Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Achievement of Desire

Rodriguez’s “The Acheivement of Desire”, is about a young man who comes from a uneducated family who finds himself respecting the educational establishment over his own parents. He begins to separate from his family physically and emotionally after becoming obsessed with attaining more knowledge and more company with educated people. He references himself to the “Scholarship Boy”, who is a person that comes from an uneducated family that reaches out of his environment to get away from limited opportunities that his parents were faced with. Eventually he feels a sense of loneliness and wants to reconnect with his family and try and rebuild what was lost.
I can relate to this essay because I am the first in my family to go to college. I don’t agree with Rodriguez, because even though I have received a higher education then my family, I am still able to communicate and relate to my parents without looking down upon them. There is even a specific time in the essay where Rodriguez says his parents weren’t able to help him with his homework he writes, “I was oddly annoyed when I was unable to get parental help with a homework assignment.”(pg 516)This has happened to me in high school and I felt frustrated at first, but then realized it was only going to benefit me in the future because I learned to rely on other resources such as the library or friends. They have supported me by always encouraging me to do my best, which I have always really appreciated. The “Scholarship Boy” instead pushes his family away by discriminating against them. I think there should be a balance between school and family; everybody has something to offer in a relationship, and we should always accept people for who they are.

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