Types of Hunger
"Not to know the end of the tale filled me with a sense of emptiness, loss. I hungered for the sharp, frightening, breathtaking, almost painful excitement that the story had given me, and I vowed that as soon as I was old enough I would buy all the novels there were and read them to feed that thirst for violence that was in me, for intrigue, for plotting, for secrecy, for bloody murders" (Wright 40).
what is hunger for knowledge
"'You stop that, you evil gal!' she shouted. 'I want none of that devil stuff in my house!'" (Wright 39).
Who is Granny
Give his playmate (boy in the neighborhood) his shirt?
What is Richard was so excited to be moving from Memphis
"In shaking hands I was doing something that I was to do countless times in the years to come: acting in conformity with what others expected of me even though, by the very nature and form of my life, I did not and could not share their spirit" (Wright 37).
Conformity
"With Aunt Maggie gone, my mother could not earn enough to feed us and my stomach kept so consistently empty that my head ached most of the day" (Wright 68-69).
what is hunger for food
"When you get through, kiss back there" (Wright 41).
Who is Richard
Hoard bread/biscuits from the dinner table even though for the first time in his life he was fed plenty of food?
What is Richard was afraid of experiencing hunger again
"I had begun to notice that my mother became irritated when I questioned her about whites and blacks, and I could not quite understand it. I wanted to understand these two sets of people who lived side by side and never touched, it seemed, except in violence" (Wright 47).
Race Relations
"I took Betsy and ran all the way home, glad I had not sold her. But my hunger returned" (Wright 70).
what is hunger for food
"'Mr. Hoskins... he done been shot. Done been shot by a white man... Mrs. Hoskins, he dead" (Wright 54).
Who is a Boy from the saloon
Peer into the flat next door?
What is to see what kind of business the woman was running
"I learned afterwards that Uncle Hoskins had been killed by whites who had long coveted his flourishing liquor business. He had been threatened with death and warned many times to leave..." (Wright 54).
White Supremacy
I did not object to being called colored, but I knew that there was something my mother was holding back. She was not concealing facts, but feelings, attitudes, convictions which she did not want me to know; and she became angry when I prodded her" (Wright 49).
What is hunger for understanding of race relations
"It's because... Well, they're harder on black people" (Wright 58).
Who is Richard's mom
Try to sell Betsy?
What is to have money to buy something to eat
"I just love this dog...I'm going to buy her. I haven't got a dollar. All I have is ninety-seven cents" (Wright 69).
"'No, ma'am,' I said, shaking my head. 'I want a dollar'" (Wright 70).
Richard's pride & opposition to white race
"I nursed my orange all of Christmas Day; at night, just before bed, I ate it, first taking a bite out of the top and sucking the juice from it as I squeezed it; finally I tore the peeling into bits and munched them slowly" (Wright 77).
What is hunger for a better life
"'There was nothing else to do,' 'uncle' said impatiently. 'I took the money. I had hit her. She was Unconscious. If they found her, she'd tell. I'd be lost. So I set the fire" (Wright 67).
Who is "Uncle" Professor Matthews
Not write his name on the blackboard when asked by his teacher?
What is Richard was paralyzed from shyness
"It was as though I was continuously reacting to the threat of some natural force whose hostile behavior could not be predicted. I had never in my life been abused by whites, but I had already become as conditioned to their existence as though I had been the victim of a thousand lynchings" (Wright 74).
What is fear from violence & oppression