Because Richard is brought up to be tough and unfeeling, it is difficult for him to easily identify his wants. Ever since he was young, Richard was taught to supress such feelings by his family. His mother believed that by constantly thinking about what you wanted, you would get weaker and wouldn't be able to protect himself from the unwelcoming society.
However, it is near impossible for a child to NOT desire anything. And Richard, being a young child, secretly craves many things. He keeps these secret from his family because he knows that he would simply get scolded or worse get a beating.
Overall, Richard hungers for simply a happy life. A life void of dangers or fears. A life where he doesn't have to live up to another person's expectations. He wishes to live without the fear of getting beaten. An even simpler thing that Richard hungers for is food. Hunger is a constant reminder of his poverty striken family. These wants are good because they are what drive Richard to work harder for a better future and have goals to work towards. However if he considers them too negatively, it may eventually make him depressed or hopeless.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Richard is NOT a bad boy!
Richard is most definitely NOT a bad boy. How can an innocent young child be expected to be naturally evil? No, Richard wasn't born bad, he just grew up in an environment where bad words and mischief was exploited. Young children absorb everything and anything taught to them, not realizing that it's bad or not. Richard caused so much monkey business because he learned it from society, not because he wanted to harm others.
Everywhere around him is violence. It is exposed through other children, irresponsible adults, and even his family. For every wrongdoing, he is beaten or repremanded so harshly that he comes to fear everything around him. When he accidentally sets the house on fire, instead of worrying about the rest of the family, his initial thought is to hide from his mother thinking that she "must not find me and whip me for what I had done [...] it was all an accident" (5).
The people in the saloon also advertise bad behavior to Richard. Because of them, profanity and even alcohal was exposed to Richard at an extremely tender age. Even though Richard protested to go inside the saloon, he was dragged inside and forced to be drunk. The men from the saloon merely considered making Richard drunk a "sport[,] urging [him] to repeat obscenities."
Thus, it is no surprise that Richard, let alone any other child who lived in that sort of negative environment, was prone to bad behavior. (A pity indeed for such an intelligent young boy...)
Everywhere around him is violence. It is exposed through other children, irresponsible adults, and even his family. For every wrongdoing, he is beaten or repremanded so harshly that he comes to fear everything around him. When he accidentally sets the house on fire, instead of worrying about the rest of the family, his initial thought is to hide from his mother thinking that she "must not find me and whip me for what I had done [...] it was all an accident" (5).
The people in the saloon also advertise bad behavior to Richard. Because of them, profanity and even alcohal was exposed to Richard at an extremely tender age. Even though Richard protested to go inside the saloon, he was dragged inside and forced to be drunk. The men from the saloon merely considered making Richard drunk a "sport[,] urging [him] to repeat obscenities."
Thus, it is no surprise that Richard, let alone any other child who lived in that sort of negative environment, was prone to bad behavior. (A pity indeed for such an intelligent young boy...)
Monday, September 10, 2007
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