why is Wright hungry?

The simple answer to this question is that he is hungry because he is poor and therefore has no food. Since his dad brought home the food, and his dad left, he has no more food. His mom tries to get a job, ironically as a cook, (for a white family), and wright occasionally tags along to try and get scraps of food from the white family when they are done eating. What he doesn't understand is why he must wait until other people have eaten in order to eat, though he is the one that is starving. When he goes to the orphanage he is not fed. (If there was any deeper meaning to extract from that question, i didn't catch it. I figure he is hungry because his dad left and there is no food, plus it is harder for his mom to find a job because she is black and a woman, and he is not treated as well or fed as well because he is black.)