Shame by Dick Gregory
Dick Gregory’s story Shame demonstrates that poverty is about multiple hardships and pain; yet, there are still many ways to reach happiness and pride by respecting someone and making small actions. Shame narrates about a little boy Richard living without a father in the ghetto; he falls in love with Helen – an increasingly smart girl from a wealthy family who wears expensive clean clothes.
Since Richard desires to be like Helen, he melts the ice for cleaning his garments; hence, everyone neglects his conduct because they do not know why he does it. Nobody can perceive why Richard tries exceedingly hard to be recognized; his only desire is to become an ordinary child like everyone else because others have regular routines like breakfast, unlike him. When the Community Chest collects donations for the poor, Richard tries to donate the same amount of money as Helen does; yet, his attempt is condemned by his teachers, who claim him to be poor. In general, by imitating and respecting those who have higher social status, Richard tries to improve the quality of his life, even though other people may misunderstand him.
White Lies by Erin Murphy
In White Lies, Erin Murphy tells a story of a girl named Connie who enters a new class and is bullied for her peculiarity – she is albino, or as her classmates say “exceptionally white.” Her most striking features are her eyebrows and eyelashes; regardless of these, boys and girls call her Casper Connie or Q-Tip and ask if she took a bleach bath due to her peculiar complexion. To stop constant bullying and gain respect, Connie lies about her dad – she tells everyone that her father works in the candy store and has unlimited access to sweets.
Creating such a white lie leads to Connie becoming the center of attention, and all her peers beg her to bring candies; yet, she cannot supply them every day because her father does not work there. Once some classmate sees Connie’s mother desperately trying to help her daughter filling card boxes with goods, while Connie puts small checkmarks in her notebook. Hence, the mother condones Connie’s white lies by helping her satisfy children’s demands so that she is no longer victimized.
Salvation by Langston Hughes
Salvation is a Langston Hughes’ narrative about the time when he was saved from a sin while visiting a religious revival at a church with his devout Christian Aunt Reed. They went to the church on the last day, which was remarkable because children could receive salvation by seeing the light which symbolized Jesus Christ (Wallace 70). Even though the preacher’s sermon was exceedingly pleasant, and people around were kneeling, praying, and crying for children to have salvation, Langston did not feel anything and never saw the promised light. When most of the children were saved, Langston and his friend Westley were still sitting; and the latter only got up because his knees hurt, not because he was a witness to Jesus.
Langson was the only child on his knees, and his aunt prayed for him to get up, which made the boy feel so ashamed that he ended up pretending to be saved. Later that night the Langston began crying as never before since he felt reproachful for lying to his aunt, congregation, and to Jesus, which forced him to question his beliefs.
Work Cited
Best, Wallace. Langston’s Salvation: American Religion and the Bard of Harlem. Ney York University Press, 2017.