Almos A Man Short Story

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“Almos’ a Man”: Not Knowing Who You Are. The short story of Richard Wright (Almos’ a Man) presents a seventeen year old young man from a community of African American, who was Dave. Dave was struggling with growing up and he was also struggling to know exactly who he was. Dave was used to work with some African American men under a guy named Mister Hawkins. Dave’s job was plowing a field with an old white mule named Jenny. Dave thought he was a man, for he was always seriously wanted to get a gun because he thought gun is a power of a man, getting a gun can make him a man, having a gun can gave him much respect, but Dave was socially treated as a boy. Dave was kept saying, “whut’s the use of talking wid em niggers in the field?”(1) Why he was kept saying something like that was because he did not know exactly who he was. What Dave was seriously expecting were that all the people to respect him, treat him, and handle him like a matured man. In the beginning of the short story the author said, “One of these days he was going to get a gun and practice shooting, then they could not talk …show more content…

Dave got a gun, so he showed us that Dave was a man, but Dave did not get the respect from the people that he deserves, so it showed us Dave was not a fully man. The really amazing question from the shot story was why the author named the short story as “Almos’ a man”? (1) When we compared Dave with the people who worked with him, he was a man because he used to work hard in the field with them like a man. When we compared Dave with his father, he was a man because he used to work hard and helped his family. When we compared Dave with the Jenny, he was a man; that is why he shot her. However, when we compared Dave with Mister Hawkins, Dave was not a fully man. Dave got a gun like Mister Hawkins, but Dave did not get a respect like Mister Hawkins. That is why the author named the short interesting story as “Almos’ a Man”.

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