What does Rodriguez mean by the "fellowship between a reader and a writer"(paragraph 4)? Why does he differentiate between "intimate" and "personal" forms of communication?

 

When Rodriguez says, "fellowship between a reader and a writer", he realizes the connection that a reader and a writer can have through the power of words. This means that he was able to imagine what the author was trying to portray and sees the images in his head. I could thoroughly relate to Rodriguez's description of his parents attitude toward reading. For his parents reading was for getting through the necessities of life, such as doing ones taxes or reading letters sent by a loved one. However, for Richard reading would become an entirely different animal.

A relationship exist between parents and their children. Words spoken by parents to their children are intended specifically for their children and no one else. These words are impactful because they are put together carefully. Parents inherently select words they know would resonate with their children. Reading and books can only connect on a personal level because it is never intended for a single specific reader. The writer writes to capture a category of audiences. There isn't an established relationship between the writer and reader. It is established after the reader reads the book. It is also only established by the reader.

Rodriguez often talks about silent or reserved people as having a less developed public identity than characters who are more vocal. This can be seen in the way that Rodriguez's father talks loudly and confidently in Spanish but is painfully quiet in English, or in the haunting silence of the Mexican workers Rodriguez encounters during his summer construction job. In this way, silence represents disempowerment and an inability to participate in public life. The second way that silence is manifested in the book is as the silence of reading and writing. Rodriguez recalls that he used to dislike reading on his own as a child, even speaking the words out loud to make himself feel less lonely. This uncomfortable silence recurs in Rodriguez's adulthood as something he both fears and requires in order to write. In this sense, silence takes on a kind of power because it becomes a means of getting in touch with a deeper sense of self. The final form that silence takes is much more philosophical. Rodriguez is fascinated by the distinction between sound and sense—that is, the boundary between when words hit the ear as mere sound and when they begin to take on meaning. Rodriguez suggests that somewhere beyond this transition from sound to sense lies a profound silence. It is this form of silence that he suffers through after learning English and feeling cut off from the previously comforting Spanish sounds of home, but this silence also enables Rodriguez to access the abstract meanings that have defined his interests and career. In this way, silence becomes both reward and a consequence of education.