"The Achievement of Desire"

"I intended to hurt my mother and father. I was still angry at them for having encouraged me toward classroom English. But gradually this anger was exhausted..." (pg 519)

It's ironic because Rodriguez does end up hurting his family, but for the opposite reasons. He begins to feel his heritage and and his family's background isn't good enough compared to the education he's receiving and the academic world he's enveloped within. It's surprising to know that he was ever against going to school and even learning English because he quickly became accustomed to it and preferred school and books to his family, becoming an outsider amongst the Rodriquez familia. I think he made a mistake in pushing his parents away through out his adolescence and young adulthood. Having a Mexican background set him apart from the "strangers" he'd always encounter in the library in Britain. Rodriquez, himself, even admitted although he was an accomplished reader, he failed to develop his own perspective. I think this is a metaphor regarding his life and ambition. He went very far with his education, fitting the mold of the "scholarship boy", but he failed to find self-purpose or self-identity partly because he alienated those who loved him. Overall Rodriquez made a choice to pursue his education over being more connected with his family, but my belief is that he easily could have had the best of both worlds.