Hungry for Attention

This week's question is about Richard Wright, author of the book I'm currently reading in lit class title Black Boy. Is Richard hungry for attention? Is he alone in this hunger?

I would say that the answer is no. Everyone always wants attention to be given to them. Some people would have younger siblings that would get more attention than them and they would try to do things to get attention.

In the story one reason Wright set the curtains on fire was to see what it would look like, but another reason was to get attention, since he was not getting a lot of attention when his grandmother is sick. He also took his father's words of killing the kitten literally to get attention as well. He would sometimes loiter outside a saloon near their flat all day to watch the drunks inside the bar. One day a man carried him in to the saloon and then everyone in the saloon started to order in drinks to get him drunk. When he is in a drunken state, they would have him recite vulgar words for a penny or a nickel. I would also consider this as him being hungry for attention since no one is at home to watch him. He would go to the saloon everyday hoping someone would take him in and buy him some drinks. He goes to the saloon all the time not for the alcohol but for the attention of the men and women in the saloon.

Richard's mother was also trying to get attention. After she got a job as a cook, when she got home she would talk to Richard and his brother for hours about how they now have no father and that they have to learn to take care of themselves.