The Achievement of Desire

Well after painfully racking myself to try and finish the essay about cockfighting and police
raids, I found it surprising easy to finish the Achievement of Desire and really enjoying it. It is
the story of a man growing up second generation of Mexican descendant (I'm not sure if that
makes sense but I'm not sure how to phrase it) in California and desiring to be more like his teachers and less like his parents. He shows us his progression through the education process from his early years to his final year as a grad student working on his final paper and the final realization of what he has become and what he lost in order to get him there.
We follow little Richard in grade school and watch as he turns into an anxious and ambitious student and embarrassed and reclusive son. He becomes obsessed with imitating his beloved teachers and seems to take the meaning of education (or the process) at face value, believing that reading and understanding themes was the way to become "educated" and thus confident and teacher-like.