Excerpt #1: "Hunger" from Black Boy by Richard Wright
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Black Boy by Richard Wright (1945 Memoir)
Richard Wright's works aim to call out the injustices Black communities face in America and warn of the inevitable consequences that will occur as a result of these injustices going unaddressed (particularly by White Americans). While reading this passage as well as the novel Native Son, pay attention to the injustices Wright highlights and how these injustices impact both Black and White Americans, men and women, and the young and old. Analyze his work and arguments, and then, take time to make your own arguments. Being able to analyze an author's work does not mean you must agree with their opinions. While reading this excerpt, make annotations and comment on the text. Respond to each other's comments with meaningful reactions and respectful debate.
How many responses should you make? It's less about the number of responses and more about the quality behind those responses. Your responses should be insightful, original, and analytical. You should avoid simply summarizing the text, stating that you agree/disagree with a peer, or explaining the figurative language used. Instead, spend time breaking apart this excerpt to consider the themes within the text and how Wright shares his overall message/opinion with the audience. You'll want to form an opinion and explain your critical analysis of the text. Generally, I suggest 2-3 direct responses to the text and 2-3 responses to your peers. Don't worry about if your response "is right" or "sounds good enough." We'll work on how to craft our arguments, but the accuracy of your analysis is only as strong as your explanation. It doesn't matter if your teacher or your peers agree or disagree with you if you can't explain your position.
Whenever you read, you'll want to think of topics the passage addresses directly and indirectly. The thematic topics that are listed are very broad, so if you can make them more narrow in focus and/or find other topics you're interested in discussing PLEASE SHARE! In this excerpt, you'll witness some of the following thematic topics to consider:
- fear
- manhood / masculinity
- parenting
EXCERPT #1:
“Hunger”
Hunger stole upon me so slowly that at first I was not aware of what hunger really meant. Hunger had always been more or less at my elbow when I played, but now I began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at me gauntly. The hunger I had known before this had been no grim, hostile stranger; it had been a normal hunger that had made me beg constantly for bread, and when I ate a crust or two I was satisfied. But this new hunger baffled me, scared me, made me angry and insistent. Whenever I begged for food now, my mother would pour me a cup of tea, which would still the clamor in my stomach for a moment or two; but a little later I would feel hunger nudging my ribs, twisting my empty guts until they ached. I would grow dizzy and my vision would dim. I became less active in my play, and for the first time in my life I had to pause and think of what was happening to me.
There are two sets of figurative languages in this paragraph, personification and repetitions. I say this because we can see the word “hungry” being repeated on countless occasions and “hungry” being given humanly characteristics and we all know that “hungry” can’t stand.
I agree when you say that “hungry” is given humaly caracteristics, we can see that kind of personification also in the Bible, teh third of the four horsemen of the apocalypse is known as “famine” or, in other words, hunger as we can see in Revelation 6:5–6. This made me realise that, it doesn’t matter when, but hunger or “hungry” is personified as a intense fear since the old times when the Bible was written.
The author uses repetition and personification. Personification by giving the word “Hunger” human like traits. He also repeats “hunger” to show how it hunts him.
The narrator gives human characteristics to the hunger he’s feeling. He says, “to find hunger standing at bedside, staring at me gauntly.” This example of personification is used to describe how hunger creeps up on him, and how the feeling of hunger comes to him
Personification. The author mentions “Hunger” as if it were a person which is new to me. It creates an image in my mind of how “hunger” would be as a person/living being because of the author mentioning that “to find hunger standing at my bedside.”
The author gave hunger human like characteristics to hunger to express how much it affected him.
It describes how the feeling of hunger haunted and tortured him as if it were a ghost, not allowing him to get proper rest.
This reminds me of the snickers commercial where the people who are offered the snickers bar are “angry and insistent.” Most people get cranky when they are hungry.
“Mama, I’m hungry,” I complained one afternoon.
“Jump up and catch a kungry,” she said, trying to make me laugh and forget.
“What’s a kungry?”
“It’s what little boys eat when they get hungry,” she said.
“What does it taste like?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why do you tell me to catch one?”
“Because you said that you were hungry,” she said, smiling.
I sensed that she was teasing me and it made me angry.
“But I’m hungry. I want to eat.”
“You’ll have to wait.”
“But I want to eat now.”
“But there’s nothing to eat,” she told me.
I related to this on a personal level because I remembered times when I was younger and that I would ask my mom for food too and she would tell me “But there’s nothing to eat,” and it just touched my heart on a personal level.
Your personal connections are meaningful, and I share those same sentiments/memories. Now, push yourself further. Consider what feelings Wright felt as a boy and how other children feel in this situation. Also, think about what parents must feel in this situation as well. How can these conversations impact family dynamics?
Wright must have felt like today’s homeless children living in poverty with no food, no shelter, and other resources. Surely they feel isolated and that life is treating them unfairly.
Many families struggle to bring food to the table specially when you come from a low income family. I can personally relate to this because back when I was a kid in El Salvador we lived in poor conditions at times we didn’t have food to eat. I feel like the parent felt sad and I’m pretty sure they questioned why this was happening to them because this is a terrible situation.
I was able to connect to this a lot. Sometimes, I’d ask for food and there would be nothing in the fridge, or atleast anything that was filling. Not due to any financial struggles, but my mother would be too tired to cook, or we ate a lot that week. I feel Wright was trying to relate to the kids who have been on empty stomache’s without food or a way to get it.
“Why?”
“Just because there’s none,” she explained.
I too agree, the fact that words it this way leads me to believe they’re going through a rough time financially(in other words they my be jobless) rather than living in poverty. Although it does sound like poverty given that they cannot provide food.
“But I want to eat,” I said, beginning to cry.
The fact that the author included that he was going to cry, shows the extremeness of his poverty situation
I agree with you because if there was food I’m pretty sure a parent would say no to their hungry child no parent is like that.
“You’ll just have to wait,” she said again.
“But why?”
“For God to send some food.”
In addition to two figurative language examples (hyperbole and allusion), the reference “for God to send some food” shows a theme of religion.
“When is He going to send it?”
“I don’t know.”
“But I’m hungry!”
She was ironing and she paused and looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“Where’s your father?” she asked me.
I stared in bewilderment. Yes, it was true that my father had not come home to sleep for many days now and I could make as much noise as I wanted. Though I had not known why he was absent, I had been glad that he was not there to shout his restrictions at me. But it had never occurred to me that his absence would mean that there would be no food.
The author is showing us that many times, children do not understand how reliant they are on their parents. Although we do not know their exact age, I’m going to assume they still require their parents. These children at first, love to have the freedom of not being shouted by their father, but they soon realize the essential role of their father, which is putting food on the table. It makes the kids realize what they took for granted before. I have a personal experience with this type of situation. My mom has been gone for 3 weeks for surgery right now. Although it is nice to be able to have freedom, I also realize (just like the kids) that I am still somewhat reliant on my parents, and I have more responsibilities now.
Young Min, I completely agree with you. I am sure that many kids our age have come to realize through experience, how important and fortunate they are to have parents. There are many kids out there who don’t have parents or maybe they do but aren’t shown the love they desire. We take our parents for granted and later come to the realization that we need them. We come to express gratitude when it’s too late.
This is very true. But not only that, this also has a lot to do with the fact that this is a black family. During these times fathers had to be hard on their sons because the black man is always seen as a threat. So if he does not raise his son to be quiet, to keep his head down, or to only speak when spoken to he would be killed.
This a good point that you’ve made, children of our age love to break the rules sometimes and enjoy when their parents aren’t around to reprimand them when needed but what they don’t realize is how crucial that discipline is in their development as growing children especially within the time this was occurring, the discipline isn’t pleasant but it’s needed. So it is very true that at times we rely on our parents to help out as it is part of their roll in a child’s life to be the one they can place their trust with their life
From what this boy is saying about his father always shouting out his restrictions at him, I can understand why. Being a black man at the time with a black son was dangerous for them because they were seen as a threat. So always being hard on your son and keeping them quiet was common because if the son were to open his mouth to, or even look at someone of the white race they were killed or beaten.
I think that often times a lot of kids say things like if my parents weren’t here i could do this and that and are often ungrateful of what their parents really do for them so i think the author including this was very nice.
People often times take many things for granted. This is a good example of that one never wonders if there parents might be okay or where they are they just like the fact that they feel “independent” just because their parents aren’t home or not watching them. Then later on they start realizing that they need their parents because they can’t maintain a life without them especially at a young age.
This whole paragraph just goes to show how kids do not truly understand how important parents are in our lives. The kid only thought about how he got to be more loud and free now that his father was gone, but hadn’t thought about what his father’s significance was. Wright’s purpose was to make the reader think about the roles of each parent in their life, and if a parent is missing, to think about what’s different in the family now that they’re gone.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Who brings food into the house?” my mother asked me.
“Papa,” I said. “He always brought food.”
“Well, your father isn’t here now,” she said.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“But I’m hungry,” I whimpered, stomping my feet.
“You’ll have to wait until I get a job and buy food,” she said.
As a mother, I could feel the pain of another mother who had to take on all the household and child-rearing responsibilities alone because the father decided to abandon his role and leave. It’s sad and despairing; the mother is clearly overwhelmed because all the responsibility has fallen on her shoulders, but she cannot afford to suffer. Her children feel the pain of hunger and the absence of their father, and she knows she must fulfill both needs. I often say that it’s very easy to abandon children when you know there’s always a mother to bear the responsibilities.
It is interesting to note the parallels between the journeys of the mother and the son, both having to adapt to survive a new reality in life. In the mother’s journey we see this when she is forced to leave her children to work outside, facing a face of the world that she did not know, in the son’s journey we notice this with the need to mature and learn to take care of the house and the brother. Both were led to face the world alone, in their own new realities created by the need that life brought.
As the days slid past, the image of my father became associated with my pangs of hunger, and
whenever I felt hunger, I thought of him with a deep biological bitterness.
The boy switches from yearning his father to come back home to becoming hateful and bitter towards his father’s abandonment.
My mother finally went to work as a cook and left me and my brother alone in the flat each day with a loaf of bread and a pot of tea. When she returned at evening, she would be tired and dispirited and would cry a lot. Sometimes, when she was in despair, she would call us to her and talk to us for hours, telling us that we now had no father, that our lives would be different from those of other children, that we must learn as soon as possible to take care of ourselves, to dress ourselves, to prepare our own food; that we must take upon ourselves the responsibility of the flat while she worked. Half frightened, we would promise solemnly. We did not understand what had happened between our father and our mother, and the most that these long talks did to us was to make us feel a vague dread. Whenever we asked why father had left, she would tell us that we were too young to know.
Sense the father left the boy’s family the mother has to take the role of the bread winner and the kids must replace there mother’s role. When the traditional nuclear family falls apart, there is almost a disorder in the family.
Wright’s usage of the mother’s words to her sons about responsibility is relatable to what kids have to go through now because of someone in the household missing. Due to the father’s absence, the kid’s now have a lot of more things that they need to do for themselves. I’ve heard a lot of my friends talk about how they have a lot more things placed on them because they’re the oldest, or because their parents are at works and they become the babysitter. Things like that is what Wright is comparing the boys situation to.
I totally agree with what you said about the need of growing up and having responsibilities as a child because of a missing father figure. But what made me curious was that, in the text, it wasn’t said in any moment that he was the older brother, we all assume that the older one have to go and try to get responsable for, in this case, getting groceries as the father would. It’s hard to see the way that the mother taught him to defend himself and once he actually get to defend himself from the other kids, he need to face their parents alone, because again, he doesn’t have a father to protect him from the word.
One evening my mother told me that thereafter I would have to do the shopping for food. She took me to the corner store to show me the way. I was proud; I felt like a grown-up. The next afternoon I looped the basket over my arm and went down the pavement toward the store. When I reached the corner, a gang of boys grabbed me, knocked me down, snatched the basket, took the money, and sent me running home in panic. That evening I told my mother what had happened, but she made no comment; she sat down at once, wrote another note, gave me more money, and sent me out to the grocery again. I crept down the steps and saw the same gang of boys playing down the street. I ran back into the house.
“What’s the matter?” my mother asked.
“It’s those same boys,” I said. “They’ll beat me.”
“You’ve got to get over that,” she said. “Now, go on.”
I relate to this sentence on a personal level because at times I too get told by my mother to do certain things that I am either afraid or didn’t want to do it
I feel like so many times in so many kids lives, they are forced to mature and grow up at an early age because of their parents personal problems.
I agree with you because sometimes parents force us to “grow up” and be like oh it’s time for you to start thinking like ana duly and acting like one when a person is only like 8 years old. I feel like things like these happen because of personal problems and experiences.
“I’m scared,” I said.
“Go on and don’t pay any attention to them,” she said.
I went out of the door and walked briskly down the sidewalk, praying that the gang would not molest me. But when I came abreast of them, someone shouted.
“There he is!”
They came toward me and I broke into a wild run toward home. They overtook me and flung me to the pavement. I yelled, pleaded, kicked, but they wrenched the money out of my hand. They yanked me to my feet, gave me a few slaps, and sent me home sobbing. My mother met me at the door.
The pacing really speeds up in this paragraph. I think that it’s suppose to display how fast the encounter was.
“They b-beat m-me,” I gasped. “They t-t-took the m-money.”
I started up the steps, seeking the shelter of the house.
“Don’t you come in here,” my mother warned me.
I froze in my tracks and stared at her.
“But they’re coming after me,” I said.
“You just stay right where you are,” she said in a deadly tone. “I’m going to teach you this night to stand up and fight for yourself.”
The message here is that the mother is teaching her son, the protagonist, to stand up for himself without relying on protections of his mother, father or someone else.
I agree that the mother was trying to teach her son to defend himself, after all, he no longer had the protection of a father, and there may come a day when the mother is also no longer there, leaving him without anyone. She wanted him to learn how to deal with problems independently, although I don’t agree with the way she taught him.
Although this isn’t the best way to teach a child how to defend themselves (in my opinion at least) instead of hiding behind your parents leaving them to handle the matter, it’s still affective in terms of becoming independent in the way one deals with theses kinds of situations.
She went into the house and I waited, terrified, wondering what she was about. Presently she returned with more money and another note; she also had a long, heavy stick.
“Take this money, this note, and this stick,” she said. “Go to the store and buy those groceries. If those boys bother you, then fight.”
I was baffled. My mother was telling me to fight, a thing that she had never done before.
“But I’m scared,” I said.
“Don’t you come into this house until you’ve gotten those groceries,” she said.
“They’ll beat me; they’ll beat me,” I said.
“Then stay in the streets; don’t come back here!”
This satisfies the parenting theme, this mother has to do whatever it takes for her to raise her black son to be fearless. Living in a society where black males are rapidly becoming an endangered species she has to take certain risks in order to teach her son things. This includes doing what he is asked without question, be scared of no man regardless of their level of authority, and to do whatever he needs to do to provide for himself and his family. Which then also moves to satisfy the theme of manhood.
I ran up the steps and tried to force my way past her into the house. A stinging slap came on my jaw. I stood on the sidewalk, crying.
“Please, let me wait until tomorrow,” I begged.
“No,” she said. “Go now! If you come back into this house without those groceries, I’ll whip you!”
She slammed the door and I heard the key turn in the lock. I shook with fright. I was alone upon the dark, hostile streets and gangs were after me. I had the choice of being beaten at home or away from home. I clutched the stick, crying, trying to reason. If I were beaten at home, there was absolutely nothing that I could do about it; but if I were beaten in the streets, I had a chance to fight and defend myself. I walked slowly down the sidewalk, coming closer to the gang of boys, holding the stick tightly. I was so full of fear that I could scarcely breathe. I was almost upon them now.
“There he is again!” the cry went up.
They surrounded me quickly and began to grab for my hand.
“I’ll kill you!” I threatened.
They closed in. In blind fear I let the stick fly, feeling it crack against a boy’s skull. I swung again, lamming another skull, then another. Realizing that they would retaliate if I let up for but a second, I fought to lay them low, to knock them cold, to kill them so that they could not strike back at me. I flayed with tears in my eyes, teeth clenched, stark fear making me throw every ounce of my strength behind each blow. I hit again and again, dropping the money and the grocery list. The boys scattered, yelling, nursing their heads, staring at me in utter disbelief. They had never seen such frenzy. I stood panting, egging them on, taunting them to come on and fight. When they refused, I ran after them and they tore out for their homes, screaming. The parents of the boys rushed into the streets and threatened me, and for the first time in my life I shouted at grown-ups, telling them that I would give them the same if they bothered me. I finally found my grocery list and the money and went to the store. On my way back I kept my stick poised for instant use, but there was not a single boy in sight.
The previous two times the boy went out to get the groceries he was jumped and robbed. The third time he went to the store his mother demanded that he fight back or he wouldn’t be let back into the house. Not only was he scared of getting the money taken from him, he was scared of how his mother respond. When he say the group of bullies the final time, he used his fear as anger to fight back. As mentioned twice in the paragraph, he swung the stick in “fear” and was using all his strength in “fear” of them retaliating.
Your response provides more summary of what occurred because of fear, but I’d like you to reflect more on how his fear helped him. Do you think the author is arguing that fear is beneficial? If so, how? And in what ways are his fears detrimental?
I believe the fear of what your parent will do over powers what people on the streets would do, if you have one of those parents who don’t tolerate weakness then theirs sure to be a rude awakening. Fear can be your strength in a situation like this. Fear pushes us to do things that would surprise anyone and even ourselves and in this case i assume that he was afraid of getting beat a third time and out of fear did what had to be done to ensure it doesn’t happen again. It wa fear that gave him the push he needed.
Also I want to say that the imagery happening here while he was doing this made me imagine exactly how this was playing out and standing up for yourself can be pretty scary even if it’s just telling someone about your situation.
The imagery here helps to convey how fearful he is for his life, how fearful he is of a butt whooping from both the gang and his mother. Which pushes him to overcome it and learn how to stand up for himself from here on out. Which is something that he is gonna need being that his father has left and both his brother and mother are dependent on him.
I personally think the boy used his fear as an advantage. I say this because when one is in a situation like that they tend to act way different and I can say this by experience that when one is scared they start angry or desperate to the situation causing them to bounce and act.
The boy’s fear caused him to become outraged and let loose. Instead of being scared of the boys, and showing it, he hid it by using the stick and going at that with all he has. Sometimes fear is beneficial, if you’re not fearful of anything, there is nothing to improve, and improvement is necessary. The boy was able to get over his fear and beat the boys that were stealing his money.
I think that’s what happened here, the speaker was forced to face his fear (the gang) by his mother. And as terrified as he was he fought back and defended himself, his victory made him stronger. This was probably the first step for the speaker to break through from his childhood into manhood and step up in his father’s absence.
His mother demands that he gets groceries by any means necessary. Is he fighting solely because he’s obedient or is he obligated to fight so his family can eat/survive? when you say that children are often disobedient, do most children have the same demands on them that this child does? Is fighting considered an acceptable response by most adults and larger society? Does out society punish or permit violence/fighting when the person fighting is doing it because their parent told them to and/or because they are doing it for their family?
I believe that it is both an obedience, and obligation but mainly something that is within the character himself. It was his decision he could have felt he had to but he also could haven’t and let fear get the best of him. Also fighting for what is right is what is believed to be an acceptable response to adults instead of just fighting with no cause.
You mentioned the speaker’s loss of innocence, but dismiss it because he ends up “stronger.” What lead to his loss of innocence in the text and how is this mirrored in larger society? Does a loss of innocence generally lead to strength and/or positive outcomes for children? Does the speaker seem proud of the way he acted in the end? Is Wright promoting the idea that other children should behave the same way?
What lead to his loss of innocence is him realizing that the world will not always play fair. He needed to defend himself in order to put food on the table for his family. If his father is gone, who else shall do the job? A loss of innocence means children grow up faster than normal. Although this can make them more mature, they may also have a resentment towards this, possibly wishing that they could have a normal childhood.
The speaker seems somewhat proud, and as he should, he beat an enemy that terrified him the last two times he just tried to get food for his family.
Wright I believe is promoting that you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes, even if it is a difficult decision.
That night I won the right to the streets of Memphis.
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