lil' kids.

Richard? Cravings? Alone? Not in my opinion. All little children crave attention once in a while, some more than others. Richard is a not-so-fortunate young boy who lives in a dangerous area. He lived in the time of beatings and such. Growing up for Richard was more of a task he had to accomplish, rather than just something given to him.
Since Richard's dad had left him, he felt abandoned and a sort of hate towards him. Richard's mother, on the other hand, did everything to keep Richard and his brother alive. He craved that parental love, which seemed hard to express for his mother. Other than mental cravings, he had physical cravings. Richard was always hungry, to the point of pain and sickness. 
Physical hunger is not what I am getting at. Richard's bigger cravings were those for attention. An example is when he burned down his entire house. Curiosity definitely killed the cat. Speaking of, Richard also killed a kitten. Getting back at his father was the overall idea, but it did not come off like that at all. Since Richard thought his father paid no attention to him, he took his words and found a loophole. Killing the kitten seemed like a good idea at first, and it is what lead to fights and anger. 
When Richard burned his house down, it seemed as if everyone was against him. Even his own brother was there through it all, and the first to run to the parents and tattle-tale. Richard's curiosity lead him to trouble, but he knew what he was getting into. However, the attention (even if bad) satisfied Richard's needs at the time.