Richard Wright's The Man Who Was Almost a Man

Essay by YoungBam904College, UndergraduateA, July 2004

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Throughout the story, The Man Who Was Almost a Man there were three core setting of this story which include but are not limited to the store, Dave's house, the store, and the field. From Dave's point of view, which the story is told, the moods around these setting alter greatly. In Joe's store his qualities goes from normal to happy. In his house his mood changes very frequently. His mood also changes repeatedly in the field as well. The mood rang from happy, to excited, to sad, and also felling guilty.

In the field where he works at the beginning he works with other people who are bigger and older than he was. It appears that they talked to him as if he was a child and Dave didn't appreciate that at all. He felt that he was becoming a man and he wanted to be treated as if he was one.

He felt a gun would give him an opportunity to show them that he was a man, and should be treated and respected like one. In the beginning he was distressed by working in the field. Later on after obtaining his prized gun, his frame of mind changes to excitement as he walks to work for his boss, Jim Hawkins and his mule Jenny, he anticipates firing the gun for the first time. Dave works a while, then his enthusiasm gets the best of him and he takes out his gun ready to shoot it for the first time ever. He pulls the gun out and fires it, boom! The guns vigorous vibration was so intense to Dave it overcomes he hand with a piercing pain, and he found himself knocked down to his knees. He kicked the gun, talking to it as if it was a...