Hungry Money Essay

1596 Words7 Pages
About the book In the book money hungry, Sharon G. Flake uses multiple writing techniques to bring us into the life of Raspberry Hill, a thirteen-year-old girl living in a housing project. Raspberry has a unique condition for a girl of her age: she'll do anything legal for the almighty dollar. She washes cars, sells rotten candy, skips lunch, and cleans strangers' houses just to keep cash coming into her pockets. On the first page, we are given a brief introduction into the psyche of Raspberry. She tells the reader that she is always trying to think of a way to make a dollar, and when she can't sleep at night she'll grab fistfuls of cash and count it until she dozes off. Along with this habit, Raspberry is known to smell her money, rub it against her skin, and water at the mouth at the sight of it. What is it that drives Raspberry's money-hungry ways? It's not simply the desire to obtain material objects and to climb up the economic ladder. Instead it is the fear of finding herself and her mother living a life out on the streets. Raspberry believes that " money is the only thing in life that won't do you wrong" and lets this consume her every thought and action. Along with Raspberry, we are introduced to many more residents of the projects. Including Zora, Ja'nae, and Mai, three of Raspberry's friends and classmates. Each girl has one thing in common, they each struggle with conflict in their life. The conflicts range from dealing with recent divorce in a family, a mother that ran off, and a child overcoming the pressures of society she encounters due to her parent's biracial marriage. Through the use of African-American English and other common vernacular, we are told the story of these amazing characters. As each one takes another step to coming to terms with her life, we see exactly how strong and yet fragile these young women can be. That said, the story of
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