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Naranjo 1
Jessica Naranjo
Professor H. Alvarez
English 1A
10 November 2023
The Separation to Achieve Desires
“The Achievement of Desire” written by Richard Rodriguez gives his personal
experience of his childhood growing up as a Mexican American, who was able to be the first in
his family to graduate from college. Rodriguez undergoes hardship by separating himself to
achieve his goal of becoming an educator maintaining his role as “the scholarship boy.” As a
minority Rodriguez who came from a working-class household, assimilates his way to academic
success. The scholarship boy is also demonstrated in the film,
Six Degrees of Separation,
where
Paul, a minority assimilates himself to achieve a life in the higher, wealthier class, impersonates
the son of Sidney Poitier and manipulates his acceptance in the wealthier class. Paul educated
himself to who he desired to be, a wealthy elite white man. Both Rodriguez and Paul struggled
with their identity, separating themselves from who they truly were.
One way in which both characters struggle with their identity is that they are ashamed of
their race/cultural heritage.Throughout the film,
Six Degrees of Separation,
Paul is in denial of
his ethnicity, embarrassed to admit his race, he progresses how he carries himself to be accepted
by the wealthy class.
Rodriguez who was also ashamed and embarrassed by his parents, states in
the “Achievement of desire,” “Nervously, I heard my father speak to my teacher and felt my
familiar shame of his accent.” Rodriguez lost his Spanish accent as he grew up by constantly
reading books which taught him to speak properly transitioning him into an American. Paul
embarrassed to admit his race and ethnicity mentions that he was raised white, not knowing how
to be black.
In the scene where he cooks for the Kittredge’s, Paul states “I don’t even feel black.”
In Richard Rodriguez “1982: San Francisco: Affirmative Action,” he states “
Fittingly, it falls to
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me, as someone who so awkwardly carried the label, to question it now, its juxtaposition of terms
-- minority, student. For me there is no way to say it with grace. I say it rather with irony
sharpened by self-pity. I say it with anger. It is a term that should never have been foisted on me.
One I was wrong to accept.” (Rodriquez 1) Paul Poitier and Richard Rodriguez did not accept
the term, minority and transformed their background to be accepted by an educated wealthy
class.
Another way that both characters struggled with their identities is obtaining a successful
social class. Rodriguez saw that education was the path to obtain a successful social status and
wealth by being uncomfortable with being a minority admitting to being a “scholarship boy.”
Rodriguez expresses by saying “More profound, but more troubling was the bond I felt with the
writers of the books I consulted.” Rodriguez separating himself from the lower class, conflicting
his relationship with his parents. Paul impersonating the son of Sidney Poitier claiming to have
come from a wealthy family to be social with the upper class. In a scene with Trent, Paul
assumes that rich people only help rich people. He states “I think it must be very hard to be with
rich people. You have to give them presents.” Along with that assumption in “Reading
Brownness: Richard Rodriguez, Race, and Form,” indicates, “There is a complex slippage from
whiteness to brownest here, as “white” freedom from race and racialization, and even from
history itself, is resignified in terms of brownness. It’s final extension for Rodriguez will be that
Americans: what I want for African Americans is white freedom. The same as I wanted myself
the last white freedom is America will be the freedom of the African American to admit brown.”
(Rana 2)
Richard Rodriguez presented the scholarship boy, which was represented throughout
the film by Paul. He achieved his goal by impersonating someone he wasn’t, by manipulating his
Naranjo 3
acceptance as an upper-class white male. Both demonstrating to escape their reality to move up
in the social class, denying their culture and ethnicity.
Throughout the film, Paul assimilates by transitioning himself to become a member of a
wealthy class. Paul trains himself to change his mindset, his vernacular by rejecting his
background to be accepted by the Kittredge’s and the others. Rodriguez expresses “I began
imitating their accents, using their diction, trusting their every direction. Any book they told me
to read, I read—and then waited for them to tell me which books I enjoyed. I was awed by how
much they knew. I copied their most casual opinions; I memorized all that they taught.”
Rodriguez imitating his teachers to become more like them to lead him to academic success. In
the film, Paul demonstrates assimilating by quickly memorizing information that was given to
him to effectively become a member of the wealthier class. He tells Trent “I’ll tell you what I’ll
do. I pick a name. You tell me about them. Where they live. Secrets.” Gathering information to
be able to effectively assimilate his way into the upper class. In “The New, New World” claims
“The notion of self-reliance. The notion of re-creation.” (Postrel) Rodriguez and Paul both reflect
the term “scholarship boy” by demonstrating the act of assimilation to be included in a class of
success.
Growing up reading many books Rodriguez knew that his Spanish accent was changing
so his English language was progressing as a student, his body language became more proper by
initiating his teachers. Paul also reflected who he was becoming, by changing his vernacular,
changing his posture to blend in with the upper class. Rodriguez’s teacher told him, “You’ll learn
to speak English well, if you practice your reading,” (Rodriguez 4) Rodriguez felt the acceptance
by his educators, and how he connected with them was by reading. In the beginning of the film,
there’s a scene where Paul is saying “Hello, hello, hello, hello,” in different tones to find the right
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Naranjo 4
tone to speak to the wealthier class. He trains himself to fit in, to be able to connect with them, so
that they know he’s one of them. “The linguistic assimilation of an ethnic group is considered a
necessary step in acculturation and overall simulation. This approach predicts that overtime
ethnic and racial minorities were blend into mainstream culture, learning English, and losing
their native tongues.” (Aribiagada 3) Throughout time assimilation in language is very common
when individuals are in a different cultural environment. Paul and Rodriguez both expressed
what they can be a part of if they just simply act and talk differently, using academics and
information to their advantage demonstrating the “scholarship boy” persona.
Becoming a “scholarship boy” definitely has its perks, involvement with a different social
class, change in behavior and language. Both Rodriguez and Paul executing their goal of
acceptance in the elite upper class. Their choice separated themselves into a lifestyle that was
different from their up bringing, denying their race, ethnicity and culture just to simply say that
they made it. The “scholarship boy” also has is downfall, they decided to put their education and
social class a priority leaving everything such as their family aside. Ultimately, the goal is to
become successful by maintaining a humble heart and greed takes it all away. So many people
can have money and success but still are missing something that can’t nt fill that void and that
something is family. Paul at the end of the film said that regretted all that he had done. Rodriguez
also wished that he was able to go back and change a little bit just to have more time with his
family. It’s separating yourself to achieve unfulfilled desires.
Naranjo 5
Works Cited
ARRIAGADA, P. A. Family Context and Spanish-Language Use: A Study of Latino Children in
the United States.
Social Science Quarterly
,
[s. l.]
, v. 86, n. 3, p. 599–619, 2005. DOI
10.1111/j.0038-4941.2005.00320.x. Disponível em: https://search-ebscohost-
com.libris.mtsac.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ofm&AN=507819591&login.asp&site=ehost-
live&scope=site.
RANA, S. Reading Brownness: Richard Rodriguez, Race, and Form.
American Literary
History
,
[s. l.]
, v. 27, n. 2, p. 285–304, 2015. DOI 10.1093/alh/aju101. Disponível em:
https://search-ebscohost-com.libris.mtsac.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=ofm&AN=102605808&login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
RODRIGUEZ, R. 1982: San Francisco: Affirmative Action.
Lapham’s Quarterly
,
[s. l.]
, v. 1, n. 4,
p. 46–48, 2008. Disponível em: https://search-ebscohost-com.libris.mtsac.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=ofm&AN=504206099&login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
POSTREL, V. I.; GILLESPIE, N. The new, new world.
Reason
,
[s. l.]
, v. 26, p. 35–41, 1994.
Disponível em:
https://search-ebscohost
com.libris.mtsac.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=ofm&AN=503283445&login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site.