The Black Boy

                        This week in the book" Black Boy", Richard shows how his family was poor and how he had to live without his father. He explains how he started a fire in his grandmother's house when he was only 4. Richard described his grandmother as" old,wrinkled, and sick". He started a fire because he states that he was bored and wondered what will happen if he burned a curtain with broom straws. He started the fire, which was dangerous because he had a sick grandmother who could barely move. He also states that he hid under the burning house with fear and sadness.  Richard heard his mother's scream that made him cry. No one was killed or hurt,  but Richard was petrified. He was pulled by his mother and he was not whipped or in trouble because he was not aware.

                         After the massive fire, he moved to Memphis by a "tiny, dirty boat" that he didn't imagine.They moved in a one room apartment. When his father was sleep, a kitten made loud noises that woke his father up. The father told Richard to kill it. He hung it and his mother was upset and told him not to kill him literally. They buried the kitten and he was scared on the day he killed the kitten. He soon explains that his father left his mother with him and his brother and they had to eat after the"white folks" because his mother was a maid . He had to fight a gang to get food for his mother at the grocery store. The chapter shows how he had a rough and hard fought childhood.