Talking Point #2

Richard Rodriguez
"Aria"


Premise: (What is this about?)

1. Voice
2. Identity
3. Silence
4. Compliance
5. Socialism

Argument:

Richard Rodriguez argues that, children lose a degree of individuality by becoming assimilated into public society.

Evidence:

1. When the children started speaking English more, the Spanish language lost some of it's meaning.
2. The closeness within Richard's family slowly diminished as Spanish was "flushed" out of their language. Conversations between family members came to a halt.
3. As Richard started understanding the English language, he started to feel a sense of belonging at school, and in public.

The story "Aria" as told by Richard Rodriguez, is one that tells the history of him and his family learning the English language. Growing up, Richard was accustomed to speaking Spanish as his primary language. Between family, friends and relatives that's all he knew how to speak. Starting school however, he had to learn the "society's language" that being English. He started off slowly, mumbling his words in class and not speaking out loud afraid that he would be treated differently because he was bilingual.

That all changed one day, as his school teachers, the nuns, came to Richard's house to talk to his parents about his inability to speak English. The teachers quickly noticed that Spanish was their spoken language at home, and it would only help if they started to speak English around the household. Richard's parents agreed and from there on forward, he started to understand the English language and how it was spoken. That certain words had feeling and emotions depending on how they were said.

But this all came with a price, as slowly Spanish was being forgotten about within his family. Coming home Richard would hear his parents speaking to one another in Spanish, but as soon as they realized he was there listening, they would start talking in English. Other things to note was that his dad would hardly speak to them, let alone in English or Spanish, and the conversations within the family were far and few between. The "closeness" that once existed was gone, due to the fact that English was taking over their lives.

My Thoughts

If I were to post blame on one single event for the demise of the Rodriguez family, it would be when the Nuns intervened. When they came to visit, they basically told the parents to start speaking a different language then the one their use to. When English started taking prevalence over Spanish, is when the family started to decline. It's like they took away their "culture" and told them to live a new life.

I think that if they just let Richard be, and let him learn English on his own pace within the school setting, and with a little help he would have started to develope his own "voice" in the language. While the Nuns thought they were doing the right thing at the time for Richard, it only helped him gain an advantage in the social society, and took away what may matter most, his family.

Talking Point #1

Jonathan Kozol
"Amazing Grace"

Premise: (What is this about?)

1. Segregation
2. Religion
3. The Poor
4. Faith/ Belief
5. Sex/ Drugs
6. Power
7. Education (or lack thereof)

Argument:

Jonathan Kozol argues that, if the poor behaved "rationally" they would seldom be poor for long in the first place.

Evidence:

1. The adults in this story are riddled with the HIV/AIDS virus
2. The town has a high rate of murder in the town and prison
3. The drug addicts try to bring you down with them, sell you or try to get you addicted to drugs

The story "Amazing Grace" by Jonathan Kozol describes the poor side of a town in New York that is racially separated by a river from the wealthy. When taken on a tour throughout the town by a young boy he meets at a local church named Cliffe, he discovers the poor living conditions that exist. The houses are like miniature sauna's where the heat is so bad its possible to die, not to mention making citizens irritable and the rats and roaches you'll find living in the houses as well. There's a town incinerator that is used to burn anything from bottles, used needles, cars, and other various metals, in addition to a flood of prostitutes which leads to a high case of AIDS, and poor hospitals to take care of the sick.

You would think with such negativity surrounding everyday life it would affect everyone in the town top to bottom. Upon meeting Cliffe, a very friendly, courageous young boy in the church, Kozol asks him about God and is given a very stereo-typical answer. Cliffe tells him that God has long hair, can walk on water, and has taught him how to share. He also mentions that his heroes are Michael Jackson and Oprah. The two alarming factors are that he has no idea who George Washington is, and how he thinks the world is coming to an end because of drugs.

My Thoughts:

I agree with Kozol here, in the sense that I believe life is what you make of it. The decisions you make, have an effect on you and those around you and can have an impact now and in the future. In a poor society today, events like the ones told here in "Amazing Grace" exist and it up to not only some outside force to provide support, but internally for the people of the society to first realize what they're doing in order for change to occur. If they do not see anything wrong with what is going on (in relation to denial) then there would be no sense of help at all.

This story was somewhat hard for me to read, I don't know about most people but reading something about helpless people, AIDS, and death isn't exactly fun to read. I believe there's a moral to this story, and is that of if you do not do something good with your power (power being anything. Fortune, fame, knowledge) to help the less-fortunate, then you are contributing to the negatives in society.