The short story "Shame" by Dick Gregory, clearly shows that poverty brings many hardships as well as
a great deal of shame. However, there are still ways to gain pride and happiness. This story shows
that by emulating somebody you respect, even a very poor person can derive pride from small actions,
which the average person sees as insignificant. In "Shame" Richard is a poor boy without a father,
living in the ghetto. However, there is a girl at school named Helene, that he is in love with. Unl
ike Richard, Helene is well off, wears clean clothes, and is very smart in school. Richard tries ver
y hard to be like Helene. He melts the ice water from the grocery so he should be able to wash his c
lothes for the next day of school. The only reason he goes to school is for her. Everyone else conde
mns his behavior. Nobody understands that the reason why he doesn't function like everyone else was
because when he gets up in the morning he doesn't have breakfast. Nobody realizes that he is just an
other boy who wants to be recognized and seen as just a normal kid like everyone else. They don't co
mprehend how hard he is trying to accomplish that. While everybody else is having fun after school,
he is shining shoes just to get a little change so he could get by. When the day comes that the kids
pledge their fathers' money to the Community Chest, naturally Richard wants to match Helene's pled
ge. However, when Richard gets up to match Helene's amount, the teacher becomes upset at Richard. Sh
e said, firstly, that the money is for "him and his kind," and therefore, if he is able to give, he
has no reason to be receiving relief. Secondly, she said that he didn't even have a daddy. The story
shows many different aspects in which poor people suffer, and also many things that they may derive
pride from that we don't understand. It also shows that the emotions that they show and actions tha
t they do, regardless of how weird or unimportant they seem, may provide great relief and happiness
to a poor person. Initially, the story talks about how Richard likes Helene because she is "clean."
It then goes on to state the many things that he does to make sure he looks clean. He does these thi
ngs because they give him "pride" in the fact that he is like her in these aspects. It says, "I brus
hed my hair, and even got myself a little old handkerchief," so that he wouldn't have to wipe his no
se on his hand. Another example is, "I washed my socks and shirt every night." He'd go to "Mister Be
n's grocery store," and scoop ice from the machine. He would then wait for it to melt so he could wa
sh his clothes. He'd put them on in the morning "wet or dry." He did all this so that he could have
clean clothes, just like Helene. This was his pride and it satisfied him. We see how he wanted to em
ulate her when he says "Everybody's got a Helene Tucker, a symbol everything you want. I loved her f
or her goodness, her cleanness, and her popularity." The story's climax involves the Community Chest
which the fathers of the kids in the class would pledge money for the poor. Richard knew that Helen
e would give money and he wanted to be able to match it. He would use the money that he worked hard
for after school, when all the other kids were playing. However, when he pledged six times the amoun
t of Helene, the teacher got very mad. First she said "We are collecting this money for you and your
kind. . . . If your Daddy can give fifteen dollars you have no business being on relief." Then she
said "And furthermore we know you don't have a daddy." Richard was just trying to be like everyone e
lse, and use his hard earned money to get himself a little pride. However nobody understands this an
d they see it as being something wrong, and because of it he feels great shame and leaves school. Ne
vertheless we see his good intentions when he tries to help out a wino that was getting beaten becau
se he didn't pay at a restaurant. These are just a few examples of how poor people can get pride and
happiness from small actions that we don't understand. Also, we see how they can sometimes be misun
derstood when they do these actions. In general, we should try to be more yielding and considerate o
f such people. We should see ourselves in these situations and try to understand.
short story shame
dick gregory clearly shows that poverty brings many hardships well great deal shame however there s
till ways gain pride happiness this story shows that emulating somebody respect even very poor perso
n derive pride from small actions which average person sees insignificant shame richard poor without
father living ghetto however there girl school named helene that love with unlike richard helene we
ll wears clean clothes very smart school richard tries very hard like helene melts water from grocer
y should able wash clothes next school only reason goes everyone else condemns behavior nobody under
stands reason doesn function like everyone else because when gets morning doesn have breakfast nobod
y realizes just another wants recognized seen just normal like everyone else they comprehend hard tr
ying accomplish while everybody having after shining shoes just little change could when comes kids
pledge their fathers money community chest naturally wants match pledge however when gets match amou
nt teacher becomes upset said firstly money kind therefore able give reason receiving relief secondl
y said didn even have daddy story shows many different aspects which poor people suffer also many th
ings they derive pride from understand also emotions they show actions regardless weird unimportant
seem provide great relief happiness person initially talks about likes because clean then goes state
things does make sure looks clean does these things because give fact these aspects says brushed ha
ir even myself little handkerchief wouldn have wipe nose hand another example washed socks shirt eve
ry night mister grocery store scoop machine would then wait melt could wash clothes them morning thi
s could this satisfied wanted emulate says everybody tucker symbol everything want loved goodness cl
eanness popularity climax involves community chest which fathers kids class would pledge money knew
would give wanted able match worked hard after other kids were playing pledged times amount teacher
first said collecting your kind your daddy fifteen dollars business being relief then furthermore kn
ow daddy trying earned himself little nobody understands being something wrong feels great leaves ne
vertheless good intentions tries help wino getting beaten didn restaurant these examples people happ
iness small actions understand also sometimes misunderstood general should more yielding considerate
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