“Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, reveals the
intimate life stories of growing up in a bilingual family. The author, Richard Rodriguez, was born into a
Mexican immigrant family. Rodriguez is well accomplished academically. He
studied at Stanford University, Columbia University, the University of
California, and attended Warburg Institute. He has written several books and
essays, and won a Peabody Award and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In
this essay, Richard describes the tribulations of growing up bilingual. At
home, he spoke Spanish, but at school he had to learn to speak English. Each
language is associated with its own world. This caused him to think differently
about languages. Also, having to change his primary language changed his
lifestyle and impacted the way he views society. This essay’s purpose is to
explain and show how it was to grow up bilingual, and the effects of learning a
public versus private language. The
author’s argument is against bilingual education. The essay is written in an
approachable manner and open to a wide audience. However, it has significant
applications to members of bilingual families and those teaching ESL. Richard
Rodriguez used a lot of description in his essay; for example describing the
sounds of languages or saying that Spanish sounds like comfort and home. “I’d hear my mother call out, saying in
Spanish, ‘Is that you, Richard?’ Those were her words, but all the while her
sounds would assure me: You are home now.
Come closer inside. With us. ‘Si,’ I’d reply”(Rodriguez 451). Rodriguez’s
use of personal descriptions and real-ife comparisons allow the reader to
visualize and imagine his struggles and his journey more clearly. Rodriguez was
successful in accomplishing his purpose. He described how, because of bilingual
education, the Spanish he so loved and felt comfort with slowly disappeared,
and how he was forced into confusion and a different lifestyle all because he
had to use another language. He helps the reader understand the pain of
readjusting his life and adapting to a different way of life, and becoming
comfortable with speaking a public language.
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