the silence at home, however, was finally more than a literal silence(289). He uses a chain reactor words in relation to the ear and hearing as sounds listen, listening, heard and speaking(289).Furthermore, Spanish started becoming unfamiliar to him and English, which is the public language became his primary language. In the past he used to call his parents mama and papa, and now that English is his primary language he calls th em give and father (289). At the end of his essay Richard said that his childhood started to end the day he took the decision that his wants to feel like an American citizen.Richard, most probably, associates the word childhood with his past, before he came to believe that he was an American citizen a past where he had strong bonds with his parents, the feeling of security and other that they are his parents, Spanish united them. However, as he became less confident with his cloak-and-dagger identity, he started becoming increasingly confident of his new public identity because the belief that he belonged in public had taken hold. Richard presents in his essay the other side of the game, of learning English and feeling as an American citizen because as he said the loss implies the gain(291).By the gain he means the gain in public, public identity. An important dramatic event occurred, it is the one that resulted in a big change in Richards life. And this was the day Richard raised his hand in class to volunteer an answer. This event brought him a lot forward, as he was no longer feeling as a disadvantaged child. Moreover, as Richard began to hear more and more English, the high, troubling sounds of los gringos became unnoticeable to him he was no longer an alien in gringo society(288). Whereas before he came to believe he was an American citizen, los gringos had a bad connotation, full of bitterness or distrust (288).Rodriguez became more confident of himself in speaking English, and he finally heard words, not just sounds. Richard insists in the difference between sound and words (which in the past sounds were helping him in understanding the situation) (288). He came to realize that sound and word were tightly wedded after his Americanization (288). He has also contrasting feelings he was often bemused and always relieved to realize how silent, though crowded with words his day in public had been (288). Richard means that, since he was feeling more comfort able with English, the words were more powerful and meaningful.Before the dramatic event, English was a foreign language to him, he felt like a stranger to it (287). Becoming more familiar with English helped Richard to achieve many things. He began doing well in school, he made friends and he was feeling more comfortable talking to masses in public. Assimilating to the American culture helped Richard feel more at ease among the other American students. So we understand that the public identity he achieved was a great success to him (288). Finally Richard at the end of his essay, make things more clear, and the contrast is still visible.He responds to bilingual educators, who have to distinguish between private individuality and public individuality. While becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality(290). Richard points out that in public, by contrast, full individuality is achieved(290). So according to him, th e public gain is really important and that is why in his essay the gain is stressed more than the loss. To conclude, in his autobiographic essay, Richard successfully used the contrast technique in order to give a full image of his argument and be more convincing.There was a deep intimacy with his family and the painful feeling of public alienation. However, as he grew up and with his Americanization, this became only the past meaning that there were no longer good bonds in the family and in public he gained an identity and individuality. Rodriguez offers a contrasting truth while our heritage and culture may remain continuously tied to our native language, the only way we can truly become a part of our community and fit in is to dominate the current communicate language. Word count 1280 Work Citation Rodriguez, Richard. The Norton Reader2008, ww Norton Company,