Free Essays on Hunger For Memory

, free and clear from the humiliation of the outside world in openly revealing their speech deficiencies. He remembers the first day of catholic school being introduced by a nun as Richard. Rodriguez states â€Å"This was the first time I had heard anyone name me in English† (393). This was the beginning of the end of his Hispanic heritage. In school he felt isolated from the rest of the students and at this point he realized he must now embrace his American identity. Frightening as it may have been. Because of his fear of accepting and learning the public language, it would change the comfort of his family life. He would often hesitate when interacting with his fellow students. Several months later his teacher had noticed his lack of participation i... Free Essays on Hunger For Memory Free Essays on Hunger For Memory Journal Response â€Å"Hunger for Memory† Richard Rodriguez in his book â€Å"Hunger of Memory† writes about the psychological impact of lack of heritage in his adulthood for trying to blend both heritages, American and Hispanic in his childhood. His experience as a second-generation Mexican immigrant, growing up in middle class, predominantly white neighborhood where he felt the discrimination and his struggle with the English language. He also tells us about how uncomfortable it was for him to see his parents trying to speak English. He describes to us the two worlds, â€Å"The Spanish world at his house and the gringos, American world† that he lived for a period of his life in his childhood. Rodriguez says that he felt very comfortable at home where everyone spoke Spanish. Rodriguez states, â€Å"My parents would say something to me and I would feel embraced by the sounds of their words.† (396) It was his language, and the only one that made sense to him. Rodriguez points out how the languag e barrier both excludes the Hispanic and isolates them from the predominant society. He recalls sitting at the dinner table, joining his parents in mocking the pronunciation of English words, free and clear from the humiliation of the outside world in openly revealing their speech deficiencies. He remembers the first day of catholic school being introduced by a nun as Richard. Rodriguez states â€Å"This was the first time I had heard anyone name me in English† (393). This was the beginning of the end of his Hispanic heritage. In school he felt isolated from the rest of the students and at this point he realized he must now embrace his American identity. Frightening as it may have been. Because of his fear of accepting and learning the public language, it would change the comfort of his family life. He would often hesitate when interacting with his fellow students. Several months later his teacher had noticed his lack of participation i...

3 Tricks to Figure out the Authors Tone

3 Tricks to Figure out the Author's Tone Authors tone is simply an authors expressed attitude toward a particular written subject. It may not be his or her actual attitude as authors can certainly express an attitude other than their own. Its very different from the  authors purpose! The tone of the article, essay, story, poem, novel, screenplay, or any other written work can be described in many ways. The authors tone can be witty, dreary, warm, playful, outraged, neutral, polished, wistful, reserved, and on and on. Basically, if theres an attitude out there, an author can write with it. To better understand tone, you should practice. So, now that you know what it is, how can you determine the authors tone when you get to a reading comprehension test? Here are a few tricks to help you nail it every time. Read the Introductory Info On most major reading comprehension tests, the test makers will give you a little snippet of information along with the authors name prior to the text itself. Take these two examples from the ACT Reading test: Passage 1: This passage is adapted from the chapter â€Å"Personality Disorders† in  Introduction to Psychology, edited by Rita L. Atkinson and Richard C. Atkinson ( ©1981 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.). Passage 2: This passage is adapted from the novel The Men of Brewster Place  by Gloria Naylor ( ©1998 by Gloria Naylor). Without reading any portion of the text itself, you can already determine that the first text will have a more serious tone. The author writes in a scientific journal, so the tone will have to be more reserved. The second text could be anything at all, so when youre reading, youll need to use another trick to determine the authors tone. Watch Word Choice Word choice plays a major part in the tone of a piece. If you look at the examples given in the What is Authors Tone article, youll see how very different an identical situation can be by just the words an author chooses to use. Look at the following words and see how they reflect a different feeling, even though the words are similar in meaning. Sit in the sunshine and smile. Bask in the brilliant rays. Discover your giggle.Sit in the hot sun and smirk. Recline in the glaring rays. Hunt for that snicker.  Sit in the warm sun and grin. Relax in the warm rays. Look for a chuckle. Even though all three sentences are written almost identically, the tones are very different. One is more relaxing- you can picture a lazy afternoon by the pool. The other is more joyful- maybe playing in the park on a sunny day. The other is definitely more sarcastic and negative, even though its written about sitting in the sun. Go With Your Gut Often, a tone is tough to describe, but you know what it is. You get a particular feeling from the text- an urgency or a certain amount of sadness. You feel angry after reading it and can sense the author is angry, too. Or you find yourself chuckling throughout the text even though nothing comes right out and screams funny! So, on these kinds of texts, and the corresponding authors tone questions, trust your gut. And on the authors tone questions, hide the answers and make yourself come up with a guess before looking. Take this question for example: The author of the article would most likely describe ballet as... Before you get to the answer choices, try to finish the sentence. Put an adjective in there based on what youve read. Amusing? Essential? Cut-throat? Joyous? Then, when youve answered the question with a gut reaction, read the answer choices to see if your choice, or something similar, is there. More often than not, your brain knows the answer even if you doubt it!