The Rights to the Streets of Memphis Text Analysis

“The Rights to the Streets of Memphis” is about a young boy who is forced to step up to the plate and face his fears at such a young age. The boy matured and conquered more than he expected. This story illustrates that part of growing up is facing your fears in order to survive. A writing strategy that describes the text is conflict, you’ll see why I chose this writing strategy as we continue. 

No one said growing up would be easy; we face hardships unreal to some; this story represents this sentence very well. A quote that goes with this theme is, “Where is your father?. . . “I don’t know,” I said. ”Who brings the food to the table?” my mother asked me. “Papa,” I said. “He always brought the food.” . . . “Where is he?” This quote shows the beginning of our conflict in the text. It shows us the point where the family's father has left and how much of an impact it had on the poor family. This supports our controlling idea because the young boy can be afraid of both his dad’s disappearance and how he and his family might not be able to put food on the table for a while due to that. Another example quote that fits with the theme is “One evening my mother told me that thereafter I would have to do the shopping for food. . .  I was proud; I felt like a grown-up.” The reason I chose this quote was that it shows us how the person in the story was growing but yet how he’s still a kid. He’s naive and does not know what responsibilities he might be granted as a grown-up. This supports our controlling idea because the young boy is ‘maturing’ and has some challenges that'll be hard and scary for a kid awaiting him. Our final quote that represents the theme could be ¨Take this money, this note, and this stick.” She said, ¨Go to the store and buy those groceries. If those boys bother you, then fight. . . Go now! If you come back into this house without those groceries, I'll whip you!¨ This sad quote fits without theme because it shows the hard truth of being considered a grown-up and having a family member walk out of the picture is no easy task to handle, especially as someone who is still technically a kid. That with the fear of being beaten every time you go outside is overwhelming, causing emotional build-up and break out like when we saw young Richard break out into a fight with the bullies. This experience causes the boy to go out of his comfort zone and conquer his fears to walk on the street without being afraid. Well, how was that? Can you understand young Richard's struggles firsthand? After all, all of these quotes support our theme, but how has it affected Richard's life in the future? Does he continue to be feared for the rest of his residency, or is he the one secretly afraid of the residents on Memphis Street? Looks like I'm going to read this novel myself...