"Aria" was an autobiography written by Richard Rodriguez. In his autobiography, Richard describes his childhood memories of assimilating into American culture. The arguments he made about assimilation connected to the readings from last week; "The Silenced Dialogue" by Lisa Delpit and "An Indian Father's Plea" by Robert Lake. Delpit brought up arguments relating to the codes of the culture of power. The third code explains; "the rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of the culture of those who have power" (Delpit 24). The culture of power has manifested its way into Richard's childhood and caused him to lose his own private cultural identity. When the nuns asked Richard's parents to speak more English at home, power and privilege played a huge factor in why his parents agreed to their recommendation. "How could they have questioned the Church's authority which those women represented?" (Rodriguez 20). If it was the next door neighbors, would the parents have listened to their remarks so easily?In "An Indian Father's Plea", Lake expresses his concerns about having his child, Wind Wolf, assimilate into American culture. He wants his child to retain his own cultural identity while adding on the knowledge of American culture to his repertoire. However, Wind Wolf was assimilating rather than integrating the new culture. Wind Wolf began to want to cut his hair and seemed to be embarrassed of his own Native American culture.We see both Richard and Wind Wolf preoccupied about their own public identity and whether or not they "fit in" with American society. Wind Wolf worries what his classmates think of him and Richard wants to connect and be part of society. Both began to sacrifice their own private cultural identity for their own spot in American culture.
How can we address the issue of assimilation? How can we make classrooms more open and accepting of diverse students?
I believe that the readings you touched upon connect in a related and cohesive way.
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