The Man Who Was Almost A Man

The story “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” was written by Richard Wright. Wright was born near Natchez, Mississippi. When Wright was five, his father abandoned the family so wright was raised by a series of relatives in Mississippi. Wrights education never went further than junior high school. Wright then moved to Chicago, where he joined the WPA Writes Project. Wright wrote many story’s in his time and was well known for them. “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” is about a kid who thinks is a man, so he goes out and buys a gun, then practice’s shooting it while working and ends up killing a mule then runs away. The theme of “The Man who was Almost a Man” symbolizes the coming of age, racism and self-deception of the kid.

A lack of self-awareness tended the narrator’s life to seem frustrating and compelling to the reader. This lack often led him to offer generalizations about ““colored” people” without seeing them as human beings. He would often forget his own “colored” roots when doing so. He vacillated between intelligence and naivete, weak and strong will, identification with other African-Americans and a complete disavowal of them. He had a very difficult time making a decision for his life without hesitating and wondering if it would be the right one.

Finding out who you are, through hardships and ease, is the main focus of this book. John Demos wanted to write a story, and in this story the main focus is figuring out how to adapt to your surroundings and the circumstances that you have cannot control to best survive. With this he weaved a tale about a colonial town that was not prepared for what happens to it, and its residents.

Perhaps one of the most disgusting accusations one can receive today is “You’re racist!” However as disturbing as racism is, it is just one of the many mediums in which people use to control others. Whether the motive is race, religion, nationality, financial standing, or even gender, in every society, certain groups of people have always been oppressed. The culprit of seemingly unnecessary and ignorant oppression is human nature itself. Humans will always experience the need to feel superior, and for that reason, similar connections can be made among those people living under oppression thousands of miles and centuries apart from each other. “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright, “Sweat” by Zora Neale

In Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” Dave finds himself throughout the course of the story. Throughout the story, Dave is constantly seeking the pleasure of obtaining and then eventually shooting a gun in order to be a man and find himself. However, Dave does not expect the consequences that are to follow the pursuit of pleasure. The moral of the story pertains to the role pleasure and its consequences have in development and finding oneself. The story narrates a common, but little talked about problem, that runs rampant in today’s society. In the story “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” Richard Wright illustrates Dave’s development, or lack thereof, through the symbols of the gun, the train, and the mule.

In life, there are many decisions that everyone must make. And with decision-making comes consequences, some that we are ready for , and some that we may not be ready for. The author of ' The Man Who Was Almost a Man,' Richard Wright, portrays a young man who wants to be a man, but shows that he is clearly unprepared for manhood and the consequences that come with that responsibility. Through decision making based on self interest, wanting to gain respect from his family, and wanting to prove his dignity, Richard Wright brings forth the main character, Dave, a seventeen year old boy, whose actions show that he is only 'almost a man.'

This story also uses appeal of pathetic to grab the reader’s attention. Throughout the story the author, Ralph Ellison, struggles to attempt to uncover the invisible man’s identity that is buried beneath oppression. It is important to understand that the invisible man is an African American male who sates that he is only looked down on because of his skin color (Ellison). Ralph Ellison goes in detail by showing us how lies can be seen as an obstacle to anyone’s journey of finding himself and his true identity. These obstacles are expressed in Ralph Ellison’s usage of symbols and imagery portrays those obstacles. The man is faced with these obstacles of deception in his ability to make his own life, but instead is confined to live the life in white men’s society. The purpose calls for action to the public to open their eyes to realize that racism is a problem that will not go away; it is something that must be forced to an end whereby men are willing to be themselves in the process.

During the struggle to rise to a higher social class, many African Americans have chosen to embrace white ideals while rejecting their heritage and anything that associates one with their “blackness” This type of rejection to one’s culture has been shown many times in African American literature. In “The Wife of His Youth,” by Charles Chesnutt, and Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, the authors use their writing to show this disconnection; both Chesnutt and Ellison are able to capture the struggle and help their characters to overcome it by embracing their pasts, which can be a very difficult ideal in African American heritage.

In the story he says "One of nowadays he would get a weapon and work on shooting, then they couldn't converse with him just as he were a young man" (306). Obviously this idea alone shows how upside down Dave is. Owning a firearm consequently turns into Dave's outlet, an approach to rapidly turn out to be effective and masculine. He trusts that a gun in his grasp will give him more control over others; nonetheless, Jenny's passing just restrains his future by compelling him to reimburse Mr. Hawkins the cost of the donkey. Now Dave is more baffled than any time in recent memory since now he supposes he will never shine. A considerable measure of young people have a faint confusion that Dave has. Many are being harassed and abused somehow and they feel that owning a firearm will give them more control over these uncomfortable

During the childhood of “the Narrator,” he experiences mixed reactions to the notion of “passing” one’s identity. The Narrator’s mother, having never told the young boy of his African-American blood, forces the Narrator to unintentionally pass as a young, “perfect little aristocrat” (7). The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man moves quickly to introduce newfound discoveries made by the Narrator. For example, at this point in his life, he is unable to comprehend why “Shiny,” the best student, is seen as inferior due to the color of his skin. The Narrator does not understand such complex ideologies saying, “he was in some way looked down upon” (14). Here, Johnson’s use of the metaphor of passing is more of an indictment on the Narrator’s ignorance when it comes to race. A notable encounter with passing

In James W. Johnson “The Autobiography of an Ex- colored man” he recounts the story of a nameless young boy who lives a more comfortable, aristocratic life than most African Americans at this time. While cultivating his interest in music and art throughout the years, suddenly he has an identity crisis and comes to terms that he’s not viewed the same by society as white. He has a self-revelation that he’s different. He shares the skin tone of white people but he doesn’t share a strong cultural connection to other African Americans. This since of loneliness thus causes him to delve into this studies and flourish into a well-rounded young man. The Narrator of this story, is at first a tad bit mysterious.” I am divulging the great secret of my life, the secret for which for some years.

Richard Wright’s life was characterized by poverty which stemmed from the racial issue pervading the South. In an attempt to overcome this impoverished state, his family moved from city to city, hoping to live with a relative and share the cost of living and also to escape the severity of racial discrimination. With each move, however, Wright’s family constantly faced unjust treatment and poverty until they moved in with their Uncle Hoskins who owned a successful saloon.

The Man Who Was Almost a Man, tells the story of a young seventeen year old teenager, named Dave Saunders, who finds himself struggling with the need to be taken seriously as an adult, while still being seen by his community, as merely a boy. Published in 1961 and written by Richard Wright, this short story focuses on the common struggle of young African American men in the South trying to find their identity outside of the box that the United States society put them in at the time. Dave felt that in order to prove that he was a man; in order to receive the respect he thought he deserved from Black and White Americans alike, he needed to purchase a gun. This, of course, proved to be of more harm than good, as Dave found himself incapable of using the gun correctly, and what resulted was the death of his employer’s mule. Dave then, after creating a nonsensical lie that does not convince anyone, decides to skip town in order to avoid the responsibility of taking up for his actions. When taking into consideration the story line and its relativity to the South during the 1920s, when the story is set, it’s clear to see that Dave Saunders’ story is more than what it seems to be on the surface. Dave Saunders’ story is a reflection of common coming-of-age struggles, and even more than that, the common African American struggle of trying to find power when everything surrounding you, and society as a whole, is telling you that you’re powerless; a struggle that is still very

Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”, is written in the style of a lower class black. Wright published this story in 1961, which was a year of civil right movements for people of color searching for social equality. The story is set in the rural south in 1961 where Dave, the main character, wants to buy a gun to prove himself a man. Dave’s reason for this depicts his struggles with racism and poverty. He lives a life where he is trapped in servitude by Mr. Hawkins, the plantation owner, and Joe, the store clerk.

Dave in the story tries to present himself as this kid who is now a man, he wants to showcase to others that he is no longer some little kid that can be made fun of. Even though his actions don’t resemble those of a man, but instead of a kid who is trying to act like one, his thinking that a gun is what makes a man and certain actions that take place is what makes him a consistent character. From beginning to end his mindset of what makes a man doesn’t change, but instead is reinforced after he is humiliated. “Something hot seemed to turn over inside him each time he remembered how they had laughed” (Wright 188).