ld be”(pg. 325).Rodriguez hides himself behind an image of what he thinks he should be, but not who he really is. He even has a central theme of a “scholarship boy”, a concept which he did not surmise. One aspect of his essay, perhaps not seen before, is the combining of his family and personal history into his world history. Both his family and personal history are already interlocked with world history with his family’s migration to America, ironically around the same time that Susan Griffin talks about. And while the war was not in the America’s, they must have had to endure racism, and hardships in coming to the United States.Another author that can be looked at through Griffin’s eyes in a historical perspective is Ralph Ellison’s “Extravagance of Laughter”. What is interesting about looking at these two essays is that not only the histories, but a lot of the major themes as well are in both essays. Ellison has a vast personal history, and surrounding that is world history, however there is not a lot of evidence of family history. His personal history begins with his journey from the South to the North in the early nineteenth century. He talks of accounts of racism he encountered in both places, which falls into the larger picture of world history. His remembrances of those racist happenings were occurring throughout the country at that time. Ellison incorporates so much personal history with world history that it becomes difficult to distinguish which is personal history, and which is world history.One of the themes that stay current throughout both essays, however, is constant effort to hide the truth. Ellison had a difficult time admitting and realizing his true place in society. He wore “masks” to cover how he really felt, to accommodate whatever situation he was in. When Griffin talks about places in the family, she speaks of masks as well. She said,I...
