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The moment Richard gains some power
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from the use of words,
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his mother takes it back by exerting
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that power herself,
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taking that power away from him.
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There is a kind of drum beat of thematic
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material as these scenes pile up.
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The drum beat is all about language.
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Yes, this is a book about the privations
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of growing up in the south poor and black,
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but it is very much, very consciously,
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a book about