Hungry for Attention

Is Richard the only one hungry for attention?

Our new novel is Black Boy by Richard Wright, the main character Richard a young child at the beginning of the book searches for the attention he doesn’t get from his parents. He wants to be noticed by his father who is always sleeping because of his job and his mother who is busy trying to keep the family running. When Richard is fighting for attention with his grandma who is ill, he sets the curtains on file which leads to his house burning down. When his father doesn’t pay attention to him and only wants to sleep he hangs a poor, innocent kitten. All of Richard’s actions in the first chapter seem to be out of this hunger for the attention which he feels he’s not getting. Is he alone though? when we were babies we cried for attention, when we were toddlers we hid under our beds when no one paid enough attention to you, and when we got a little older and we didn’t get our hunger for attention satisfied at home we acted out at school. We got the attention when or moms who tried to get us to stop crying, our moms when they came and found us when we were missing, and from the teacher then by our parents when they had to come to school to come get us up. When Richard was hungry for attention he was destructive and but he still got the attention even if it was in the way he was hoping for.

          In my opinion everyone in the world is hungry for attention. This world is run off of selfishness and egos. Everyone strives to be the best so they can be praised for their accomplishments. Everyone wants the attention of being better than everyone else or standing out above the crowd. The world runs on everyone’s narcissistic ideas, thoughts, and actions on an everyday basis. We all like Richard strive to be noticed by our parents, family, and peers. So Richard is not alone in the sense that he is hungry for attention that was not received in the first place. But how we deal with not getting that attention is how we differ ourselves from Richard, don’t set the house on fire and don’t kill a kitten. Or at least I don’t.