“it’s not for me,” my mother was saying. “it’s for your children that i’m asking you for money.”

“i ain’t got nothing,” my father said, laughing.

“come here, boy,” the strange woman called to me.

i looked at her and did not move.

“give him a nickel,” the woman said. “he’s cute.”

wright most likely included this anecdote in order to

illustrate his mother’s optimistic point of view.

clarify his father’s relationship with another woman.

prove the state of his father’s financial security.

demonstrate his father’s dismissive treatment.

Demonstrate his father’s dismissive treatment.

Explanation:

In these lines, Wright provides an example of his father's behaviour. He shows that his father was selfish and dismissive. He refused to give Wright's mother money to support the children, and Wright's mother used him as a bargaining tool to obtain these benefits. This also illustrates the turbulent and complicated relationship that Wright's parents had when he was young.

the correct order is:

you're your own worst enemy:

they're going to say what they say, but

their opinions aren't holding you

back. it's your self-defeatist

attitude that's keeping your work

from getting its due.