Compare And Contrast Richard Rodriguez And Malcolm X

In the article, “Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez, starts to discuss the conflict of scholarship boy between school life and his home life. When he starts to make progress in his education, he was becoming discouraged and embarrassed of his parents lack of education. Rodriguez admits his success is due to never forgetting his life before he became a scholarship boy, yet the new change that came from getting an education. After reading this article, I would have to agree with certain parts Rodriguez has to say, yet disagree after realizing individuals who take the values of academic culture will start to experience alienation from native communities. Richard Rodriguez describes the difficulties between balancing life in the academic world and life of a working class family.

Learning to read and write was not an option; it was a requirement. “School will be what makes you succeed in life,” my parents and educators would say. I did not realize how hard it would be to read and write; however, it came natural to me, in the beginning. Struggling many times, several people did not believe in me; however, that never stopped me from wanting to gain more knowledge as I grew older. There has always been more positive people to motivate me whenever I needed inspiration.

This idea emphasizes the true passion Malcolm X had for knowledge and shows that reading is the tool that gave him the ability to communicate with others intelligently; as a child my family and I moved around a lot, causing us to uproot our lives constantly. Like Malcolm X when he was isolated in prison, I felt the same emotion of being lost when I moved overseas and could not communicate well with others. This made me the new kid everywhere we went, and books became my escape. For example, we moved to the town of Hamburg, Germany, which is a major port city, and they had a university near where I was living.

To justify his actions Richard claims that in order to change, “ He cannot afford to admire his parents[.]How could he and still pursue a contrary life?”(341). This painful determination makes Richards relationship with his parents cold and superficial. Hence, Richard cannot even share a simple conversation with his parents for the sake of his success. Moreover, Richard is embarrassed by his parent’s humble background.

Troncosco introduced education when he was a little at the beginning and with his parents when they came to United Stated. He explained how his parents were immigrant and they wanted him to have a better life; how his parents used their limited English skills to support him and his siblings. What attracted me about Troncosco’s parents is when he talked about his parents found other ways to help and care often about things they did not understand. His

Sammy’s inner circle consist of his family and his actions are a direct reflection of the way they raised him. In all honesty it seemed like the only thing holding him back from leaving the A&P were his parents. In conclusion Sammy views the A&P store in a rather negative way, and when you look at something in negative way it’s almost impossible to find anything positive about it. When looking at Sammy’s perspective the relationship of his parents and Lengel is what was holding him back from quitting.

The reader may also infer that the mother she may think the father is a bad influence on her son. I think this because of how different the father and son act. The father is a rule-breaker and does not plan ahead well while the son does not like to break rules and always plans ahead. Although not much information is told about the mother, you can predict that she would have been very angry if her son had been brought home any later than Christmas eve. You can predict this because when the father wasn’t allowed to drive through the snow he stated, “Your mother will never forgive me for this,” (Wolff 34).

Papi shares a different connection with Reyna in the way that it is his “American Dream” to have the children gain the knowledge he couldn’t have from free schooling. During the memoir there are numerous references to Papi’s influence on his children specifically Reyna going to school. The most compelling instance was Papi explaining that “Just because we’re illegal, doesn’t mean we can’t dream.” Reyna found solace in that statement that would help her achieve her citizenship and continue on to

As for the other students, they just didn't have the aim in life, and that is why they chose to not learn as well as they could and felt that they only wanted to be average. I think that nowadays we have the same

But his mom would talk to teacher and make sure Chris got the grade he thought he should have earned. Another example was when Billie and Walt McCandless offered to pay for Chris’s law school. Highly offended, Chris declines the offer. I believe Chris was searching for something and thought

The absence of his biological father added to the yearn to know his roots, where he came from and who he was, as he became older. James struggled with identity for a great deal of his life after his stepfather, who seemed to be the emotional stability for the family, died. James was supposed to take care of the family after his stepfather died, but instead he dropped out of school, ran the streets, and picked up a bad habit of his stepfather’s- drinking. You would think that because James had good influences in his life that he would immediately take on that role after being taught, but James fell apart and had to learn to become a man on his own. Eventually, James found himself and began to transform into the man his fathers had taught him to

Lastly, Huck didn’t put up with anyone telling him what to do, especially pap. Pap was racist and abusive, and Huck fought back even though he knew he’d be beat. Pap was furious that Huck was going to school and learning to write, on account of nobody else in the family being able to, saying: “You’re educated, too, they say; can read and write. You think you’re better’n your father, now, don’t you, because he can’t?

What do the names Scout, Jem, Atticus, Dill, and Boo Radley all have in common? Each is the name of an important character in the classic book “To Kill A Mockingbird.” Many believe this book is no longer relevant in today’s society and have considered taking it out of school education. “To Kill A Mockingbird” is still a relevant book in our society today because it serves as a reminder of the struggles our society has endured in the past and how these issues have changed today. The father of both Scout and Jem Finch is a very smart man that can teach a lot of lessons to parents nowadays about raising children.

She did everything should could for him so he wouldn’t go down the same path a lot of kids his age were going down. She wanted a better life for Wes. “Well, your grades obviously aren’t bad because you can’t pick this stuff up or because you are stupid, you are just not working hard enough” (75-76). Joy is influential to Wes because she knew that Wes had the ability to learn and to be intelligent, she just needed Wes to push himself to be intrigued in school like how he was in music or outside activities. As Joy tried to get Wes’s grades up she finally came up with a plan to send him to military school.

Forbidden Fruit Imagine living in a world where you are completely oblivious to the reality surrounding you. Forever deprived from knowledge due to the fact of the color of your skin. This was the life of Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass; two African American men who were faced with tough obstacles such as lack of knowledge, social status, and generally trying to survive in a white man’s world. In the past, African Americans were subjected to harsh living conditions. Many tried to escape this fate but for most of the times have failed.