Scholarship Boy written by Richard Rodriguez is an excerpt of his book Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez. He was born into a Mexican Immigrant family in San Francisco, California. He was raised speaking only Spanish and barely understood English. Richard, at a very young age, craved for knowledge and wished to achieve all that he possibly could attain. However, as Richard became increasingly more successful in his academics, a sense of tension and contempt had formed in his relationship with his parents. Richard’s parents were not as educated as he was at his age. They did not speak English very efficiently, as Richard would often correct their verbal mistakes. For instance, Richard was not dependent and did not seek help from his parents in his homework. Additionally, when Richard was being congratulated by his teachers on his achievements, they would often say, “Your parents must be proud.” This statement was both ironic and heartbreaking to him, as he was not particularly “proud” of his parents. In fact, Richard found himself embarrassed and ashamed of their lack of education.
As Richard excelled and received awards his relationship with his parents becomes more strenuous. When he reached the third grade he became…show more content… His parents never expressed any malice as their son received numerous awards and accolades. They were always increasingly supportive of Richard and his siblings, even to extent of saying “We are proud of all of our children. They sure didn’t get their brains from us.”
However, upon reading Hoggart’s description of the scholarship boy, it also normalized Richard’s experience of growing up in a multicultural home where his dreams of becoming a highly education man was pushed to the forefront and mixed emotions of guilt and contempt that formed in his relationship with his
