Anne Lee: Shame

Why did Richard feel ashamed in the story "Shame"?
Anne Lee
The story "Shame" is about how Richard Gregory learned shame in his childhood. Although Richard had a single mother and suffered from poverty, he did his best to keep his pride. He also wanted to look nice to Helen who was his classmate and had everything everybody wanted. However, his naive intention ended up bringing shame to him in front of Helen and other classmates. After he learned shame in his class, Helen became his driving force to get out of poverty for the next twenty-two years. As far as I understood, Richard felt shame because everybody pitied his poverty, and he was too late to help other when he can do.

Richard was ashamed when his whole class felt sorry for his poverty. He always tried to look like a normal boy, just like other children in his class. Despite the fact that he did not have water to wash his only piece of clothes and heat to dry it up during winter, he managed to wash it everyday to look clean before Helen. Although his father was not there to support his family and even his donation, he shined shoes for his family and "buying a dad" for donation. Moreover, he did not want others' sympathy but respect. He felt good when he thought he could donate money to top Helen's. Friday afternoon's washing the blackboard in his classroom made him feel important. However, he could not pretend to be a normal boy anymore due to his teacher's insensitive mention about his being on relief and his having no dad in the class. From that time, he was a miserable poor boy with no daddy, relying on other's help. He was so ashamed that he did his best to impress Helen.

In another way, Richard felt sick about himself when he was too late to help a wino when he was capable to do so. After his bitter lesson, when he encountered the opportunity of helping a more pitiable wino, he waited too long to help him. The wino had already paid with his blood and shame. Richard had suffered that kind of embarrassment long time before, but he could not help another poor person properly. It is like that his teacher and classmates intended to help him but made him ashamed. Therefore, he was ashamed again about himself.

To sum up, Richard was a kind of independent boy with high self-esteem. His ego could not allow others' sympathetic help. When he felt others' pitiable eyes on him, he felt shame. When he could not offer his help in an appropriate way, he was ashamed. Anyway, it is admirable that he had that kind of strong soul which could turn shame into power..