Self-Reflection and Memory

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how both Richard Rodriguez's "Hunger for Memory" and Thomas Szasz's "The Myth of Psychotherapy" demonstrate the current cultural obsession with self-reflection and the idea that reconstituting, reliving, and recapturing memory is impossible, a lie, and would be dangerous to the psyche and soul's self-development if it were possible. It looks at how Szasz critiques modern psychotherapy's attempt to make morality a mental and medical issue, whereas Rodriguez critiques modern moral educators within the educational establishment who would excuse poor performance by minority students and students from non-English speaking homes. It shows how both suggest objective, external standards to live up to, rather than internal reflection, and how they believe this is the answer to the sense of depression and disenfranchisement so endemic to modern life.

From the Paper:

"Hunger for Memory chronicles the autobiography of a young, once-Spanish speaking, now primarily English-speaking young man, of the journey of a Mexican-American named Richard Rodriguez who "made good" and lived the American dream. Yet although Rodriguez states that he has reaped the benefits of material and academic success, he feels alienated from his culture and of the political emphasis of reconstituting one's roots in modern America. This is particularly in terms of language, the author states. Rodriguez, after all, began his schooling in a primarily English-speaking school in Sacramento, California. He knew only a few words of English but Spanish was the primary language of his home."

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