Achievement of Desire

“Achievement of Desire,” an essay written by Richard Rodriguez, recalls his academic career route. Rodriguez was raised by two Mexican immigrants, causing him to grow up in a household with scarce resources. Being raised in America, unlike his parents, allowed Rodriguez to succeed, yet he was slowly rejecting his Latino culture.

Rodriguez uses repetition of the “scholarship boy” throughout his essay, which he defines as himself. According to the piece, the “scholarship boy” represents an individual with limited opportunities, parents who are primarily uneducated, and someone who has the potential to succeed academically. Rodriguez would spend hours reading, which caused him to slowly detach from his family and culture. He even admits to locking himself in his room to read, and sneaking out of the house whenever relatives visited. Rodriguez suggests that his own family and culture was not good enough; therefore, he would try to imitate his teachers because he thought that was the only way to be successful.

In my own life, I was unable to experience how Rodriguez probably felt. As we discussed in class, my parents are the typical geniuses. My mother attended college, has Doctorate degrees in Business and Education, and considers everything to be too simple. My father, whom I consider to be the “scholarship boy,” attended college with an athletic scholarship, and remained on the academic honor roll. He eventually played professional football, while also being enrolled in med school. Now, he is a doctor, which most professional athletes are unable to achieve after retirement. At many times, I feel inferior to them because everything comes easy to them. Rodriguez says that when he was leaving for college, his parents encouraged him to stay local. However, my parents expected me to move away from home to further my academic career, meaning I did not have a choice.

                The greatest lesson to be learned through Rodriguez’s essay relates back to his family. Rodriguez admitted to feel ashamed of his parents because they were not like his teachers, yet he failed to appreciate their own native intelligence. Therefore, he tended to neglect his parents because of his strong desire to learn. Once he finishes his education, he realizes that he did so at the expense of his family, which forces him to rethink what he really achieved.