Essay 1: Richard Rodriguez' short essay describing Christmas shared with his family shows his loving feelings towards his parents, and nostalgic memories of childhood holiday celebrations. While growing up the living conditions were poor, yet his mother never doubted that her children would become successful and wealthy. Rodriguez remembers hearing her predict the future and the presents they would one day purchase for their old parents. Now, her foreshadowing has become reality and somehow things have changed in his mother, which worries him. Throughout the passage, Richard Rodriguez writes in short concise sentences and employs common vocabulary rather than large words. His language is descriptive, and he refers to the floor being "carpeted" with red and green wrapping paper, as well as his mothers' feet becoming "wreathed with gifts." Also, Rodriguez refers to the ways in which his brothers and sisters have changed by mentioning luxuries such as "expensive foreign cars," and a "shiny mink coat." Although many of the things he describes seem to show the joyful results of their hard labor to become rich, he finds that perhaps his parents have been left behind. The tone of the passage should be joyful and happy because of the Christmas holiday celebrations, but actually the tone is sad and sympathetic. Rodriguez watches his family depart and notices the sorrow and worry felt by his aging mother. He watches her wave goodbye "toward no one in particular," and cannot understand the exact reasons for her sorrow. After speaking to his father for the first time all night, he realizes that they are sad because they are so quickly losing touch with their children. Never again will their Christmases be the way they once were in the past. Maybe he feels a sense of guilt for being selfish in his own desires to become wealthy and successful and wishes he had realized that his parents, the people he owes so much to, still need love and affection. Richard Rodriguez’s attitude about Christmas is doubly layered. He is fond of “the Christmas one remembers having once,” but he realizes that it is fruitless to try to regain the old spirit of the holidays when the family has changed so much since then. Rodriguez is resignedly nostalgic about his family, and the ways in which they do not reflect their past selves anymore. Rodriguez demonstrates this change in his family by emphasizing particular details about their life back then, and now. His mother predicted the state of things when she would be a little old lady, back before she was. His mother foresaw that her children would be “very rich,” rich enough to buy her luxuries such as a big fur coat. Rodriguez states that “every Christmas” her feet are “wreathed with gifts.” And yet, his mother clearly prefers family togetherness to material possession. She gives her coat to her husband, perhaps even the same her children became rich to buy her. Her children all have “expensive foreign cars” and even a “shiny mink jacket” to show for their financial success as business execs and lawyers. However, as evidences by his father’s silence towards him, Rodriguez realizes that none of these things contribute in any way to their parent’s happiness, or to the revival of the holiday spirit as it once was. Rodriguez’s wealth might have even pushed him away from his parents, and family. Rodriguez exposes the thoughts of both his family and himself, with quotations and interjections of his own thoughts. Not only has the Christmas room grown “uncomfortably warm,” but the conversation is headed that way as well. Comments such as “We have to get up tomorrow” and idle questions like “Does anyone want coffee or more cake?” represent that the grown-up children no longer feel content at “home,” as they no doubt once did, and they suggest that the children visit only for the tradition of it, not for any real desire to be close to family. Rodriguez himself thinks more than he says, and he mentally questions his mother’s thoughts about the condition of Christmas now. He recognizes, however, in his resignation that those questions are “questions of paradise” and they do not live in a paradise anymore. Throughout this passage, Rodriguez uses pointed diction to express his thoughts. The expensive foreign cars that they all have idle “sharply” as if being deliberately “foreign” to the old family atmosphere. Also, one of the ways in which Rodriguez shows the change in his parents is through words like “very small,” of his mother, and that his father’s arms are notably thing. Chances in his parents are representative of changes in the lives of all the family members. Rodriguez identifies and recognizes all of these things, and how they both affirm, and attribute to, the life-long degeneration of the family spirit around the holidays. He has shown that he wishes it was different, but also that he cannot change it. Rodriguez is living a life that many people lead without knowing it, but as he has shown, acknowledging a life-long problem can only make it easier to deal with, not make it better. Essay 2: Richard Rodriguez begins the passage with the optimistic portrayal of a successful family. He admits that his mother s not surprised by their wealth, implying a childhood filled with love and support. The first indication of Rodriguez’ attitude towards his family and himself is in his discussion of the dreams of materialism implanted in the minds of his family. His mother suggests that even though she will be old by the time they are wealthy, their gifts, there is no mention of their affection, will keep her happy. The years are skipped and the intricacies of education and employment are merely understood. The story returns with the seemingly joyous occasion of Christmas day in a room littered with discarded wrapping paper. But rather than the expected joy and happiness usually associated with the holiday, Rodriguez notices the exhaustion and discomfort of a family past the climax of Christmas morning. The groans of well-fed people suggest a lapse into gluttony and the children falling asleep represents the complete lack of interest as soon as the potential for gaining more possessions has ended. In order to illustrate how detached his family has become, Rodriguez acknowledges the domino effect in the departure of his siblings. The children are described as bundled up for even just a short walk to the car. Not only is the rapidity of their exit noted, but also their pampered characteristics in that they require excessive warmth for even a brief period outside. The focus is then shifted back to his mother who after watching her family pack into “expensive foreign cars” appears even smaller in stature than normal. As she looks at the physical proof of her family’s success, her expression is described as “worried.” A quick kiss from her youngest daughter seems too fast to be enjoyed as she “rushes” down the front steps. Rodriguez is positive that something is upsetting her, but cannot quite seem to grasp the exact reason. His inability to perceive the problems in the family’s current level of closeness is an indication that he too has fallen into the trap of materialism. Although he considers asking her, he is not comfortable with such an intimate discussion. Up to this point, the only possible way to excuse Rodriguez’ perception of his mother as a sad and feeble elderly woman is to place emphasis on the tumultuous emotions associated with her gender. While taking a coat out to his father, however, Rodriguez is surprised by both his visible frailty and the realization of his relative silence throughout the evening. Is it possible that his father is recognizing the same symptoms of a family drifting apart? Richard Rodriguez addresses a valid problem that becomes even more apparent during the holidays. The focus on family and spending time together is blurred by the insatiable appetite for material things. The children of the Rodriguez family were raised with the idea that success was defined by the amount of material possessions. This idea, presented to them by their mother, was initially intended as motivation for their success, but was eventually transformed into their current obsession. Rodriguez implies that even though the gifts have gotten bigger, the coats more expensive, and the cars more luxurious, the family does not experience the same feeling of love that was prevalent during childhood. His selection of detail indicated both the awareness of the problem and the lack of any probable, immediate solution. Years of conditioning are difficult to reverse.