In his essay Aria: Memoir of a bilingual childhood, Richard Rodriguez attempts to
convince the readers against bilingual education and try to show them that bilingualism is
just making life more difficult for the children. Although he is trying to prove that
bilingualism is futile, he still wavers on the issue and remembers the things he lost to the
“Englification” with sorrow. Richard is sure that English is very important and is trying to
justify the loss of the intimacy and connection with his culture and family. Throughout the
essay Ricardo is losing his culture and morphs into the Richard that he is today.
As a young child Ricardo spoke exclusively Spanish at home. At home they would use
their family language. Although his parents got by pretty well they were still never totally
at ease in public with los gringos – Americans who were distant form his family. When he
went to the local school he was allowed only to speak English, yet it was a struggle for
him. At home, however, he would resume his place in the family and hear the comforting
sounds of the language that he was familiar with – Spanish. There was a deep intimacy
with his family, he could easily communicate and express himself which was very different
from the painful feeling of public alienation. The extent of his English was mostly
incomprehensive sounds. His teachers knew of the difficulty he and his siblings
experienced with the language, so they asked his parents to speak English with him at
home as well. As he became surer of himself he learned to speak English and feel
comfortable in the language, hearing words not just sounds. Of course becoming
comfortable in this public sphere, learning this public language did not come without a
cost. He felt he was betraying his family, and that was reinforced by relatives who
intimidated him and called him a pocho – someone who is becoming an American, and is
forgetting his native society. That is what he became. He sacrificed his family’s language
and intimacy for the ability to prosper in the public sphere. He started out as Ricardo
Rodriguez, a boy growing up in a Hispanic family, and he ended up as Richard, “Richard
the American.”
Richard is arguing that bilingual education is unnecessary. That everyone should be taught
the public language to prevent social loneliness. He argues that he is better off now that he
