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.