“Shame” by Dick Gregory is a story about a young boy (Richard) who got humiliated as a kid trying to impress a girl at his school. He wanted to be like other kids at his school, but he couldn't because he was poor. “Thank You, Ma'am” by Langston Hughes is a story about a little boy (Roger) who thought he had to steal his way through life until he met a large lady (Luella Bates) he tried to steal from changed his life. While the two characters are different in that they have different problems. They are also similar in that they both are poor, have been embarrassed, and they are being raised by single parents.
The differences in these two short stories is that in “Shame” the young boy named Richard had a job (Gregory n. pag). “I had money in my pocket from shining shoes and selling papers” just to impress the the young girl name Helen who was somewhat wealthy. Richard cared about what people thought about him which made life hard for him. Other differences in this story is that Richard tried to work for what he got other than in the story, “Thank You, Ma’am the little boy Roger tried to steal.
For example,his a line from the story (1)“It was about eleven o’clock at night, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse”. The resolution for both stories was that Richard was influenced in a bad way (Gregory n. pag).“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." and Roger was influenced in a good way example, (3).“The boy wanted to say something else other than “Thank you, m’am” to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but he couldn’t do so as he turned at the barren stoop and looked back at the large woman in the door.” These characters had many different ways too them.
There were also many similarities between the two young boys they both were poor and basically grew up in a rural