"The Man Who Was Almost A Man" by RIchard Wright

My Reflections on “The Man Who Was Almost A Man” by Richard Wright

            “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” was written by Richard Wright. This story is about a young black kid named Dave that wishes to be a man. He is only seventeen years old. He seems to feel overworked and doesn’t get to have any benefits from working so much since his mother receives his pay. As he struggles to feel more like a man, he runs into trouble in this story. 

            Dave really wants to buy a gun in this story. Since Dave does not feel very power as a young black male, he feels like a gun would bring respect. In fact, he thinks he could kill any man with a gun no matter how young he is. He seems to want the gun to feel more like a man. His mother wants no part of it though. He won’t even discuss it in front of his father. Dave nags at his mother so much till he gets her to give him the two dollars that the store owner wants for a gun.

            Reluctantly Dave’s mother gives him the two dollars with specific instructions to bring it back. Dave is so excited to have the gun that he puts off relinquishing it to his mother. No one suspects something may be wrong with the gun only be two dollars which is much cheaper than the ones in the Sears catalog that Dave carries around.

            As Dave works with the mule of his employer, he feels like that is the perfect opportunity to try out his gun. Dave wants to feel the power someone would get from shooting the gun. He seems to be a little afraid, but wants to try out the gun so badly. He ends up shooting the mule and getting into trouble for having a gun at the end of the story. The gun didn’t seem to work right. 

            Being told that he has to pay back fifty dollars for a dead mule and work even harder for that as people laughed at him seem to be too much for Dave. He leaves before he could become a man after firing off the last few shots of the gun.