Pros And Cons Of Literacy By Richard Rodriguez

1. What are the turning points in the narrative? What are the most important things the writer seems to learn?
The first turning point in the narrative is when Mr. Richard Rodriguez is in second grade. He proudly starts losing his Spanish accent and starts correcting his parent’s speech. The second turning point in the narrative is when he is in third grade and completely devotes himself to his studies and sacrifices family time. One important thing I think Rodriguez learned is you cannot balance an education and family life without making sacrifices on both sides.

2. What incidents or insights did you find most interesting? Why?
One incident I found interesting is when Rodriguez gives his mother, Willa Cather’s My Antonia and she could not

Do you find that the writer exhibits academic habits of mind (making inquiries, seeking and valuing complexity, seeing writing as a conversation)? If so, quote some text that shows this.
Yes, I think the writer exhibits habits of academic mind. One academic habit of mind he exhibits is making inquiries. “For weeks I read, speed read, books by modern educational theorists, only to find infrequent and slight mention of students like me. Then one day leafing through Richard Hoggart’s The Uses of Literacy, I found, in his description of the scholarship boy, myself.” (Rodriguez 17)
5. What is the intended audience for this piece? With that in mind, what is the writer’s purpose? How is this purpose conveyed?
The audience for this piece are people who are interested in Rodriguez’s childhood and education and seeing how scholarship children can become successful. The writer’s purpose is to explain why and how he became a scholarship and academically successful in a bilingual household with the family’s main focus on Spanish. This purpose is shown as the writer takes the reader on a journey through his childhood. He writes
About the level of education his was in and specific events that affected him, his education, and his family