African American Macbook

The boy is hungry because he is looking for affection and is suffering from the abandonment of his father. Because his father is usually the one making money, he has linked his father with food. In a primitive effect, he has related his father with a physical need. Thus, when his father leaves, he is left feeling abandoned, lonely, and a sense of hunger that cannot be cured through the ingestion of food. The boy did not particularly love his father, but he hungers for the sense of security that he had once his father abandons him. This is illustrated when the father gives the boy a nickel and he refuses it. He even states that he wants the nickel, but he does not want it from his father. He understands that while the nickel has monetary value, voluntarily receiving it from his father portrays a sense of dependency that he is looking to avoid. His mother agrees with his decision to decline the money despite the value of what was being offered. The boy therein chooses to sacrifice the real satisfaction of hunger in the hopes that his emotional hunger created by the relation of food to his father will diminish.