Completely stunned by the first words coming out of this new, intimidating teacher, I was excited for an English class for the first time. Growing up I absolutely dreaded reading and writing. Literature as a whole was the bane of my existence. However, this teacher changed it all for me. Mr. Alessandri had us read Silence of the Lambs, Dune, and numerous short stories.
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.
However, as I get older, the more I seem to be turning into my crazed-father that I used to complain about with my sisters. I see this very issue with my own son. He is eight years old and is currently in the second-grade. His current school offers him a great education, however, I am currently debating if I should move him
Terms like assertion, thesis, and elaboration seemed like a foreign language. I managed to slide by in English with good grades, but I never seemed to enjoy it. My junior year in high school changed my perspective on all of this. I showed up for my first day of junior year, not excepting things to be any different. My teacher stood in the front of the room and read the class syllabus in the same monotone voice while my classmates and I drifted in and out of consciousness.
As a senior in high school, I had a number of family, social, and cultural issues, which had made it more difficult for me to be successful at the end of my high school years. I had worked very hard on my academics with the hope of graduating from high school and going on for further education. I had taken my education seriously and had spent a lot of hours at my local library working on my school work. My senior year of high school, I got my first job, but I lost it as a result of miscommunication over my work schedule. Since then, I have learned that sometimes we think that we know what is coming our way in life and that we have life all figured out, but life tends to surprise us with different twists and turns.
Todd’s parents think that he should become a lawyer and they do not give him a lot of attentions as they send him the same desk set each year. Their new English teacher, Mr. Keating or “The Captain”, is different from the rest and some of the students find him mad. In their first class, he brings them to see pictures of some of the former students at the school. Through poems he tells them to seize the day, Carpe Diem, a term which he thinks the students should live by. Mr. Keating’s way of teaching brings out the uniqueness of the pupils, but the other teachers, bound by traditions and discipline, do not like his way of teaching.
Gogol finally changes his “good name” to Nikhil; the one his parents wanted him to have when he was small. Nikhil spent his full life in exploring, searching and transforming himself. However, as he grows older, he comes to appreciate what his parents went through while moving to this country and how hard it was for them to adapt to their adopted country. It won’t be wrong to say that it is a novel of self discovery and is very well written. CRITICAL ANALYSIS: The Namesake takes the reader behind the closed doors of people who have immigrated to find a better life and the challenges they unexpectedly discover in the process.
Richard Rodriguez has garnered significant media attention over the last twenty years by presenting the unique figure of a Hispanic person who is vocally against such policies as bilingual education and affirmative action. In “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood,” Rodriguez recounts his own harsh initiation into the world of English speaking. Although this experience represented a traumatic break from the insulated comfort of his Spanish-speaking early childhood, Rodriguez now views his English education as a life-changing event, one that instilled in him the belief that he had something of value to add to the public discourse. In this essay, I will discuss the role that perseverance played in helping Rodriguez to form a public identity. Richard Rodriguez- Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood Perseverance is generally understood to mean unremitting persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose, regardless of the obstacles or hindrances that exist.
Due to his background teachers regarded him as a hopeless cause because his difficulty in using Received Pronunciation which contrasts against Harrison's attitude towards language and that there is a variety of dialect within the English language which everyone uses to convey a conversation with one another. When Harrison was young he was overawed by his "posh" teacher who embarrassed him resulting in him feeling demeaned and docile. The first section is in the form of a memory emphasised through the embedded dialogue of the teacher showing how he is undermined as the teacher wants to make sure their "glorious heritage" is not "done to death" suggesting that teacher is aiming to undermine Harrison by discouraging him from reading the important roles. Similarly, in "Bringing Up", he emphasises his separation from his mother as she disgusted over him using taboo language. The use of embedded dialogue implies the different view on the Leeds accent emphasised in his mother being disgusted with him and believes he was not "brought up to write such mucky books!"
My husband and children have had a huge influence on my decision of returning back to school. I would like to be a good role model for my family. Someone that they look at and say to themselves “I want to be just like my mom when I get older”. Even for my husband, he always struggled and never did well in school. He did not complete high school or received his GED so I think to myself