Question

read the excerpt from richard wright’s black boy.

hunger stole upon me so slowly that at first i was not aware of what hunger really meant. hunger had always been more or less at my elbow when i played, but now i began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at me gauntly. the hunger i had known before this had been no grim, hostile stranger; it had been a normal hunger that had made me beg constantly for bread, and when i ate a crust or two i was satisfied. but this new hunger baffled me, scared me, and made me angry and insistent. whenever i begged for food now my mother would pour me a cup of tea which would still the clamor in my stomach for a moment or two; but a little later i would feel hunger nudging my ribs, twisting my empty guts till they ached. i would grow dizzy and my vision would dim. i became less active in my play, and for the first time in my life i had to pause and think of what was happening to me.

which best describes why wright includes this anecdote?

• to show how poverty shaped his behavior when he was younger
• to vividly depict the hardships caused by oppression and segregation
• to realistically portray the struggles he endured as a child
• to provide an accurate account of the injustices he experienced as a youth

Explanation:

The excerpt focuses on the intense, physical experience of persistent hunger Wright faced as a child, detailing how it altered his daily life, emotions, and awareness. Option 1 is too narrow (only focuses on behavior, not the full struggle). Option 2 overreaches: the text does not explicitly link the hunger to oppression/segregation, only the personal experience of hunger. Option 4 is incorrect because the anecdote is a vivid, personal portrayal rather than a factual account of injustices. Option 3 accurately captures that the passage realistically depicts the difficult, physical and emotional struggles of his childhood hunger.

Answer:

to realistically portray the struggles he endured as a child