1. What’s unexpected or surprising about where Richard Gregory first experienced shame?

To me the thing that was unexpected and surprising was that Richard Gregory was so little but he still knew he felt shame. He was tore up that everybody knew he was poor.

2. How long did Gregory’s shame last? What (or who) finally allowed him to overcome his

shame?

Gregory's shame lasted 22 years. What finally allowed him to get over his shame was when he finally realized he had nothing to be ashamed of he was married, had his own family, he was successful and everyone was healthy, so why be ashamed of your past you have to move on sometime.

3. What all does Gregory do in order to impress Helene Tucker?

Gregory plans to Donate more money than her father does to make him look good.

4. There are three main characters in the story, don’t you agree? The protagonist and

antagonist in this narrative are pretty clear, but what’s interesting is that one of these

main characters isn’t actually given a proper name…why do you think Gregory made this

choice?

I think Gregory chose to keep his teachers name out of the story because he either didn't remember it or just didn't want to give her the knowledge of knowing how bad she hurt him.

5. Gregory uses a lot of dialogue to tell his story—what effect does it have on a reader?

I think he uses dialogue to help us understand who the whole story is about and that would basically be him and Helene. I think it has a good effect on readers I understood who and why he was in love with her.

6. In the final paragraph, Gregory states: “Now there was shame everywhere.” Why do you

think he says this? What examples illustrate his point?

I felt like he said this because he was so embarrassed and now every time he talked to someone he would think back to that moment and think are they just doing this because I have no father or are they just trying to be my friend. So basically he would think back to that moment in his life for almost every conversation.