The Achievement of Desire

              The most interesting aspect of “The Achievement of Desire” to me was Rodriguez’s willingness to leave his family-life behind him, for the pursuit of education. In the previous section, Rodriguez writes about how his household became much quieter when the children began assimilating to American culture and began to speak Spanish less frequently at home; he felt like he was losing a part of himself. In this section, to my surprise, I learned that not only did he recognize that education was creating a rift between himself and his family, but that he intentionally pursues his education despite it. His teachers became his role models in leu of his parents, whom he only felt embarrassment over.

              Similarly to Rodriguez, I’ve also noticed that the pursuit of education can become isolating to family and friends. In a corporeal sense, I am unable to spend less time with them as I was focused on learning new material or studying for upcoming exams. But in an abstract sense, even the time that we spent together can often become isolating. I realize just from off-hand comments that are made without much regard how different I’ve become from the people I used to spend most of my time with. Our perspectives have become misaligned, and I seek more solace in engaging in my academic peers because, at least for the time being, we have more in common due to the nature of our relationship.