Aria, Chapter 1 Summary

Richard remembers his first day of school in Sacramento, California. He shows up to class with very limited English and no idea what school would be like, since his older brother and sister never talked about their classroom experiences. Although Hispanic Americans tried to promote bilingual education in the late 1960s, Richard does not agree with such an education. He believes that the proper English language belongs in public when talking to Americans, or what his family called gringos, and the intimate Spanish language belongs in private, while talking to family and close friends. Richard describes the English language as loud, confident, firm, clear and high sounding. His parents spoke only Spanish at home and broken English in public, when necessary. Richard is troubled by his parents' weak communication skills in public. He thinks that, although his parents broken English had...