Perfect family
Rodriguez describes his family in the beginning of his book, and the impression he leaves is that his family was almost perfect. Rodriguez’s parents were warm and loving, careful to make sure that their children had what they needed and always ready to offer the protection and comfort their children needed. Thus, Rodriguez transmits the idea that his family was not the problem when it came to him feeling integrated into the society. In fact, all they did was to provide Rodriguez with a healthy environment to grow and develop in.
England
Rodriguez had the chance to go to England and study there. Instead of portraying America as the land of opportunities, he portrayed England as being such because for him, it was there where he received the education he wanted and the place where he was offered the opportunity to prove that he was more than just a minority.
Western classics
In the second chapter, Rodriguez talks about the books he read before entering high school. He mentions that it was his purpose to read as many good books as he could and he even read some Western classic books. In the chapter, Rodriguez paints Western literature as being hard to understand and abstract, thus differentiating it from the literature he was used to being surrounded with. The image portrayed here is also important because it shows that while he did find some books hard to understand in the beginning, he did not remained at the same level forever and chose instead to grow and learn more.
The scholarship boy
Rodriguez identifies himself as a scholarship boy and throughout the book, he describes on numerous times the scholarship boy. The image he portrays is that of a person coming from a disadvantaged environment, without any type of extraordinary financial means and more than often a person that just fades in the background because of their appearance. What makes the scholarship boy stand out however is his intelligence and the moment those around him realize that the boy is more than just his appearance, they are amazed and find it hard to believe.
