Sunday, September 29, 2013

Trying to Break the Language Barrier - An exploration on Richard Rodriguez's piece

           Reading this piece gave me two clear messages; albeit two very contrasting messages. The first thing I picked up on was Richard's loss of his identity as a primarily Spanish speaking person. He seemed reluctant to learn because his home life changed as he and his family learned English. In fact he even says that the personalities of his parents changed the more they learned the English language. His mother wanted to talk all the time while his father became more reserved and kept to himself. Although his father would revert to his old personality whenever he was with his friends and they would exclusively speak in Spanish. It's the thought that one has to leave their old personality behind to take on this new persona as and English speaker.                                                         

"But the bilingualists simplistically scorn the value and necessity of assimilation. They do not seem
to realize that there are two ways a person is individualized. So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality."


           This leads me into the other message I had noticed in this piece. Students often feel more confident about themselves when the fit in. While Richard had noticed his home life change he also noticed his social and school life change in turn. No longer would he and his siblings rush home because it would be the only place he would feel welcome. His mother wanted a phone installed in their home because she no longer felt isolated and blocked off by the language barrier. That's all that this comes down to, the fact that in bilingual homes private individualism has to suffer a bit in order to have confidence in public and to be their own people.

          So what do I think about this ideal? Personally I am all about people being who they are and to strive for who they want to be without caring about what people may think. The notion that someone has to change themselves in order to strive in society is in itself against my belief. However, as much as I may dislike it, it is a necessary change. To live and thrive in America you have to speak English. However that doesn't mean you have to change who you are entirely because of it. Sacrifices sometimes have to be made in order to achieve a successful job or life, and a small change in private life is a small sacrifice to make.

4 comments:

  1. I love what you had to say in your last paragraph. I agree with you that people should be themselves and not care what people think! But I guess being in America like you say we have to make changes to adapt to our surroundings. I felt very bad for Richard that he felt like he lost his identity.

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  2. Hey Kyle,
    Great points made in your post! I agree with you and I believe that the article really was about struggling to find your identity. I like in the last paragraph how you referred to this as a sacrifice which I thought was also a great point you made. Yes, you have to sacrifice some things to gain something bigger but we shouldn't strip someone of who they are in order for them to be assimilated.

    Great Job! :D

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  3. "To live and thrive in America you have to speak English. However that doesn't mean you have to change who you are entirely because of it. Sacrifices sometimes have to be made in order to achieve a successful job or life, and a small change in private life is a small sacrifice to make."
    I love this! This accurately reflects the feeling that I had when reading Richard's piece. Great job. :)
    Rebekah

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  4. Kyle,
    I’m really glad you used the opening of Rodriquez’s piece because it really set the tone for the entire essay. Right from the beginning you already have something to think about. In using your second observation to sum up your first-in order to fit in at one house, you must give up fitting in at the other. In giving into English, he lost his Spanish influence. In becoming more comfortable at school and in his community, he felt more alienated at home. Do people really have to live like this? Should they have to make such a life-changing choice? Is it fair to ask them to give up one part of their language to make room for the other? Sure, we have to learn compromise in our lives but this is far too important to be governed by choosing. This is something no one should have to compromise. –Jocelyn B.

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