The novel begins with a prologue in which the author gives some information about his background. He was born out of immigrant parents and even though he assimilated the culture in which he was living, he was still looked at with suspicion and pushed to rediscover his parents’ culture and language. He then states the reason for writing his novel and claims that it is his hope that the middle-class will be able to relate to his story.
When Rodriguez started school, he only knew a couple of words in English. Despite this, and the struggles he faced in school, he didn't think that bilingual education is the answer. In fact, he believed it to do more harm than good. In private however, Rodriguez used Spanish and the language was comforting to him. Because of this, when he had to enter the English speaking world, he did not felt comfortable.
Rodriguez goes then to argue that it is important to learn the language spoken by the society in which a person lives because that will help them adapt better to the main society. He also claims that those who push for a bilingual educational system do not understand completely the situation in which immigrant children find themselves in. After Rodriguez started school, the teachers urged Rodriguez's parents to talk English at home as well. Rodriguez notes sadly that this affected the relationship between him and his parents because they struggled to communicate properly. Instead of discouraging him, this only made Rodriguez feel more determined to learn English and to master the language.
Rodriguez closes the first chapter by claiming that between words and intimacy there is a close relationship that can’t be easily transmitted.
In the second chapter, Rodriguez admits that what made him what to succeed even more was his apparently disadvantaged background. Rodriguez defines himself as being a ‘’ scholarship boy’’, someone who willingly separated himself from his family for the sake of his own education. Because of his sacrifices, Rodriguez had the chance to go to England and study there.
Rodriguez always liked to read even though he didn’t fully understood everything he read. That didn’t stop him however and he continued to love books. In the second chapter, Rodriguez explores his love for books and how it changed him. The educational process was a hard one for him and he often questioned the worth of everything he was doing and if it was worth sacrificing the relationship he had with his relatives for something apparently no one was able to understand.
In the third chapter, Rodriguez talks about the religion he was exposed to, namely Catholics. His parents were catholic and so he grew up identifying himself as being one as well. The religion he was though at school was however different as the one his parents thought him and his parents often left the impression that the Virgin Mary was a Mexican and thus her skin was dark. Rodriguez liked the ceremonies he saw at church and he remembers fondly the time he was an altar boy. The masses changed over time and Rodriguez talks about these changes as being necessary and inevitable. Rodriguez chose to keep his faith personal but he commented on those who were public and saw this as proof that their relationship with God was not strong enough.
In the fourth chapter, Rodriguez talks about the color of his skin and how it influenced his life. His mother always told him to be careful to never stay too much in the sun to avoid making his skin even darker. For Mexicans, having a darker skin meant that the person was from the working class and spend a lot of time in the fields. Those who were not Mexicans, were interested in his skin as well but not in the same manner as Rodriguez’s parents. One of Rodriguez’s siblings had dark skin as well and while she never expressed her concerns openly, she was happy when her children were born with light skin.
The ones who criticized Rodriguez the most were his parents and family who associated dark skin with poorness and the common working people. His parents were also interested in the way they looked and for the longest of times they pretended to be something they were not. Rodriguez was also very careful when he was visiting people who were richer than him and observed them and the way they behaved.
Rodriguez always felt ashamed by his body and he admits that when he was young, he would refuse to expose himself and his bare body in public.
In the fifth chapter, Rodriguez talks about the ‘’beneficiary affirmative actions’’ and how he was against them. Some people believed that because Rodriguez was a minority, he was feeling pushed to the side by everyone. Those who were not a minority victimized the minority and these only mad things even worse. Some even compared the situation in which the minorities found themselves in with the situation the black people had in the beginning of the twentieth century. But Rodriguez argues that he was not as disadvantaged as some were inclined to believe and that he felt blessed to be able to go to college and learn. He then goes to argue that the government should not try to help the minority children get into college but rather improve the secondary and primary educational system to give the disadvantaged children a fighting chance. He writes that because children do not receive a proper elementary education, they are set to fail when they go to college. When Rodriguez began teaching, he had to face the minority students turned activists and he even recalls that some students told him to start teaching a class where he would study the literature written by minorities but he refused. Because of this, he was looked down by the students who asked him to do that.
Rodriguez was offered teaching jobs at prestigious universities but he turned them down because he felt that the only reason he was chosen was because of his status as a minority. His parents however could never understand why he would turn down good paying jobs and his feelings of guilt.
In the last chapter, Rodriguez reveals that he was urged by his mother to not reveal personal details about their family and to keep his career separated from his personal life. But paradoxically, Rodriguez feels as if the reader he will never meet will be able to understand him better in some situations than his own parents and because of this it is important for him to write. He concludes in the end that while his voice got louder over time, his parents got even more quiet and private than before.
