Memories Live
When one retells a history of events or remarks on personal experiences, the ideas and claims are generally formed through memory. In the essays "Achievement of Desire" written by Richard Rodriguez and "States" written by Edward Said, both authors appear to pose the notion of what it means to have experienced something and only be able to relay it through memory. The memories that are shared in the two essays, put a distance between the reader and the experiences of the author because of fundamental differences as individuals but also because of the idea that memories are based on the formulation of personal experiences through an individual's identity. Said and Rodriguez connect their memory and contemporary lives through separations and distances from the people and places that have initiated them to see and feel change. Rodriguez and Said address a number of different authoritative figures throughout their texts. Each of these authorities has had a significant impact on the way in which the authors position themselves in relation to how they have spawned memories. A generous amount of Rodriguez's essay is generated from his reading of Richard Hoggart's "The Uses of Literacy" in which Hoggart describes wha
His contemporary life exists in the same way that it has his entire life. Said's memoir "States" takes on the notion that the exile of his people from what was once Palestine, has resulted in the loss of identity as individuals but also as a nationalized unit when he states, "Identity. Metaphorically speaking, Said's past owns him. Unlike Rodriguez, Said cannot discern the differences from childhood to adulthood because the facts are lost amongst a lifetime of forced abandonment from his heritage as a result of constantly trying to adapt to his surroundings. What Rodriguez came to realize ironically was that his education had given him ways to speak of and care about the fact that he had grown separated from his family. The possibility for group invention, however, has been interrupted because of the exile. Only at the very end of his schooling does the boy-man become nostalgic. Memories, through application of knowledge, become a tool to address issues that have risen in their lifetime. Understanding the separations reveal to the authors something that is missing in their lives and it is the safety, comfort, and closeness that they remember possessing in the sphere of family and cultural values. Rodriguez's parents became his first authority and influenced him to pursue an independent education.
Common topics in this essay:
Rodriguez Rodriguez,
Palestinians Metaphorically,
Myth Rodriguez,
Unlike Rodriguez,
Richard Rodriguez,
Memories Live,
scholarship boy,
Literacy Hoggart,
contemporary lives,
education rodriguez,
contemporary life,
life rodriguez,
Achievement Desire,
hoggart's scholarship boy,
lives circumstances,
hoggart's scholarship,
memory memory,
authoritative figure,
makes reference,
scholarship boy rodriguez,
|
Acceptance Essays
