May 12, 2011
“Shame” Response Questions
1. What’s unexpected or surprising about where Richard Gregory first experienced shame?
Throughout the reading he didn’t really seem to be ashamed of where he lived and what he had to wear, and he only had one outfit to wear all week to school. He was so hooked on Helene that nothing really mattered to him and he wasn’t worried about what other people thought of him, until the money came up at the end of the reading. The teachers were collecting money for “his kind” which I am assuming for the poor and the blacks, and he didn’t even realize it until the teacher didn’t call his name and he even wanted to top Helene’s money, but the teacher explained to him the money was for his kind and that’s why people are donating it. I believe this was his first real experience of shame, because he said he wasn’t raised within his household what shame was, until he learned it at school.
2. How long did Gregory’s shame last? What (or who) finally allowed him to overcome his
shame?
Gregory’s shame lasted until he was 29 years old and he didn’t experience Helene’s face anymore. It took him 22 years to get over his shame. He started making his own real money and that finally allowed him to get over shame.
3What all does Gregory do in order to impress Helene Tucker?
Gregory started playing the drums for Helene in high school, he broke track records in college, and behind the microphone and hearing all the applauses he wished Helene could hear them too.
4. There are three main characters in the story, don’t you agree? The protagonist and
antagonist in this narrative are pretty clear, but what’s interesting is that one of these
main characters isn’t actually given a proper name…why do you think Gregory made this
choice?
I believe the characters are Gregory, Helene, and the Teacher. I believe he didn’t give the teacher the name, because by the end of the story he was hurt at what she had done to him and he always thought she kind of liked him, so it makes out he never had a problem with her, but she thought of him as “a kind” and I believe he thought she is just a teacher and didn’t mention her name throughout the reading.
5. Gregory uses a lot of dialogue to tell his story—what effect does it have on a reader?
His dialogue started out his life seemed to be fine, and it was like he didn’t know any different way to live. Once you read through the story you realize he was a normal kid living normal life, until other people had to give their opinion and raise money for him when he didn’t even know, and know why and it made him become ashamed. It makes the reader feel bad for him and feel sorry for him, because he has to live with that shame with everything that he does.
6. In the final paragraph, Gregory states: “Now there was shame everywhere.” Why do you
think he says this? What examples illustrate his point I believe he said this, because everything he did he believed was shame, rather than just a normal day of living life like he was use to before shame happened. For example, when the reading talked about when there was shame in the plaid the welfare gave the boys, there was shame asking for peaches at the end of the day that were rotten, asking for sugar. He thought all of this was a normal part of life, because he was never taught shame in his household and once he realized shame, he knew everything he did had shame and was part of his life.
School related memories listing…
1. Equal clarity in college
2. Everyone going for a degree, some smarter than others, but yet still all in school and working for something they are interested in
3. Completing goals for one’s self
4. Feeling like wasn’t good enough
Talking about shame and the way Gregory found out how he felt shameful wasn’t fair to him. Going through grade school all the way through high school there are intimidating times and scary moments that happen to just about everyone. There are friends that help you through the way and fears you learn to get over. An experience I can think about is a close friend of mine and me. We both just graduated at the same time she was going for nursing and I went for health services. We lived together for four years and got along fine and had a great time together through our college experience. She was in nursing school and that’s all she talked about and was all about nursing and didn’t care much about my schooling and how it was going nor asked questions about it in general. It was a repetitive conversation over and over and everything she did it seemed like she thought she was better, because she was in nursing school. To me I’m thinking we are going to graduate the same time, so happy for her and that she loves what she is going to do in her future, but I am also graduating with what I want to do and it took the same amount of time and still getting a bachelor degree just as well as her. To me this is equal clarity. We are both college students striving for our degree in what we want to do in our future and our career.
I find it hurtful in a way, because I am not someone where stuff comes easy, I have to study hard and work hard for my grades which she knows, but she just never seemed to care. I can remember it was last semester and we were getting so excited for graduation and she said, I hope you can make it to my graduation, and I was like I am graduating the same day as you and she was just like oh yeah. It was hurtful she is one of my best friends and yet simply forgot I am graduating with her because she only thought about her and her nursing program. Its was disappointing to me, but I know she doesn’t mean anything by it and I don’t think she sees what she does with some instances. Equal and clarity goes a long way. I am happy for both of us that we accomplished our goals and graduated together. I know that she will be a great nurse and I know she will be there for me and I will be there for her. I believe even though sometimes people get caught up with their lifestyles, for example someone winning the lottery and all of a sudden become a millionaire and live a big fancy live style, but deep down they are still the same person and they are human and equal to another human. I believe this reading assignment is a good lesson for people to learn when it comes to shame, when thinking something is okay, but to the other person it can be hurtful and they are only human just like you are human too.
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