Hunger of Memory

Richard Rodriguez is a writer and public intellectual and an expert on minorities in education, affirmative action, and class. He studied at the doctoral level in English literature at Berkeley. Rodriguez grew up in a middle-class, Mexican-American household. Though neither of his parents spoke English fluently, they were steadily employed. When Rodriguez began attending a Catholic school, he was forced to learn English fluently in order to participate in school. Becoming fluent in English changed his life. Not only did he pursue studying language and literature academically and privately, he also distanced himself from his parents and his home, where they only spoke Spanish. Rodriguez eloquently commands English as both a writer and a speaker.

Catholicism was a major influence on Rodriguez’s life. He was raised in a Catholic home and attended Catholic primary and secondary school. He was also an altar boy and was particularly interested in liturgy. Rodriguez would continue to identify with Catholicism into adulthood, though he realized he was more of a liberal Catholic than he had once believed. He was only truly an orthodox Catholic when it came to liturgy.

Rodriguez’s coming of age happened at a time of great change in education. Activists pushed for more minority rights, such as affirmative action and bilingual education, two initiatives that Rodriguez vocally opposed.

Key to understanding Rodriguez’s journey is the division between public and private lives. Rodriguez quickly caught on that learning English, the public language, divided him from his parents and home. The more education that Rodriguez hungrily sought, the greater the distance between his home life and public life. Though the two spheres blended at times, ultimately the differences could never really be overcome. The theme of a dual identity appears in other places in Rodriguez’s life. For instance, after he tells students who embrace the Chicano movement that he does not believe minority literature really exists, they peg him as a “coconut,” brown on the outside through his complexion, but white inside, in his actions and beliefs. Rodriguez often has to shift gears and become a different version of himself in public and in private. He is alienated in both arenas. His parents are uneasy about him writing a memoir exposing their family secrets. Rodriguez recognizes this burden, to represent his private experience publicly, and realizes that his reluctance to do so is because he knew full well that his education would chip away at his private life. This feels like a betrayal of his parents and family. Reconciling his public and personal lives is a lifelong battle for Rodriguez. This memoir provides him the opportunity to explore this duality publicly, inviting other people into his experiences.