Summary (Identities & Issues in Literature)  Hunger of Memory:
The Education of Richard Rodríguez is a memoir that explores
Richard Rodríguez’s coming-of-age in an America that challenges
him to understand what it is to be a Mexican American and what
it is to be a Catholic in America. At the heart of this
autobiography is Rodríguez’s recognition that his is a position
of alienation, a position that he accepts with resignation and
regret. As the title of this collection of autobiographical
pieces suggests, he remembers his early childhood with
nostalgia, while acknowledging that his coming-of-age has
resulted in his displacement from that simple, secure life.  The
most critical aspect of his education and his development of an
adult self is language. He explores his first recollection of
language in the opening essay, which describes his hearing his
name spoken in English for the first time when he attends a
Catholic elementary school in Sacramento, California. He is
startled by the recognition that the impers