Both emotional and mental turning points experienced by the subjects stem from their desire to be accepted by and please their community. However, each boy wants to fit in to his community in different ways. For Langston Hughes, he does not want to let down his congregation or his aunt, and therefore lies and claims he was saved. In the short memoir, he writes, “I began to feel ashamed of myself…I decided that to save further trouble, I’d better lie” (Hughes, 1940). Hughes feels it necessary to lie about his religious status to fit in with others. In Dick Gregory’s case, he wants to impress his peers, one in particular, and show them that he is not the stupid, poor troublemaker most believe him to be. The specific person that he wants to impress…show more content… He and his family are on relief and he also does not have a father which causes many people to think that he is just another stereotype. The desire to prove them wrong and to be accepted is what pushes him to lie to his peers and try to be something that he is not. Although the specific circumstances under which each subject lied was different, the reasoning behind it was quite similar: each one wanted to be liked and accepted by others. The turning point for each subject also varied. The turning point for Hughes was when he decided to stand up and proclaim he was saved, even though he himself didn’t believe he was. For Gregory his turning point came when the teacher refused to take his money and called him out in front of the entire class. The turning point experienced by each subject affects them throughout their lives. In the beginning of “Shame” Gregory explains that, “something happened in that classroom that made her face hang in front of me for the next twenty-two years,” (Gregory, 1964). This quote shows the incident that triggered his turning point was so monumental that even into his adult life, he was not able to forget it. This is true for Hughes as
