Why He is Not a Man

A detailed Summary of Why He is Not a Man


In the story "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" by Richard Wright, there is a boy named Dave. Dave is a young boy trying to figure out what a man really is. Right now, he believes that a man is someone who owns a gun. Dave needs proper education about guns and needs the knowledge about what a man really is to be a man. Dave needs to be taught what a man really is because he is not a young man just because he has a gun.

Dave is a seventeen-year-old boy who wants a gun. He thinks he is almost a man. He thinks that having a gun will make him a man and give him power. Toughness is a common perception of masculinity. A man is not someone who owns a gun, but someone who has knowledge of behaving like a man and owning a gun like a man. He thinks that only a gun will make him a man instead of his actions dictating his matureness to others. He believes it w


In Dave's actions, he is like a young boy. A man who owns a gun knows how to shoot a gun and knows the right and wrong time to use a gun, unlike Dave. After Dave gets the gun, he shoots it, thinking that makes him a man. If Dave were a man, then he would not have shot the mule. Then, after he shot the mule, Jenny, he would have told Mr. Hawkins that he shot the mule. In addition, when Dave shoots his gun, he closes his eyes and turns his head. A man would hold his head high and shoot the gun the proper way.

When one is a man, others treat him with respect. Dave's parents talk down to him and treat him like a child, when he is trying to develop into a young respectable man. Dave's mother says, "Yuh ain nothing but a boy yit!" in the story, proving that they look down on this seventeen-year-old boy. His mother tells him in the story to go wash his hands before he ea

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 592
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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