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Hunger of Memory

Richard Rodriguez, in Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, writes about his education and socioeconomic success, as well as the high price he has paid for it in terms of his alienation from life. Like many self-centered individuals, Rodriguez is a young man who believes that his own experience should be the basis for social and educational policy. Also, like many self-centered individuals, he fails to see the contradictions in his philosophy. He bemoans his alienation from his Mexican heritage, but he is against bilingualism and seems even to speak at times with contempt for Spanish. He wants to both enjoy the material fruits of his success as a writer, and at the same time feel guilty about that success in order to elevate himself above others who are not ethical or intelligent enough to feel such guilt for their material wealth. The theme of the book, from Rodriguez's point of view, is that society and the educational system need radical revision in order to produce individuals who have not been alienated from life as he was. From this reader's point of view, however, the theme of the book is one man's endless complaints about everything and everybody in life who has caused him pain or failed to appreciate what a special person he is.

Rodriguez claims to be an alienated individual, alienated from his past, his success, from society, from his family, from himself, and from his cultural and ethnic roots. He paints himself as a victim of success, of education, of assimilation. His outlook is profoundly pessimistic, for he offers no true solutions about the problems he names. His complaints about education and the socioeconomic system would seem to call for nothing less than outright revolution, but he is far too much a part of that system, far too much a recipient of its rewards, to be a revolutionary. He is, in fact, a most unpleasant individual to accompany for 200 pages, for his anger and bitterness, however ju...

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Hunger of Memory. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 20:14, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1709071.html