Black Boy Chapter 1

The beginning of the book starts with Richard Wright and his family in their house. His grandmother is very sick and he is not allowed to make any noise. He makes noise and he is beaten for it. Richard spends time in front of the fire staying warm and after a while gets the idea to burn a broom's bristles. He rips them off and burns them and eventually grows bored of it. He burns the bristles and then puts them to a curtain. The curtain burst up in flames and then the house starts to burn. At this point half the house is burnt up and people are frantically trying to save everyone. Forunately, no one is hurt in the fire but his parents think he has died in the fire since he is no where to be found. As it turns out Richard is hiding under the house and after they find him he gets severely beaten. There are many times even in teh first part of this book where he gets beaten senseless. After he burns the house up they move to Tennessee where they live in a flat with one kitchen and one bedroom. After some time there their father leaves them. After his father leaves is when he says he is "hungry." At first he says he is hungry because he literally is hungry but then he finds out his father as left and his father is the one who brings food. Then he starts to say he's hungry figuratively...I think this is because he is resentful towards his father and the hunger represents his anger towards his father for leaving them. Because his father has left him and his brother have to take on many responsibilities and the hunger is eventually beaten by his own work rather then his father's.