Achievement Of Desire

311 Words2 Pages
The Achievement of Desire The Achievement of desire is a short story written by Richard Rodriguez about his academic achievements throughout his youth, and how he got to be as successful as he is today. The story starts out with him speaking to a class of children who come from low income homes. Most of the children in the class aren’t paying attention to him, with the exception of one girl who gives him her full attention. The girl reminds Rodriguez of himself at her age, and then the story goes on to explain his schoolings grade by grade starting with the third, and ending in graduate school. One of the most interesting reoccurring topics in the story is Rodriguez’s relationship with his parents. At first, his parents did not understand why he was so fascinated with knowledge (found in his books) “But at home I would hear my mother wondering ‘what do you see in your books?’…”(Pg. 26) as his parents started as poor, working class immigrants. His father especially misunderstood Rodriguez’s yearning for education “College! He snarled. He dispised the trivialization of higher education…”(Pg.522) His parents lack of understanding caused frustration in Rodriguez at first, but throughout the story, he found himself becoming more and more like them. “I thought as I watched my mother one night… I gestured and laughed like my mother. Another time I saw for myself: my father’s eyes were much like my own, constantly watchful.”(pg531) This realization was a revelation for Rodriguez; all this time throughout his schooling career, he had thought he was so different from his parents, him being an Americanized “scholarship boy” and them being working class immigrants, but he had learned a lot from them, and his realization of their differences, combined with his education is what ultimately drove his
Open Document