Black Boy #2

The basic thing that Richard "hungers" for is food. "There were hours when hunger would make me weak, would make me sway while walking, would make my heart give a sudden wild spurt of beating that would shake my body and make me breathless" (127). Richard finds it difficult to do everyday things because he can't function on the calories he's getting. He also hungers for the elder's wife. "I would gaze at the elder's wife for hours, attempting to draw her eyes to mine, trying to hypnotize her, seeking to communicate with her with with my thoughts" (113). This is negative because his family believes he is thinking about God, and instead he is fantasizing about somebody else's wife. Maybe he should think about girls his own age. At the same time, it could be positive that he has a crush on someone so much older because nothing will ever happen between them and it's harmless. Finally, Richard hungers to be a normal person and live. He says so himself. He just wants to be like everyone else, instead of having to stay home on Saturdays because of his Granny. He doesn't want to be abused and hungry. The negative to this is it might be hard for him to achieve being normal, because he's extremely poor, and his family is rather closed-minded. He also gets into fights so that he'll be accepted. The positive is that if he can achieve this, he might be happier being normal.