Going Home Again

As I was reading Richard Rodriquez's essay,  "Going Home Again,"  I was struck by the underlying sadness of the piece. Why is it, I kept asking myself, that becoming an academic can separate you from those you love the most? In Rodriquez's case, we see both the sacrifice that he makes by becoming an academic, as well as the estrangement that he feels from his family. His family, he believes can not understand the world he lives in as an academic, but it almost seems as though, on some level, that Rodriquez does not want them to. He seems to delight in some ways,  in the distance that stands between him and his family. Rodriquez also seems equally embarrassed by his family, as well as nostalgic for the a time that he felt close to them, prior to his academic life.



One of the things that puzzled me the most when I was reading the essay, was Rodriguez's need to separate himself from his native language. While I understand that he believes it is essential for him to separate himself from both his culture and language, in order to succeed as an academic, I do not buy it. It seems disingenuous to me. As a doctoral student, he must realize the importance of learning a second language, Why doesn't he realize that the world of academia, which he in fact reveres, believes that the ability to speak and write in Spanish is important? By severing his ties to Spanish, I believe in a real sense, he is severing a part of himself. And it is a part of himself that is viable not only to the  world of academia, but more significantly to himself. Rodriquez's ability to speak Spanish would only add to his role as a scholar, not subtract from it.