Richard Rodriguez's Ideological Development in the Book Days of Obligation Essay

Rodriguez Ideological DevelopmentRichard Rodriguezs book Days of Obligation develops two cultural perspectives in order to compare and contrast them. In an excerpt, Rodriguez explores the dichotomy between the new California and the more ancient Mexico, how he fits in this scenario, and the turmoil he faces from having to subscribe to one ideology. To both convey and contrast his conflicted feelings, Rodriguez develops Mexico as a classical tragedy and California as a comedy to extrapolate on their complexity and irony.Rodriguez begins by setting up his reasoning for the assignment of the terms comedy and tragedy. He first asserts that California is a classical Greek comedy, where one has the possibility to start anew. California is a comedy because it is Individualistic and has many freedoms. California was shaped by the Protestant north where individualism reigned. Also, one could immigrate to California to escape past rivalries, alluding to the Capulets and McCoys to imply even the toughest freedom from the past was possible. With individualism and freedom came a second chance thus, a Greek comedy was born and encapsulated. From the encapsulating of his first ideology, Rodriguez makes it possible to contrast California with a sense of complexity, yet ideological completeness. With this, Rodriguez explores the implications of the comedy by showing its characteristics. The text states that one can change ones sex, get a divorce, or become a movie star to explain that California has exceeded the expectations for a classical comedy, providing many freedoms. On the other hand, Rodriguez likens Mexico to that of a Greek tragedy, where one is bound to the past and cannot live for the future. He concludes this because Mexico is heavily driven by the Catholic impulse, which places an influence on the past and family. Even his father says only death is a vantage point from which a life must be seen, directly opposing the youth of a comedy. All of this evidence points to a predestined culture...

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