Hunger of Memory

Education is one of the dominant themes in Richard Rodriguez’s Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez. Education weaves through his memoir in both the literal sense–such as in the formal environment of school and university—and in a broader scope, including the lessons Rodriguez learned from his coming of age and experiences. The memoir traces how these are intertwined. Rodriguez is clearly an insightful and observant student from childhood.

He discusses key moments that shaped his life, grasping their importance even as a child. Education shapes Rodriguez’s identity from an early age. When he attends a Catholic school, Rodriguez has to learn English. This distanced him from his parents, who could speak passable English but spoke Spanish at home. This linguistic difference begins to shape Rodriguez’s identity, as school and family become separate places. Rodriguez eventually realizes that the distance between himself and his parents is insurmountable. He feels conflicted that his education, and English in particular, has alienated him both at home and in public. At school, he believes he is seen as a minority scholarship student. Teachers praise whatever progress he makes as nothing short of miraculous and take credit for his success. Yet he is still identified as a minority, in part, he believes, because of his dark complexion, which instantly signals the difference between him and his lighter-skinned classmates. At home, however, Rodriguez is alienated as well. His English skills and subsequent success at school push him beyond the limits of his parents’ knowledge. He will never be one of them, and when his family begins to use English more at home, Rodriguez feels both their resentment and shame and his own grief at losing that private sphere.

He identifies as a “scholarship boy,” and excels at school, especially at language and literature. Rodriguez is encouraged to pursue education and eventually earns an MA, then studies at the doctoral level in English literature. After graduate school, Rodriguez starts to publish essays about issues and movements in education. He rejects the teaching profession and instead becomes a public intellectual and authority on the subject of education. Rodriguez is against bilingual education and affirmative action. As a leading authority on minority education, Rodriguez recognizes the contradictions in his own story. Rodriguez acknowledges that he has benefited from educators who encouraged him and pushed him to succeed. Yet Rodriguez believes that the dichotomy between the public language of English and private language of Spanish pushed him to get a better education, even though it splintered him from his parents. Additionally, Rodriguez believes that affirmative action often backfires because minority students who are ill-equipped to succeed at rigorous colleges are admitted to serve a quota, while the school does little to help them succeed during the rocky transition.

Education fundamentally changed who Rodriguez was. It equipped him with skills, ambition, and confidence that helped him succeed at the highest level of academia and the intellectual arena. However, this came at the cost of losing the familial intimacy he had at home, and set him on a course to forge his identity as a minority and as an American citizen. Rodriguez’s education in this sense never ends, as he continually reshapes his identity.