What types of things does Richard "hunger" for and what are the effects (positive and negative) of hunger?

Throughout the book, Richard seems to hunger for many things. The most obvious one of these would be food. Because Richard comes from a poor family, there is never enough food. He lives for the times when he move's in with relatives and there is always enough to eat (50). Besides food, there were other things that he hungered for. One other thing would be knowledge. Even when Richard was small he always wanted to know more. One time, Richard's mother was in desperate need of getting some coal, so she left Richard in charge of giving the repair man his money. When he came, Richard told him he was unable to count money, so the man taught him (23). When he had learned his numbers, he wanted more. Soon he went to school and ended up skipping a few grades because he always wanted more. These are only a few examples of what Richard hungers for.
Personally, I don't think there are any positive effects of hunger, but there are many negative effects. One negative would be the fact that it is hard to focus when you are hungry. Instead of focusing on schoolwork or whatever you might be doing, you tend to focus on how hungry you are. Richard learns this when he goes to lunch with the school kids (125). Also, being hungry can make you upset. You tend to get crabby and don't want to do anything or talk to people. It also can keep you from sleeping. I think this might have been a factor to Richard's violentness because he wasn't well rested and iwasn't thinking properly.