Richard's Hungers and the Effects

Richard hungers in different ways; physically, emotionally and intellectually. First of all, the most obvious of his hungers is physical. Richard often mentions his intense starving, and it overtakes him. He says, “…I knew hunger, biting hunger, hunger that made my body aimlessly restless, hunger that kept me on edge, that made my temper flare…” (Wright 103). This hunger savaged his body, as well as his emotions. For example, Richard says “There were many days when I spoke to no one except my mother. My life was falling to pieces…” (Wright 173). Richard lacked love in his life. Without affection from anyone accept his mother, Richard became extremely emotionally distraught. Lastly, Richard hungered for knowledge. He had so many questions about why black people and white people had to live together this way, and his questions were never answered. Richard notices that “As the outside world grew more meaningful, I became more concerned, tense; and my classmates and my teachers would say: ‘Why do you ask so many questions?’ “ (Wright 169). Richard ached to know how the world around him functioned, but nobody could explain a thing to him.
In all of the above quotes, Richard explained how these hungers affected him. His physical hunger made him short-tempered. Richard’s emotional hunger made him feel lonely, while his intellectual hungers made him curious. The effects of Richard’s physical and emotional hungers were both negative, and made his life almost intolerable. Richard’s curiosity, however, forced him to strive to learn and educate himself, so he could one day interpret the world around him. Richard had a thirst for knowledge that needed to be satisfied, and this need helped him to grow.