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In the short story, "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" written by Richard Wright, the protagonist named Dave
feels the sorrow of powerlessness as a Black, an adolescent, and a laborer. He is one of the most vulnerable members of the society. The setting of the story is the 1940s, the time when racial segregation and discrimination was widespread and "Jim Crow laws," which advocated the racial discrimination, were still in effect ("Segregation"). As a Black American, Dave endures racial discrimination, and he works under the control of a White landowner named Jim Hawkins. Even though he works hard for the White person enduring the mockery of his co-workers, he does not even have the money to buy a two-dollar gun by himself.
Furthermore, he is on the border of being a child and an adult (a real man in the legal sense). He is a seventeen-year-old adolescent. He has three perfect conditions for being a vulnerable member of the society: he is a minority, an adolescent, and a poor laborer. It is very difficult for him to escape from his reality and live a better life because of social constraints. Therefore, he makes a frantic, last-ditch effort in order to escape oppression by becoming a real man who has power. He wants to buy a gun because he wants other people to treat him like he is a real man instead of treating him as a young child. However, adults around him do not think that Dave is a real man. When Dave went to meet Joe to buy a gun, Joe says, "You ain't nothing but a boy. You don't need a gun" (92). And his mother also says, "Yuh ain nothing but a boy yit," "You don need no gun" (93).
feels the sorrow of powerlessness as a Black, an adolescent, and a laborer. He is one of the most vulnerable members of the society. The setting of the story is the 1940s, the time when racial segregation and discrimination was widespread and "Jim Crow laws," which advocated the racial discrimination, were still in effect ("Segregation"). As a Black American, Dave endures racial discrimination, and he works under the control of a White landowner named Jim Hawkins. Even though he works hard for the White person enduring the mockery of his co-workers, he does not even have the money to buy a two-dollar gun by himself.
Furthermore, he is on the border of being a child and an adult (a real man in the legal sense). He is a seventeen-year-old adolescent. He has three perfect conditions for being a vulnerable member of the society: he is a minority, an adolescent, and a poor laborer. It is very difficult for him to escape from his reality and live a better life because of social constraints. Therefore, he makes a frantic, last-ditch effort in order to escape oppression by becoming a real man who has power. He wants to buy a gun because he wants other people to treat him like he is a real man instead of treating him as a young child. However, adults around him do not think that Dave is a real man. When Dave went to meet Joe to buy a gun, Joe says, "You ain't nothing but a boy. You don't need a gun" (92). And his mother also says, "Yuh ain nothing but a boy yit," "You don need no gun" (93).
After persuading his mother, he buys a gun with her money, and he "feels a sense of power" (94). Furthermore, he thinks that people will no longer neglect him for the reason that he is a little boy, an African-American, and a laborer. After he gets a gun, he thinks that he is a real adult man; however, in reality, he is still an immature little boy who does not even know how to use the gun properly and tells big lies whenever he is in trouble. His plan of showing power to other people by buying a gun ends in failure with the death of a mule. The gun not only symbolizes Dave's desire to become a real man, but also comes to represent his immaturity.
In the story, he is called before Jim Hawkins, his employer, in order to explain the incident of the mule's death. While he explains the incident to Jim Hawkins, the crowd laughs at his immature behavior. Then, as Dave is being judged by Hawkins and the community, he says, "There were white and black standing in the crowd" (95). Instead of recognizing White and Black Americans as one group, Dave separates the Whites and the Blacks. His behavior reflects the separation of and differing lifestyles between Blacks and Whites of his era.
Dave is a victim of a segregated society. He tries to escape from his oppression and poor circumstances by reaching for power; however, his plan ends in failure as the mule meets his death. Dave, who works for a White employer, can be compared to the mule, who works tirelessly at the behest of a human. He says, "they treat me like a mule, n then they beat me. He gritted his teeth. N Ma had t tell on me" (96).
The narrator, who felt the sorrow of powerlessness under the control of the White Americans, expresses his anger toward the Whites by imagining the moment of firing a gun at Jim Hawkins' big white house. He tries to resolve his conflict by gaining power and becoming a real man; however, his immature behavior prevents him from getting power, and he, who fails in his plan, grows increasingly desperate.
Works Cited
"Segregation" Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education. Read History in the Real World
Project, 2014. Web. 13 July. 2015.
In the story, he is called before Jim Hawkins, his employer, in order to explain the incident of the mule's death. While he explains the incident to Jim Hawkins, the crowd laughs at his immature behavior. Then, as Dave is being judged by Hawkins and the community, he says, "There were white and black standing in the crowd" (95). Instead of recognizing White and Black Americans as one group, Dave separates the Whites and the Blacks. His behavior reflects the separation of and differing lifestyles between Blacks and Whites of his era.
Dave is a victim of a segregated society. He tries to escape from his oppression and poor circumstances by reaching for power; however, his plan ends in failure as the mule meets his death. Dave, who works for a White employer, can be compared to the mule, who works tirelessly at the behest of a human. He says, "they treat me like a mule, n then they beat me. He gritted his teeth. N Ma had t tell on me" (96).
The narrator, who felt the sorrow of powerlessness under the control of the White Americans, expresses his anger toward the Whites by imagining the moment of firing a gun at Jim Hawkins' big white house. He tries to resolve his conflict by gaining power and becoming a real man; however, his immature behavior prevents him from getting power, and he, who fails in his plan, grows increasingly desperate.
Works Cited
"Segregation" Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education. Read History in the Real World
Project, 2014. Web. 13 July. 2015.