A Selection of Simple

Prose Texts
A Selection of Simple
Prose Texts
Edited by

Ruzbeh Babaee and Siamak Babaee

A Selection of Simple Prose Texts

Edited by Ruzbeh Babaee and Siamak Babaee

This book first published 2017

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2017 by Ruzbeh Babaee and Siamak Babaee

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-4438-9514-8

ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-9514-9
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface ....................................................................................................... vii

Chapter One ................................................................................................. 1

What is an Author’s Style?
Siamak Babaee

Chapter Two ................................................................................................ 7

Amir Kabir (Reformer and Educator)
Jamal M. Kashani

Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 17

Shame
Dick Gregory

Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 27

Shooting an Elephant
George Orwell

Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 39

Cyrus (Founder of Human Rights)
Jamal M. Kashani

Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 47

Television in Modern Life
John Steinbeck

Chapter Seven............................................................................................ 57
Bullfighting
Ernest Hemingway

Chapter Eight ............................................................................................. 63

Snobbery
Aldous Huxley
vi Table of Contents

Chapter Nine.............................................................................................. 69
A Voyage to Lilliput
Jonathan Swift

Chapter Ten ............................................................................................... 75

Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson

Chapter Eleven .......................................................................................... 83

University Days
James Thurber

Further Reading ......................................................................................... 95

Biographies of the Writers....................................................................... 107

References ............................................................................................... 115

 PREFACE

This self-study textbook has been compiled and written for non-native
students who are studying for a BA degree in English Literature—i.e.
those using English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The book has been
divided into various chapters. The first chapter is about an author’s style.
The ideas discussed in chapter one are crucial to the whole book, because
they are reflected in the questions raised at the end of each chapter.
Teaching foreign literature is not an easy task. EFL students are like
travelers who have journeyed to a foreign land and have to be prepared
before they can actually enjoy their trip. First, they should understand the
language of the people in that land. Second, they should have a skilled
guide who can point out the main features of interest in the land. Only
under these conditions can the travelers be left on their own to make
discoveries and enjoy the trip in their own way. After the first chapter,
students are required to read the authentic texts, which have sometimes
been modified for the purpose of clarity, and to use the glossary if needed.
Students should be encouraged to try to guess the meanings of unknown
words from their context. Difficult words have been highlighted in the
texts, and alphabetically arranged and explained in the glossary lists.

This book is also designed to introduce students to a number of

different kinds of writings taken from various periods in history. They
have been taken from well-known authors and are meant to serve as an
introduction to English-language prose. We have tried to pick out texts
that are relevant to current social issues and problems in order to arouse
the curiosity and interest of the students.

We hope that this textbook will provide an easy and attractive introduction
to the wealth of literature in English. We would greatly appreciate receiving your
comments and suggestions via rbabaei30@yahoo.ca or rbabaee@letras.up.pt.

Ruzbeh Babaee,
University of Porto, Portugal
Siamak Babaee,
University of Kashan, Iran
 CHAPTER ONE

WHAT IS AN AUTHOR’S STYLE?

SIAMAK BABAEE

An author’s style is the way in which that author selects and arranges
words, constructs sentences, and uses figures of speech so as to give their
writing a certain flavor or personality.

Style is a writer’s manner of expression. Style actually may refer to the

style of a time period, a writer, or a particular work. Perhaps the best way
to understand style is to think of differences in other creative forms: for
instance, the difference between traditional, realistic art (Rembrandt or
Van Gogh) and modern, abstract art (Picasso or Mondrian); or the
difference between classical music (Beethoven) and jazz (Louis
Armstrong) and country & western (Willie Nelson). All are forms of art or
music, but they each use the techniques of their “trade” differently and
they evoke different responses from, or have different effects on, their
audiences.

Style in writing is very varied: the language, sentence structures, and

level of formality are quite different today from what they were fifty or a
hundred years ago, just as abstract art is nothing like nineteenth-century
art; and individual writers may approach their particular literary medium
(say, poetry) in very different ways, just as a classical musician and a jazz
musician do.

In this book, we will be looking at style principally in terms of the

writer and sometimes of a particular work more often than in terms of a
time period. Writers generally exhibit a characteristic style throughout
most of their works. Typically, three aspects make up an author’s style:
sentence structure, diction, and tone.
2 Chapter One

Sentence structure refers to the general pattern of sentence forms

used by a writer. Some authors use a spare style composed mostly of
short, simple sentences or compound sentences combined with
conjunctions like “and” or “but”. Descriptions and imagery are
straightforward, fairly literal, and consist usually of denotative
descriptors with few metaphors or similes, leaving the reader to form
his or her own impressions of the scene. The best well-known example
of this style is Ernest Hemingway. “Hills Like White Elephants,” for
example, begins with these sentences:
The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this
side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two
lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was
the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of
bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out
flies. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade,
outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona
would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two
minutes and went to Madrid.

Notice how unadorned this writing is, and that most of the
sentences are brief or simple in structure.

Other writers use longer, more complicated sentence structures,

like complex sentences connected with semicolons or subordinating
conjunctions (“although,” “because,” “since,” etc.), or sentences
containing dependent and appositive clauses. Such descriptions are
rich in connotation; their imagery is imaginative, full of figures of
speech, and intended to deliberately shape impressions in the reader. A
well-known writer using this style is William Faulkner, whose
individual sentences sometimes stretch into paragraphs! Dorothy
Parker provides a good illustration of this style in her opening
paragraph for “The Standard of Living”:
Annabel and Maggie came out of the tea room with the arrogant slow
gait of the leisured, for their Saturday afternoon stretched ahead of
them. They had lunched as was their wont, on sugar, starches, oils, and
butter-fats. Usually they ate sandwiches of spongy new white bread
greased with butter and mayonnaise, they ate thick wedges of cake
lying wet beneath ice cream and whipped cream and melted chocolate
gritty with nuts. As alternates, they ate patties, sweating beads of
inferior oil, containing bits of bland meat bogged in pale, stiffening
sauce; they ate pastries, limber under rigid icing, filled with an
indeterminate yellow sweet stuff, not still solid, not yet liquid, like
 What is an Author’s Style? 3

salve that has been left in the sun. They chose no other sort of food,
nor did they consider it. And their skin was like the petals of wood
anemones, and their bellies were as flat and their flanks as lean as
those of young Indian braves.

A second aspect of style is diction. Diction refers to the writer’s choice

of words. Some choose to write much as if they were speaking to us, using
slang and other loose speech forms, in what is termed a colloquial style
(“Who’s that dude a-draggin’ by?”). Others choose an informal style that
uses contractions and ordinary language but is not as loose as real speech
(“Who’s that man walking by so slow?”). Still others choose a formal,
rather elevated style with language not usually heard in speech—what
some call highbrow (“Who is that male personage perambulating so
slowly past?).

The third aspect of style is tone, which is the author’s attitude toward
the work, events, characters, or the reader/audience. For instance, he or she
may be neutral, or amused, or saddened, or satirical in his/her attitude.
Tone also refers to the emotional “feel” that a work has for the
reader/audience. Tone comes mainly from the language or vocabulary
chosen and the combinations of words used, and from the narrative point
of view—the writer’s stance toward the work. The author may be detached
from the work, giving it a serious or matter-of-fact tone. Alternatively, the
author may be more involved, resulting in a humorous, ironic, satirical,
playful, sad, resigned, supercilious, or other tone.

In the following chapters, by reference to what you have learned about

style, try to answer the questions raised in the exercise 3 of each chapter.
4 Chapter One

Exercise 1
The following questions may be used for classroom discussion, for
composition, or for both.

1. How do styles differ from each other?

2. What are the aspects that make up an author’s style?
3. What is a spare style?
4. What is diction?
5. What is the tone of a literary work?

Exercise 2
Choose the best answer (a, b, c, or d):

1. Picasso was a modern abstract artist.

This means that his work was:
a) unreasonable b) absurd
c) not representing objects in a realistic way d) concrete

2. Descriptions and imagery are straightforward.

This means that they are:
a) simple b) complicated c) metaphorical d) figurative

3. The denotative meaning of a word is its ………………….

meaning.
a) implied b) dictionary c) secondary d) metaphorical

4. An idea that makes one think of another word is called

a) denotation b) illustration
c) duplication d) connotation

5. The shop assistant was very supercilious.

This means that he or she was:
a) arrogant b) happy
c) polite d) superficial
 What is an Author’s Style? 5

Exercise 3
Write the answer to the following questions about the author’s style:

1. Does the author use long or short sentences, simple or complex

structures, formal or informal language? Give examples.
2. Are imagery, metaphorical language, and connotation characteristics in
the writing of this passage, or is it just plain and literal in its approach?
3. How is the tone of the passage?

Glossary
Deliberately = intentionally
Literal = concerned with the usual meaning of a word
Perambulating = walking about
Resigned = showing patient acceptance of something unpleasant
Stance = position
Straightforward = easy to understand
Supercilious = scornful
 CHAPTER TWO

AMIR KABIR (REFORMER AND EDUCATOR)

JAMAL M. KASHANI

During the second half of the 19th century Iran found itself being
squeezed inexorably between the pincers of two colonial powers—
England and Russia—which sought to make Iran a tool for their own
devious purposes. England was anxious to protect its firm but vulnerable
grip on India by using Iranian territory as a buffer zone against potential
aggression. Russia schemed to gain access to the Indian Ocean. In this
critical period the county was sorely in need of a strong leader who could
rekindle the spirit of nationalism that had lain dormant so long. But the
monarch Mohammad Shah (1834-48) was stricken with gout, and his vain
and callous grand vazir, Haji Mirza Aghassi, had little interest in anything
except the national treasury, which he depleted to a precariously low level
and in the process brought the country to the brink of revolution. So great
was his selfishness that even the prospect of civil war did not deter him
from opposing the accession of the heir-apparent, Nasser-eddin. Had such
a conflict broken out, it is possible that Iran as a national entity might have
ceased to exist, in view of the fact that England and Russia had secretly
conspired to split the spoils of Iran’s disintegrating society.

Only the hand of providence seems to have kept such a catastrophe

from occurring. Upon receiving the news of the death of Mohammad
Shah, Mirza Taghi Khan, commander of the Azerbaijan garrison, promptly
proclaimed the King’s son, Nasser-eddin, as the new monarch and
accompanied him to Tehran, where he was crowned six weeks later. On
the way, the 17-year-old Shah bestowed on Mirza Taghi Khan the title of
Amir-e-Nezam, or commander of the armed forces. Shortly before his
coronation he also named him chief minister with the title Sadr-e-Azam.
Accepting the job but refusing the title, Mirza Taghi Khan became
popularly known as Amir Kabir, the great minister. He replaced Haji
Mirza Aghassi, who continued his intrigues until his dying day, all the
while shrouding his treasonous schemes behind a veil of patriotism. Amir
8 Chapter Two

Kabir dedicated his public service to bringing Iran abreast of Western

science and technology. It was a task he was forced to pursue alone.
Thwarted on one side by the country’s powerful conservatives and
reactionaries, and openly sabotaged on the other side by the corrupt
Ghajar court, Amir Kabir struggled on until his ultimate murder put an
end to a career that might have rivaled that of the brilliant 11th century
administrator, Nezam-ol-Molk.

His father was Karbalai Ghorban, a cook on the staff of Ghajar

minister Ghaem Magham. The minister, noticing the intellectual talent
of young Mirza Taghi Khan, made provision for him to attend the
same classes as his sons and then, when the boy completed his
education, hired him as a translator in Iran’s budding diplomatic
service. At the age of 22 he joined the army and rose rapidly through
the ranks until he became a commander of the Azerbaijan garrison. In
his official capacity he made visits to Moscow and St. Petersburg,
visits that broadened his political and economic outlook and which
strongly influenced the reforms he later attempted. Mirza Taghi Khan
also spent five years as Iran’s envoy to Ottoman Turkey, and his
performance during this time, especially as the Iranian delegate to the
Erzurum Boundary Commission, was such that even Mirza Aghassi
felt obliged to acknowledge his achievements.

By then British and Russian exploitation of Iran was at its height,

and many members of the aristocracy had morally sold themselves to
the Western powers while the central government made weak protests
in order to mask its importance. Working single-handedly amid such
chaos, Amir Kabir could not have brought about the reforms he did if it
had not been for the support of the young Shah, who gave his only
sister, Ezat-od-Dowleh, to him in marriage. Together with the
monarch, whom he briefed daily, Amir Kabir produced something Iran
had not seen in decades: a corruption-free administration devoted to a
realistic reform program that had a good chance of putting the nation
on its feet again. Things proceeded well for four years, and then, with
alarming suddenness, the situation reversed itself. Amir Kabir’s
enemies planted suspicions in the Shah’s mind, making him
apprehensive of his minister’s popularity and the speed with which he
has instituting his reforms. Amir Kabir, realizing what was happening,
tried to warn the monarch; but Nasser-eddin Shah was too engrossed in
the pleasure of the harem to take heed.
 Amir Kabir (Reformer and Educator) 9

In one of the several letters to the King, Amir Kabir was blunt to the
point of impertinence: “by such procrastination one cannot rule the
country. I may be ill or dead and sacrificed to the dust of thy auspicious
feet. But why dost thou not keep abreast of events in the city to ascertain
what is happening? The artillery and ammunition that should have been
sent to Astarabad: have they been dispatched? What is taking place in the
provinces and among the people there? I am bed-ridden and my ailment
may not be cured, but you, Sire, must not discontinue your own work and
depend constantly on a person who himself is dependent on another.”
Nasser-eddin was not pleased. The gulf between him and his chief
minister widened until finally he refused to grant an audience for the
customary daily briefing. Next morning Amir Kabir received a letter
written in the King’s own hand informing him that he was being relieved
of his duties for reasons of health, but that he would remain as commander
of the Army. A beautiful jwele-studded sword accompanied the letter.

Deciding to abandon the political arena, Amir Kabir retired to his

home. Meanwhile, the monarch, who was reportedly unhappy at having
had to make a decision which he regarded as forced upon him by Amir
Kabir’s British-backed enemies, appointed Agha Khan Noori, a pro-
British chieftain, as his new Chief Minster. The Russian envoy then
promptly declared that Amir Kabir was under the protection of the Czar.
His worst suspicions now aroused, Nasser-eddin Shah exiled his former
minister to Kashan, where he hoped he would be out of the public eye. But
Amir Kabir’s popularity remained undimmed, so that the monarch in his
desperation sent an assassination squad to solve the problem once and for
all. This vicious murder took place in Kashan’s Hammam of Fin in 1852.
Amir Kabir’s wrists were slashed and, as he lay bleeding to death, he was
brutally kicked and strangled. The greatest Iranian reformer of the 19th
century fell victim to the prejudice and foreign intrigue that he had
devoted his carrier to combating.

Amir Kabir’s death proved to be a major setback for Iran. His political
reforms quickly crumbled and his efforts to instill new levels of
scholarship in Iranian education were soon forgotten. Among his more
notable achievements were the establishment of a regular army supported
by its own armaments factory, a reliable postal system, the country’s first
national budget, and the founding of Iran’s first scientific institute, Dar-ol-
Fonoon, which provided many of the educated leaders of the constitutional
movements of the early 20th century. He ordered the translation of Western
technical publications into Persian, established national newspapers, built
hospitals, conducted a nation-wide small-pox vaccination campaign and
10 Chapter Two

took measures to preserve important archaeological sites. A degree of

political security was obtained by abolishing some oppressive practices
of the upper class. In an effort to build new industries, Iranians were
sent to Russia for training, mines were opened, and foreign trade
fostered. But in the eyes of the autocratic ruling class these reforms
were threats to the feudalistic system and the security it afforded them.

Amir Kabir’s death was a blow from which Iran did not recover
until the overthrow of the Ghajars by Reza Shah in 1921. British
author G.R. Watson, in his history of Persia, says, “It is a hopeless task
to find a capable man in Persia to replace Amir Kabir at this period.
This man was comparable to Nezam-ol-Molk, Bismark of Prussia, and
Gladstone of Britain.” Colonel Sabil, the British minister who was
partially responsible for Amir Kabir’s downfall, admitted that “he was
a man of integrity who could not be bought for money.” Count Joseph
Gobineau, the noted French diplomat, agreed that “Amir Kabir was the
only one who accepted no bribes and it was he who eliminated it in his
country during his administration.” Professor Seyed Hossein Naser
notes that Amir Kabir “remains for the contemporary Persian a man of
great vision who sought to serve his country during a difficult period,
when potent foreign influence in Iran made autonomous action
difficult.” Even Lord Curzon, writing of the Erzurum Boundary
Commission, described Amir Kabir, the Iranian representative as
“beyond all comparison the most interesting personage amongst the
commission of Turkey, Persia, Russia and Great Britain who were then
assembled at Erzurum.”

In his voluminous correspondence Amir Kabir made a highly

documented record of Russian and British interference in Iranian
affairs. His letters revealed that few countries outside of Latin America
were so unscrupulously and systematically violated as was Iran. With
the most capable administrator removed from the political stage,
Nasser-eddin Shah’s reign became a dismal parody of monarchical
rule. During the Irano-British war English forces occupied Kharg
Island, Bushehr, Khorramshahr and Ahwaz. In the peace treaty of
1857, the Shah agreed to evacuate Afghanistan and recognize its
independence. Nevertheless, the king’s ego remained undeflatable
throughout the whole period that his empire was falling apart around
him.
 Amir Kabir (Reformer and Educator) 11

Exercise 1
The following questions may be used for classroom discussion, for
composition, or for both.

1. What were England’s and Russia’s primary aims in Iran during the
second half of the nineteenth century?
2. Why was it dangerous for Iran for Haji Mirza Aghassi to oppose the
succession of the heir-apparent?
3. What prevented a civil war from breaking out?
4. How old was the new king, and what positions did he give to Amir
Kabir?
5. After being deposed, how did Haji Mirza Aghassi spend his time?
6. What were the major forces opposing Amir Kabir’s reform program?
7. What were his early positions, and how successful was he in them?
8. In their relations with the Western powers, what was the behavior of
the aristocracy and of the central government?
9. Whom did Amir Kabir marry, and what did this show?
10. What was Amir Kabir’s working relationship with the young shah, and
how much did the two together achieve for their country?
11. What did Amir Kabir say in his letter to the king that made it
impertinent?
12. How bad did personal relations become between the two men? How
did the shah reduce Amir Kabir’s responsibilities?
13. How did the shah interpret the fact that the czar supported Amir Kabir?
14. How, where, and when was Amir Kabir assassinated?
15. Why may we say that Amir Kabir was “ahead of his time” in his aims
and programs for Iran?
16. On Amir Kabir’s death, what happened to his governmental and
educational reforms?
17. How did he deal with the upper class?
18. Why did this help to bring about his downfall?
19. In what way do Amir Kabir’s many letters show that Iran was, in many
ways, like Latin America?
20. How did the foreign powers take advantage of the weakness of the
Iranian government after Amir Kabir’s death?
21. What effect did Iran’s loss of power have on the Shah’s opinion of
himself?
12 Chapter Two

Exercise 2
Choose the best answer (a, b, c, or d):

1. Iran found itself being squeezed inexorably between the pincers of two
colonial powers.
This means that it was squeezed:
a) harshly b) inevitably
c) relentlessly d) painfully

2. England and Russia sought to make Iran a tool for their own devious
purposes.
Their purposes were:
a) tricky b) winding
c) evil d) changeable

3. Iran was sorely in need of a strong leader who could rekindle the Spirit of
nationalism.
Its need was:
a) injured b) great
c) definite d) painful

4. Haji Mirza Aghassi depleted the national treasury to a precariously low

level.
This means he did what with the treasury?
a) stole b) lowered c) reduced d) emptied

5. Haji Mirza’s selfishness brought Iran to the brink of revolution.

“Brink” here means:
a) danger b) possibility c) reality d) edge

6. Only the hand of Providence seems to have kept such a catastrophe from
occurring.
Providence here symbolizes:
a) chance b) God c) good fortune d) prudence

7. Until his dying day, Haji Mirza shrouded his treasonous schemes behind a
veil of patriotism.
“Shrouded” here denotes:
a) buried b) secreted c) pretended d) hid
 Amir Kabir (Reformer and Educator) 13

8. Amir Kabir dedicated his public service to bringing Iran abreast of

Western science and technology.
What was its position with respect to Western science?
a) aware of b) educated in
c) on a level with d) in the middle of

9. Amir Kabir was thwarted by conservatives and reactionaries, and

sabotaged by the corrupt Ghajar court.
This means that his enemies:
a) obstructed b) attacked
c) persecuted d) frustrated

10. Ghaem Magham made provision for Amir Kabir to attend the same
classes as his sons.
This means that he:
a) gave supplies to b) arranged payment to
c) ordered d) enabled

11. Amir Kabir rose rapidly through the ranks until he became commander
of the Azarbaijan Garrison.
“Ranks” here means:
a) soldiers b) military grades
c) lines of soldiers d) high positions

12. He spent five years as Iran’s envoy to Ottoman Turkey.

This means that he was its:
a) speaker b) representative
c) messenger d) negotiator

13. The central government made weak protests about the influence of
Western powers in order to mask its impotence.
What did it do with its impotence?
a) pretend b) disguise c) overcome d) falsify

14. Amir Kabir’s reform program had a good chance of putting Iran
on its feet again.
This means that Iran would thereby be:
a) upright b) independent
c) in good condition d) healthy
14 Chapter Two

15. The shah became apprehensive of his minister’s popularity.

This means that he showed:
a) fear b) suspicion c) jealousy d) anxiety

16. In a letter to the king, Amir Kabir was blunt to the point of
impertinence.
This means that he was:
a) plain-spoken b) indelicate
c) rough d) uncivilized

17. The gulf between Amir Kabir and the King widened.
“Gulf” here means:
a) valley b) body of water
c) division d) separation

18. Amir Kabir’s death proved to be a major setback for Iran.

This means that it was:
a) an injury b) disastrous
c) a retirement d) a reversal

19. Amir Kabir established a regular army with its own armaments factory.
What kind of factory was this?
a) munitions b) military
c) bullets d) explosives

20. Nasser-eddin Shah’s reign became a dismal parody of monarchical

rule.
This means that it was a:
a) weak imitation b) comedy
c) similarity d) shadow

21. Foreign trade was fostered.

This means that trade was:
a) unlimited b) taken care of
c) tended carefully d) promoted

22. Colonel Sabil admitted that Amir Kabir “was a man of integrity who
could not be bought for money.”
This means that Amir Kabir showed:
a) uprightness b) honesty
c) incorruptibility d) completeness
 Amir Kabir (Reformer and Educator) 15

23. Professor Nasr has written that during Amir Kabir’s life, “potent
foreign influence in Iran made autonomous action difficult.”
The desired action was:
a) automatic b) independent
c) reforming d) powerful

24. Few countries outside Latin America were so unscrupulously and

systematically violated as was Iran.
The manner of Iran’s violation was:
a) organized b) thorough c) methodical d) immoral

Exercise 3
Write the answer to the following questions about the author’s style:

1. Does the author use long or short sentences, simple or complex

structures, formal or informal language? Give examples.
2. Is imagery, metaphorical language, and connotation a characteristic in
the writing of this passage, or is it just plain and literal in its approach?
3. How is the tone of the passage?

Glossary
Glossary

Abreast = aware of; on the same Budget = estimate of income

level as and expenditure
Accession = reaching a position Buffer zone = protective or
(such as a throne) neutral area
Apprehensive = uneasy; Callous = unfeeling; insensitive
worried Capacity = position
Arena = scene of competition or Catastrophe = disaster
struggle Coronation = ceremony of
Armaments = munitions crowning a ruler
Autocratic = with unlimited Curb = to limit; restrain
power Dedicate = devote
Autonomous = independent Deplete = drain; use up; empty
Bed-ridden = confined to one’s Devious = not straightforward
bed Dismal = miserable
Blunt = plain; outspoken Dormant = inactive; sleeping
Brief = instruct; keep informed Ego = individual’s perception of
Brink = edge oneself
Budding = beginning to develop
16 Chapter Two

Entity = something with an Ranks = different military

independent existence grades
Evacuate = get out of; leave Reactionary = opponent of
Exploit = use selfishly for one’s progress or reform
own reasons Rekindle = relight; revitalize
Foster = promote; encourage Sabotage = hinder an
Garrison = military force opponent’s activity
stationed in a town Setback = reverse; check to
Gout = a painful disease progress
Grant an audience = give a Shroud = hide; conceal
formal interview Sorely = greatly; severely
Gulf = division Spoils = plunder; loot
Heir-apparent = next in line to Squad = small group of people
the throne working together
Impertinence = absence of Studded = ornamented with
proper respect something inset
Inexorably = relentlessly; Take heed of = listen or pay
unyieldingly attention to
Integrity = uprightness; Thwarted = frustrated; held
incorruptibility back
Parody = imitation Undeflatable = incapable of
Personage = important person being made
Precariously = dangerously smaller/controlled
Procrastination = delaying Voluminous = great in quantity
action; putting things off or amount
Providence = God Vulnerable = not protected
against attack
 CHAPTER THREE

SHAME

DICK GREGORY

I never learned hate at home, or shame. I had to go to school for that. I

was about seven years old when I got my first big lesson. I was in love
with a little girl named Helene Tucker, a light-complected little girl with
pigtails and nice manners. She was always clean and she was smart in
school. I think I went to school then mostly to look at her. I brushed my
hair and even got me a little old handkerchief. It was a lady’s
handkerchief, but I didn’t want Helene to see me wipe my nose on my
hand. The pipes were frozen again, there was no water in the house, but I
washed my socks and shirt every night. I’d get a pot, and go over to Mister
Ben’s grocery store, and stick my pot down into his soda machine. Scoop
out some chopped ice. By evening the ice melted to water for washing. I
got sick a lot that winter because the fire would go out at night before the
clothes were dry. In the morning I’d put them on, wet or dry, because they
were the only clothes I had.

Everybody’s got a Helene Tucker, a symbol of everything you want. I

loved her for her goodness, her cleanness, her popularity. She’d walk
down my street and my brothers and sisters would yell. “Here comes
Helene,” and I’d rub my tennis sneakers on the back of my pants and wish
my hair wasn’t so nappy and the white folks’ shirt fit me better. I’d run out
on the street. If I knew my place and didn’t come too close, she’d wink at
me and say hello. That was a good feeling. Sometimes I’d follow her all
the way home, and shovel the snow off her walk and try to make friends
with her Momma and her aunts. I’d drop money on her stoop late at night
on my way back from shining shoes in the taverns. And she had a Daddy,
and he had a good job. He was a paper hanger.

I guess I would have gotten over Helene by summertime, but

something happened in that classroom that made her face hang in front of
me for the next twenty-two years. When I played the drums in high school
18 Chapter Three

it was for Helene and when I broke track records in college it was for
Helene and when I started standing behind microphones and heard
applause I wished Helene could hear it, too. It wasn’t until I was
twenty-nine years old and married and making money that I finally got
her out of my system. Helene was sitting in that classroom when I
learned to be ashamed of myself.

It was on a Thursday. I was sitting in the back of the room, in a

seat with a chalk circle drawn around it. The idiot’s seat, the
troublemaker’s seat.

The teacher thought I was stupid. Couldn’t spell, couldn’t read, and
couldn’t do arithmetic. Just stupid. Teachers were never interested in
finding out that you couldn’t concentrate because you were so hungry,
because you hadn’t had any breakfast. All you could think about was
noontime, would it ever come? Maybe you could sneak into the
cloakroom and steal a bite of some kid’s lunch out of a coat pocket. A
bite of something. Paste. You can’t really make a meal of paste, or put
it on bread for a sandwich, but sometimes I’d scoop a few spoonfuls
out of the paste jar in the back of the room. Pregnant people get strange
tastes. I was pregnant with poverty. Pregnant with dirt and pregnant
with smells that made people turn away, pregnant with cold and
pregnant with shoes that were never bought for me. Pregnant with five
other people in my bed and no daddy in the next room, and pregnant
with hunger. Paste doesn’t taste too bad when you’re hungry.

The teacher thought I was a troublemaker. All she saw from the
front of the room was a little black boy who squirmed in his idiot’s seat
and made noises and poked the kids around him. I guess she couldn’t
see a kid who made noises because he wanted someone to know he
was there.

It was on a Thursday, the day before the Negro payday. The eagle
always flew on Friday. The teacher was asking each student how much
his father would give to the Community Chest. On Friday night, each
kid would get the money from his father, and on Monday he would
bring it to the school. I decided I was going to buy me a daddy right
then. I had money in my pocket from shining shoes and selling papers,
and whatever Helene Tucker pledged for her daddy I was going to top
it. And I’d hand the money right in. I wasn’t going to wait until
Monday to buy me a Daddy.
 Shame 19

I was shaking, scared to death. The teacher opened her book and
started calling out names alphabetically.

“Helene Tucker?”

“My daddy said he’d give two dollars and fifty cents.”

“That’s very nice, Helene. Very, very nice indeed.”

That made me feel pretty good. It wouldn’t take too much to top that.
I had almost three dollars in dimes and quarters in my pocket. I stuck my
hand in my pocket and held onto the money, waiting for her to call my
name. But the teacher closed her book after she called everybody else in
the class.

I stood up and raise my hand.

“What is it now?”

“You forgot me.”

She turned toward the blackboard. “I don’t have time to be playing

with you, Richard.”

“My Daddy said he’d …”

“Sit down, Richard, you’re disturbing class.”

“My Daddy said he’d give … fifteen dollars.”

She turned around and looked mad. “We are collecting this money for
you and your kind, Richard Gregory. If your Daddy can give fifteen
dollars you have no business being on relief.”

“I got it right now, I got it right now, my Daddy gave it to me to turn it

today, my Daddy said …”

“And furthermore,” she said, looking right at me, her nostrils getting
big and her lips getting thin and her eyes opening wide, “we know you
don’t have a Daddy.”

Helene Tucker turned around, her eyes full of tears. She felt sorry for
me. Then I couldn’t see her too well because I was crying, too.

“Sit down, Richard.”

20 Chapter Three

And I always thought the teacher kind of liked me. She always
picked me to wash the blackboard on Friday, after school. That was a
big thrill, it made me feel important. If I didn’t wash it, come Monday
the school might not function right.

“Where are you going, Richard?”

I walked out of school that day, and for a long time I didn’t go back
very often. There was shame there.

Now there was shame everywhere. It seemed like the whole world
had been inside that classroom, everyone had heard what the teacher
had said, and everyone had turned around and felt sorry for me. There
was shame in going to the Worthy Boys Annual Christmas Dinner for
you and your kind, because everybody knew what a worthy boy was.
Why couldn’t they just call it the Boys Annual Dinner, why’d they
have to give it a name? There was shame in wearing the brown and
orange and white plaid mackinaw the welfare gave to 31000 boys.
Why’d it have to be the same for everybody so when you walked down
the street the people could see you were on relief? It was a nice warm
mackinaw and it had a hood, and my Momma beat me and called me a
little rat when she found out I stuffed it in the bottom of a pail full of
garbage way over on Cottage Street. There was shame in running over
to Mister Ben’s at the end of the day and asking for his rotten peaches,
there was shame in asking Mrs. Simmons for a spoonful of sugar, there
was shame in running out to meet the relief truck. I hated that truck,
full of food for you and your kind. I ran into the house and hid when it
came. And then I started to sneak through alleys, to take the long way
home so the people going into White’s Eat Shop wouldn’t see me.
Yeah, the whole world heard the teacher that day, we all know you
don’t have a Daddy.

It lasted for a while, this kind of numbness. I spent a lot of time

feeling sorry for myself. And then one day I met this wino in a
restaurant. I’d been out hustling all day, shining shoes, selling
newspapers, and I had goo-gobs of money in my pocket. Bought me a
bowl of chili for fifteen cents, and a cheeseburger for fifteen cents, and
a Pepsi for five cents, and a piece of chocolate cake for ten cents. That
was a good meal. I was eating when this old wino came in. I love
winos because they never hurt anyone but themselves.
 Shame 21

The old wino sat down at the counter and ordered twenty-six cents
worth of food. He ate it like he really enjoyed it. When the owner, Mister
Williams, asked him to pay the check, the old wino didn’t lie or go
through his pocket like he suddenly found a hole.

He just said: “don’t have no money.”

The owner yelled: “why in hell you come in here and eat my food if
you don’t have no money? That food cost me money.”

Mister Williams jumped over the counter and knocked the wino off his
stool and beat him over the head with a pop bottle. Then he stepped back
and watched the wino bleed. Then he kicked him. And he kicked him
again.

I looked at the wino with blood all over his face and I went over.
“Leave him alone, Minster Williams. I’ll pay the twenty-six cents.”

The wino got up, slowly, pulling himself up to the stool, then up to the
counter, holding on for a minute until his legs stopped shaking so bad. He
looked at me with pure hate. “Keep your twenty-six cents. You don’t have
to pay, not now. I just finished paying for it.”

He started to walk out, and as he passed me, he reached down and

touched my shoulder. “Thanks, sonny, but it’s too late now. Why didn’t
you pay it before?”

I was pretty sick about that. I waited too long to help another man.
22 Chapter Three

Exercise 1
The following questions may be used for classroom discussion, for
composition, or for both.

1. What does the narrator mean by “I was about seven years old when I
got my first big lesson”?
2. How/why did the narrator provide water?
3. What does “everybody’s got a Helene Tucker” mean?
4. What does “the white folks’ shirt fit me better” mean?
5. How old is the narrator while writing this story?
6. What does “got her out of my system” mean?
7. What is “the idiot’s seat”?
8. What is it that the teachers cannot understand about their students?
9. Why was noontime important for the narrator?
10. What was the teacher’s opinion about the narrator?
11. What is meant by the writer in saying “the eagle always flew on
Friday”?
12. What does “I decided I was going to buy me a daddy right then” mean?
13. What happened during calling the names for charity?
14. What was the narrator’s reaction to being ignored by the teacher?
15. What was the narrator’s reaction before and after the classroom event?
16. What was Helene’s reaction toward the teacher’s behavior?
17. Why did wino look at the narrator with pure hate?

Exercise 2
Choose the best answer (a, b, c, or d):

1. I’d get a pot, and go over to Mister Ben’s grocery store, and stick my
pot down into his soda machine.
What would the narrator do with the pot?
a) remember b) push c) thrust d) both b and c

2. Scoop out some chopped ice.

What would the narrator do with the ice?
a) dig b) remove c) pick up d) all of the above