Rodriguez's Argument:
Rodriguez argues that a person can become individualized by acclimating to the power culture, in this case English- speakers.
Quotes:
1.) "...While one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated to public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality" (Rodriguez, 39).
This quote is Rodriguez's argument. He states that sense he was forced to learn English for his education in American society, he achieved a public identity that was not there before when he only spoke los gringos. Throughout Rodriguez's article, he focused on how distant he felt from his parents because they only spoke los gringos. The mother and father had very little public identity, since they barely understood English. There was very little dialogue in the house because of this new found language barrier. His parents were okay with the fact that he had to learn English for the sake of Rodriguez's well being. The Rodriguez family was turning away from their private individuality's.
2.) "At last, seven years old, I came to believe that what had technically been true since my birth: I was an American citizen" (Rodriguez, 36).
Through discipline from his teachers and family, Rodriguez finally acclimated to the power culture. His family would make sure no one used Spanish sounding words in their attempt at the English language. They would call this "cheating". In school, Rodriquez had private tutoring sessions for a whole year. The teachers deliberately enunciated every sound in Rodriguez's Americanized name. Finally, when Rodriguez familiarized himself with this new language, he focused on the certain ways people talked--- actions, tones, etc. He described his silence while participating in this observation, as being "crowded with words". It seemed as if he prided himself on learning the ins and outs of English speaking Americans. Now, Rodriguez was finally a citizen.
3.) "On official business, it was she [mother], not my father, one would usually hear on the phone or in store, talking to strangers" (Rodriguez, 37).
Rodriguez discussed his fathers silence throughout this article. The mother would explain why his father was often very silent--"He was never encouraged to speak", his mother would say. His parents, mostly the father, seemed so set in their ways that they did not fully understand English. If not the children, the mother was the translator. She had this new powerful role in the house. She had to make important business decisions because she had the advantage of the power culture's language.
Questions/Comments/Point to Share:
Where I work, I come across non- English speaking people everyday. At the cash register, if there is not a translator, then it is very hard for me to understand and vice versa. It's probably very frustrating to not know English in America. If they do not know the language, then they have no public individuality. I agree with Rodriguez in the fact that there are two types of individuality--private and public. You may loose a bit of your private side, but you gain more of a public side. I think that it is worth it to loose a small part of your private side because you are now more apart of the power culture, since you acclimated to the language and public individuality. Once you have a little bit of power in you, you have so many more opportunities (better jobs, education, public persona) that you did not have before, say when you did not know English.
...That's All Folks....
