"Shame" by Dick Gregory

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. Unlike Richard, Helene is well off, wears clean clothes, and is very smart in school. Richard tries very hard to be like Helene. He melts the ice water from the grocery so he should be able to wash his clothes for the next day of school. …