Theme Of Shame By Dick Gregory

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Fear has been a conflicting characteristic that has steered mankind ever since there was a mankind. Dick Gregory shows this through one of his past time stories titled “Shame.” This piece of literature portrays an adult’s point of view on a child’s personality. Furthermore, we can see how a weakness of fear can be just as relevant to an adult as it can be to a child. This story gives us examples of fear through immaturity, humility, and abuse.
Everyone is immature to some extent. Not necessarily immature as in making a perverted joke, but more so doing something that is generically childish or naïve. In the first paragraph of “Shame” the speaker admits to a love for a girl in his class. Then, the speaker opens the second paragraph with “Everybody’s got a Helene Tucker” (134). Perhaps the speaker is not referring to literally a girl or boy in your class that you like, but something that you simply idolize or sacrifice for. This is a natural
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The most clear and profound one is when the teacher goes out of her way to insult the child by reminding him (or clarifying to the reader) of his father’s absence; “’We know you don’t have a Daddy.’” (136). This abuse could be tremendous to anyone, especially a child. Apparently, this child was afraid of this as he explains “I was shaking, scared to death.” (135). Later in the story the speaker describes a situation with a wino eating food and not being able to pay for it. There is, of course, physical abuse by the shop owner, but the more pressing conflict is when the child offers to pay for it. The wino rejects the offer by saying: “’ Thanks, sonny, but it’s too late now. Why didn’t you pay it before?’” (138). The fear of rejection or any form of emotional abuse has become a real threat to people these days. In its essence, fear of abuse is just as real as the fear of humility and

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