The Theme Of Shame In 'The Glass Of Milk'

In The Glass of Milk, Rojas suggests that shame stops the boy from taking help until he realizes he has something to lose.

The young man’s shame keeps him from accepting help. In the beginning of the story, the boy is hungry because he has not eaten in awhile. He refuses food from a sailor who is offering food to people. The narrator says, “The youth, ashamed that his appearance should arouse feelings of charity, seemed to quicken his pace, as if he were afraid he might think better of his negative answer” (1154). The boy is embarrassed by his looks and does not want others looking at him with sympathy. He knows he can not afford something to eat but decides to move along because his shame stops him from taking help. Later in the story, the

At the end of the story, the boy decides to finally eat. Though he still has no money to pay for food he decides to go to a restaurant and leave without paying. The narrator says, “He did not dare to look at her: it seemed to him that if he did so she would become aware of his frame of mind and his shameful intentions” (1158). The boy’s plan to eat the food and leave without paying starts to make him feel guilty. Even though he still feels too embarrassed to look at the waitress, he puts his need to eat before his feelings. After that moment the boy starts to cry in front of the waitress. She brings another plate of cookies to the boy and he eats them. The narrator says, “He ate slowly, without thinking about anything, as if nothing had happened, as if he were in his own house and his mother were that lady behind the counter” (1158). In this moment, the boy eats and does not think about himself crying. He eats the cookies and is comfortable because he feels like he is at home. He also feels comfort because he imagines the waitress is his mother. The boy relating the woman to his mother shows the reason why he must eat, because his mother is important to