Hunger of Memory

Summary of “The Achievement of Desire” Chapter Two, Hunger of Memory Richard Rodriguez, writes Hunger of Memory as an autobiographical essay to display the life he lived and the importance of education. In chapter two, The Achievement of Desire, Rodriguez tells us “education is a long, unglamorous, even demeaning process”. This bold statement leads us to believe that education can be harmful to some people. Rodriguez introduces the scholarship boy by saying, “The scholarship boy …

…he does not know what to expect anymore, he forgets how his culture used to operate, and therefore stays away from his past. He tries repeatedly to return to his roots, but it never seems to work. His journey was not without costs: his public identity was only achieved after a painful separation from his past, his family, and his culture. Rodriguez laments the separation of who he is and what he is to become.