The Language In Hunger Of Memory By Richard Rodriguez

I would love to learn Mien, the main language my family uses to communicate at family gatherings. Although I’m eager to learn now, my grandparents gave up teaching my siblings and I Mien. The difficulty of teaching three small children who already knew English took a toll on my already exhausted grandparents. Now at family gatherings, similar to Rodriguez and his teachers, when my grandparents ask me questions, I stare at them, blankly. Eventually, they give up and repeat what they previously said into broken English. Like Rodriguez and English, I felt at a disadvantage not knowing Mien. Rodriguez, the author of Hunger of Memory, believes that juggling two languages results in the loss of the culture of one, so everyone should speak English.

Being a Puerto Rican from Brooklyn, Espada failed to learn Spanish first. Through embracing his identity and fighting for the right to speak Spanish, Espada breaks down the barriers xenophobic people put up. During a protest, Espada meets a hot-headed man threatening him for speaking Spanish. Later, with a microphone, Espada snaps back, “He can rip my tongue out if he wants. But it won’t work, porque yo hablo español con el corazón” (97-99). Espada expresses his passion for Spanish from his metaphorical sacrifice of his tongue to continue speaking Spanish. He claims Spanish as his identity when he mentions that he speaks Spanish with the heart. I feel similar emotions that Espada feels when I hear Mien. Even if I can’t produce Mien, hearing my grandparents produce my language, and trying to piece together what they’re saying warms my heart. From fighting the right to speak for the accessibility of his language, Espada embraces his

Spanish at home had been his safe place until he left his comfort zone and went to school. Rodriguez’s difficulties of not knowing English pulled him away from society, unable to answer nun’s speaking to him at school. “Each time I’d hear them, I’d look up in surprise to see a nun’s face frowning at me. I’d mumble, not really meaning to answer” (31-33). Rodriguez not meaning to answer resurfaces the discouragement he felt from the nun’s frown. Seven years of Spanish resulted in a socially disadvantaged young child, unable to answer nuns or connect with his classmates. After his parents strengthened their English, Rodriguez lost his safe place and the necessity of communicating through Spanish. “Rare was the experience of feeling myself individualized by my family intimates” (125-127). Spanish was a part of Rodriguez for a portion of his life. Losing a part of him came with guilt, but even with that guilt, he remembers the discouragement of knowing Spanish in school and how that got him nowhere. Rodriguez finds that speaking English makes communicating painless, especially after watching his parents learn English to use in their daily