Aria

Aria; Richard Rodriquez (REFLECTION)

    Although I can't necessarily relate to this reading a great deal, the way it was written caused me to feel as though I could.  This piece somewhat saddened me when I read it because at such a young age he had to let go of huge part of his culture that made him who he was.  Not only did it take away from who he was, but also changed everything he ever knew around him.  The way his family functioned at home and how impressionable they were when the "visitors" came to encourage or kind of insist they spoke English at home.  Without any question his parents switched it up and went right along with what was requested of the church, Spanish was no longer spoken in the house.  To make such a change to somebody's life has a large affect at that point in time, and probably throughout their life.  With this child having to change the way he spoke, not being able to speak his first and native language, was easily viewed as not being accepted for who he was.  He did not "fit in" with the rest of society because he couldn't always understand.  If his language was not accepted, what would make him feel anything else having to do with his culture that is different from those around him, would be accepted.
    Family is a huge part of anyone's life, and the fact his family and their relationship changed so drastically with the change of language at home could have been traumatizing for anyone.  It seemed as though every aspect of family life changed for him.  He was upset at the simple fact of referring to his mother and father as the same names he did when Spanish was the spoken language at home.  His family was portraying his father as something he wasn't because his English wasn't "up to par" so he wasn't very talkative.  It also upset him when he overheard Spanish speaking families in public.
     Reading this piece I thought of one instance I felt completely out of place and extremely uncomfortable.  I was a single caucasian girl in an environment of about 450 Hispanic people, all of which were speaking Spanish.  I was stared at and stood there not really being able to interact with people because my Spanish speaking abilities are limited.  It is not uncommon for me to be in an environment and be the only white person there, but this time I really felt out of my element.  Although I felt uncomfortable, I did not expect the ones around me to entirely accommodate my differences.  They were accepting as was I, but they went about their business as they normally would. 
    I don't believe it was right he was forced to change the language he spoke at home.  There is always room for compromise and this is where it should have taken place.  An agreement for a certain amount of English speaking practice could have been set aside each day at home.  Also the fact his parents made the change with no question or hesitation surprised me. To so willingly give up your native language, which in turn changed many cultural ways in the home, didn't seem typical to me, and I truly felt sorry for the young boy that was so deeply affected by it.


(I wasn't sure if Aria was the name of the boy in the reading, which is why I referred to him as I did)