When the son decides to return to his father's house, to ask his father to be received—no longer by virtue of his right as a son, but as an employee—at first sight he seems to be acting by reason of the hunger and poverty that he had fallen into; this motive, however, is permeated by an awareness of a deeper loss: to be a hired servant in his own father's house is certainly a great humiliation and source of shame.
The son returns home, not as a rightful heir but as an employee, seeking work to escape his current circumstances. This act initially appears motivated by poverty and hunger, but it also reflects a deeper sense of loss: the shame and humiliation associated with being a hired servant in his father's house.