"Shame": Ignorance of Reality In the short essay “Shame” we learn about a young black boy, Dick Gregory, who learns the power of humiliation because he comes from a very poor family. “Innocence ends when one is stripped of the delusion that one likes oneself,” greatly explains the tragic childhood of Gregory up until the age of seven. Gregory never learned ahead of time that upper-class people look down upon the poor, and how others can be so full of hate and discrimination. At least, not as hateful towards him. Ignorance, on Gregory's behalf, was probably the main factor for his humiliation. We learne