Blog #5 My AP English Exam Experience

Blog 3: Rhetoric Analysis Essay - "Shame" by Dick Gregory

Activist, comedian, and nutrition expert, Dick Gregory, in his autobiography, “Shame,” recounts a humiliating experience from his childhood. Gregory’s purpose is to recall his childhood experience that taught him what shame really was and how social status affected him, which reflects on the people around him and himself. Gregory does this through the use of personal-case examples, repetitive diction, and imagery.

Gregory used personal-case example to reach out to the reader’s sense of reality by showing how life can take an unexpected turn at the worst moments. In “Shame,” Gregory describes one of his positive experience with Helene Tucker, in which he explained how “she’d wink … and say hello,” which made him felt good. However, immediately after his teacher called Gregory out for not having a father, that was when Gregory learned what shame really was as his classmates and crush were right there when it happened. By describing a sudden turn of events in Gregory’s childhood, Gregory is relating with the readers as they most likely, at one point in their lives, have been in a situation where things just took a turn for the worse. By relating with the audience, readers can further connect with Gregory since it is at those times that people really feel the situation that they’re in like with Gregory’s shame.

Gregory utilizes repetitive diction through the word “pregnant” to emphasize the tiring and harsh conditions that he was in. For example, he stated how he was “pregnant with poverty … pregnant with smells … and pregnant with hunger.” Given that Gregory was in relief and was part of the lower class, his lifestyle wasn’t as easy as those of the higher class like his classmates. He was hated by his teacher and she even called him out on the fact that he had no father, leading to his embarrassment that would stick with him. By exaggerating the state that he was in and the various problems that he had, Gregory is essentially imposing the sensation of carrying such a weight on the readers, which allows the readers to sympathize with him as he has to go through something no other seven-year-old in our time would really have to face. Given that this is probably something not many readers had gone through, it allows the audience to further feel Gregory’s sense of helplessness.

Through the use of imagery, Gregory appeals to the audience’s emotions and thoughts, referencing the constant shame that he felt being in relief. In “Shame,” he continuously uses the phrase “There was shame,” which can converge with repetitive diction as well. By reciting the shame in asking for “rotten peaches … a spoonful of sugar … and meeting the relief truck,” readers realize the psychological hardships of being in relief as Gregory literally has to ask for expired fruit and a “spoonful” of a condiment. In a way, Gregory is also imposing a feeling of guilt onto the readers. The reason being that unlike him, they probably live a much better life with decent clothing, weekly allowances, and even phone privileges. Although this might be the case for the audience, there are still those who complain about their lives like how going to school is boring while Gregory struggled just to obtain a minimal amount of food. This, in turn, urges readers to think again before resorting to complaints about minor problems that Gregory most likely would’ve rather been in.

But why do we complain about our misfortune although, in history, people have suffered worse like Gregory? We experience shame, ask for help when necessary, and have starved before. The only difference is the status that we’re in. Unlike Gregory who was in the lower class, the majority of the people in our world today are in the middle class. We have enough to afford a decent amount of materialistic goods like shoes and we can buy food too. Status is just one factor in living, but it makes a huge difference between suffering and living happily. The upper class has likely not lived the lifestyle of the middle class and the same can be said for the middle class towards the lower class. Although we may see and sympathize with the conditions of Gregory, we can never truly appreciate what we have and understand how and what something or someone feels until we actually experience it for ourselves.