Richard Rodriguez insists that his story is also everyone′s story. Take an episode from your life, one that seems in some way similar to one of the episodes in ″The Achievement of Desire,″ and cast it into a shorter version of Rodriguez′s essay. Your job here is to look at your experience in Rodriguez′s terms, which means thinking the way he does, noticing what he would notice, interpreting details in a similar fashion, using his key terms, seeing through his point of view; it could also mean imitating his style of writing, working with quotations from other writers, doing whatever it is you see him doing characteristically while he writes. Imitation, Rodriguez argues, is not necessarily a bad thing; it can, in fact, be one of the powerful ways in which a person learns. Note: This assignment can also be used to read against ″The Achievement of Desire.″ Rodriguez insists on the universality of his experience leaving home and community and joining the larger public life. You could highlight the differences between your experience and his. You should begin by imitating Rodriguez′s method; you do not have to arrive at his conclusions, however. The final draft of your essay should be 1,200-1,500 words long (not including a works cited page). Your peer review and instructor review drafts will be shorter, but the more material you have, the better and more useful the comments on the draft will be.
