Hoggart

3 Pages 764 Words

Richard Rodriguez utilized Richard Hoggart’s essay “The Scholarship Boy” in order to describe the kind of student that he was. In Rodriguez essay, he uses several examples from Richard Hoggart’s book, “The Uses of Literacy” to make a clear meaning of the term “scholarship boy” and what it did to change his life. The constant argument is whether or not Rodriguez is a scholarship boy. Rodriguez and Hoggart had their own versions of “The Scholarship Boy” yet they tied into each other because Rodriguez experienced the life of a scholarship boy and Hoggart explained what a scholarship boy was. In a way Hoggart became Rodriguez’s mentor and showed him that is not the “Scholarship Boy” that he once was.
Rodriguez’s idea of a scholarship boy is defined as his own personal experience while Hoggart bases his definition of a scholarship boy on his knowledge of what he thinks it may be. Rodriguez lived the life of a scholarship boy and used Hoggart’s knowledge to relate it directly in his own life. Rodriguez was not certain if he was a scholarship boy, but with Hoggart’s words and examples it reassured him that he was. Hoggart states, “He is in a way cut off by his parents as much as by his talent which urges him to break away from his group.” Hoggart is basically explaining what Rodriguez has experienced during his life. Rodriguez in fact
Brenn 2
was cut off by his parents because they were not able to help him in his schooling because of there lack of education. It is clear that that Rodriguez is a scholarship boy in his childhood years. He depicts every aspect of a scholarship boy that Hoggart explains. Rodriguez exhibited the scholarship boy very strongly when he was student and now when his is writing his essay, “The Achievement of Desire” he does not seem to hold the sa...