Richard Rodriguez: To Be Or Not To Be A Scholarship Boy

A detailed Summary of Richard Rodriguez: To Be Or Not To Be A Scholarship Boy

Richard Rodriguez while writing The Achievement of Desire faces a difficult obstacle of working with a prior text. Rodriguez uses Hoggart's concept of a "scholarship boy" and applies it to his own life. Yet something is missing, there is something not right about the "scholarship boy" Rodriguez claims to be. Rodriguez's "scholarship" boy isn't exactly what Hoggart defines as one to be; he is actually very different. Rodriguez picks and chooses what parts of Hoggart's "scholarship boy" he wants to use to apply to his own life. He wants to create a specific image for his readers and by manipulating Hoggart's theory he successfully forms this image he is longing for. In The Achievement of Desire, it is apparent that Rodriguez makes choices about what to write about Hoggart's text. He makes certain choices of what to include and what not to. By taking parts of Hoggart's theory, he transforms it into his own. Rodriguez uses the scholarship boy theory and applies it to his own life to benefit himself.

The thing that is important to realize is that it is Hoggart's theory, not Rodriguez's. The scholarship boy that Rodriguez claims to be is in some ways, in stark contradiction with Hoggart's theory. For one, Hoggart desc

not forget by trying to forget. One only remembers(Rodriguez 626).

Yet a question is raised in result of his desperate search. Rodriguez could have been longing so much for an answer that he enveloped the whole concept of a "Scholarship boy" as an antidote. That might not have been his true answer; just a quick and easy fix. With his new knowledge of what a true scholarship boy was, he applied it to his life accordingly. It became his justification to his family of his distance towards them. He did not have to explain much, just restate this "scholarship boy theory" and how one felt they had to isolate themselves from their family. Hoggart's concept of a "scholarship boy" conveniently came into Rodriguez's life to help fulfill his lost image, which would make him feel a sense of belonging that he craved for his whole life. In turn it assisted him in justifying to his family why he was not a part of them. When all is said and done, Hoggart's "scholarship boy" was an easy way out to Rodriguez's childhood problems.

Rodriguez comes off as using the scholarship boy as an explanation for not being close to his family. He simply makes personal use of this theory as an excuse to his actions. It is evident that Rodriguez does not fit in with his family, and that he is well aware of that. Feeling not part of what should be the closest to him, Rodriguez states, "because of my schooling I had grown culturally separated from my parents" (Rodriguez 621). Rodriguez says he longed to continue to be a part of the family circle, yet he loses that feeling. Rodriguez is well aware of what he is doing to his family tie, and had a sense of regret. He portrays this by stating, " . I remembered to well that education had changed my family's life (Rodriguez 626). When Rodriguez came across the scholarship boy theory, he felt that he could use it as an excuse as to why he kept distance with his famil

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Approximate Word count = 1290
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English