society is through books. He began life as a disadvantaged minority, but he became a celebrated writer. By creating books—which are the source of power—he ascends to a commanding social position.

Once upon a time, I was a “socially disadvantaged” child. An enchantedly happy child. Mine was a childhood of intense family closeness. And extreme public alienation. Thirty years later I write this book as a middle-class American man. Assimilated. Dark-skinned. To be seen at a Belgravia dinner party. Or in New York. Exotic in a tuxedo.

Rodriguez’s odyssey hearkens back to the theme of colonial domination that many 20th century scholars explore in their readings of The Tempest. Prospero is seen as the invading European who takes over and enslaves the native Caliban. His books represent the culture of the interloper that eradicates and invalidates the culture of the natives. As a Mexican-American man who becomes a writer, Rodriguez reverses the traditional power structure by seizing the source of the dominant culture’s power.

Richard Rodriguez’s allusion to the character Caliban refers to his original characterization in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but it also involves Caliban's later appropriation by postcolonialist, nonwhite writers, beginning with Aimé Césaire of Martinique. Rodriguez’s reference to “books” encapsulates the dilemma of the colonized, who must seek their liberation using the same things that had oppressed them.

In The Tempest, Caliban—whose mother, Sycorax, was a powerful sorceress—believes himself to be the rightful ruler of the island that Prospero has taken over by even more powerful magic. Prospero has enslaved Caliban and constantly denigrates him, calling him a monster and accusing him of sexually harassing his daughter. Caliban, finding the shipwrecked sailors, enlists their help in gaining access to Prospero’s books, which he sees as a crucial source of the magician’s power. The books symbolize both the knowledge and materials that the colonizer brings to his colonies but withholds from the colonized people.

In Césaire's revision of Shakespeare's play, which is titled A Tempest, Césaire aimed to rescue Caliban from the reputation of monstrous savagery that Shakespeare had imparted. This 1969 play marked a turning point in focusing on race and colonialism as elements of Renaissance drama, especially Shakespeare’s works. Césaire includes language more generally as an element of the “books,” with Caliban speaking in the African language Swahili and refusing to speak English. This aspect of identity as related to bilingualism is also a feature of Rodriguez’s allusion to Caliban.

This is a literary allusion (reference) to the character Caliban in Shakespeare's play, "The Tempest." Caliban is a monster who has been enslaved by Prospero the magician who landed on Caliban's island when he and his daughter were put out to sea to die. Caliban resents the power Prospero holds over him, so when other men are shipwrecked on the island, Caliban tries to convince them to help him kill Prospero so he can steal his books and magic.

As a major theme of "Hunger" is education and the strong desire for it, the allusion the author uses makes a great deal of sense.

Check the links below for more information. Good luck!