Critical Analysis: "The Man Who Was Almost a Man"
Richard Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," is the story of Dave Saunders, a young man's struggle with life and death; and good and evil. The good is his desire to have a positive life and become a man and the evil is the challenge of having to overcome all the negative factors in life; his family and society. Dave is a seventeen-year-old young man who wants the world to recognize his manhood. Gaining the respect and power so closely associated with manhood is extremely important to Dave since he has never been given the opportunities to be treated as a man. The men who work in the fields with him see him as being young and stupid. Moreover, "nobody ever gave him anything. All he did was work. They treat [him] like a mule..." (Page 282) Dave sees the problem, of his manhood being ignored, as a black-and-white issue; owning a gun will prove he is a man. Most of the people who Dave talks to in the story help to fan the flames of his desire to assert his manhood, by owning a gun, because they treat him l as if he is a little boy. Dave's desire to own a gun results in him precipitating the disaster of accidentally murdering a mule, and rather than being made to feel like a boy for two additional years while he works to pay
On the surface, the message of the story is that Black people are stupid, deceitful, unkind, violent, and a threat to White people. This is evident through Dave's attitude towards Mr. Hawkins, his boss and owner of the murdered mule. Dave senses that Mr. Hawkins only wants to keep him working and treating him like a mule, and it is this realization that causes Dave's want to take a goodbye shot at Mr. Hawkins's "big white house" (Page 282) to put a little fear in him. Dave who was almost a man, but not quite, deserves to be called "boy" at seventeen and forever. Dave's decision to run away leaves a white man being cheating out of fifty dollars and Dave, the black boy/man, riding off into the night with nothing but anger, a gun and no hope. However, upon further examination, Dave appears to be less responsible for his shortcomings, poor parent support and a sense of hopelessness. His desire to get a gun in order to become a man is an indication of his ignorance, and limited options. In his environment there is practically no opportunity for him to develop self-respect respect of others, and to overcome his circumstances of being treated just like a mule. He is given no responsibility, not even the chance to hold on to part of his earnings. Dave stumbles forward in this story
Some common words found in the essay are:
Whites Dave, Dave Saunders, Dave Life, Wright's Man, dave appears, page 282, owning gun, evident dave's,
Approximate Word count = 866
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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