A Man Who IS Almost A Man

A detailed Summary of A Man Who IS Almost A Man


Growing up in the early 1900's was arduous. Families, such as Dave's, were challenged with the realities of poverty, and emotional conflicts. In Richard Wright's short story, "The Man Who Was Almost A Man," the protagonist's opinions regarding his manhood differ from his mothers. Those disputed opinions about personal experience, competence, and emotional reactions show significant differences when compared. Therefore, Wright is providing logical arguments about Dave's maturity when events involving Dave turn into adverse circumstances. All of which will dictate a different analysis than Dave's about the achievement of manhood.

During the depression, all family members must do chores or work for wages in order to contribute to the family's survival. Dave personally feels he equal to an adult. After all, his contribution for the family is to go over to, "ol man Hawkins," (356) plantation and work from daylight to dark, with the men in the fields. During each workday, he completes the same amount of work as the other hired men; sometimes he even, "plows mo


Dave establishes his maturity is based on the way in which he handled the situation with the mule, Jenny. Even though he was responsible for shooting the mule, he acted quickly when overpowered with terror. Hoping to save Jenny's life, he quickly packed mud into Jenny's wound so the mule would not, "bleed to death" (359). Dave believed if he owned a gun, people would respect him and, "nobody would run over him." (357). However, an accident occurs after Dave buys the gun. "You kin lemme have two dollahs outta mah money. Please, Ma" (357). Asking for the money to buy a gun. Ma says, "That how come Ah has Mistah Hawkins t pay yo wages t me, cause Ah knows yuh ain go no sense" (356). It keeps you from throwing, "it erway" (356). However, Dave's emotional reactions are not always positive. He originally bought the gun because he wanted respect. Respect from the co-workers who teased and ignored him because he was a kid. Thus, Dave made up his mind he was not going to wo!

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In the end, Dave still feels he is a man. After all, he is seventeen, owns a gun,

Some common words found in the essay are:
Richard Wright's, Mistah Hawkins, Besides Dave, Mistah Joe's, Illinois Central, Families Dave's, Please Ma, dave's mother, Manhood Growing, Furthermore Dave, logical arguments, survival dave, family's survival, achievement manhood, daylight dark, dave feels, emotional reactions, family's survival dave,

Approximate Word count = 768
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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