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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
In Richard Wright's short story "The Man Who was Almost a Man" or "Almos' a Man," the main character Dave longs to overcome his poverty stricken life as a sharecropper's son in the rural south...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Dave takes a long time to be granted permission to buy a gun, and only if he promises to bring it home directly and give it to his mother. However, Dave, an adolescent, has other plans. He does not...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The climax occurs at the point in the story when Dave inadvertently shoots Jenny, the mule; the denouement of the story occurs as Dave jumps onto the train car. Richard Wright's story "The Man Who...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Dave is a young, powerless black man who wants to be treated like an adult. He is not taken seriously as a man because he hasn't proven himself to his family and employer. He works on a...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The answer is more than likely no. Young Dave Saunders is seventeen years old; his whole family lives and works on Jim Hawkin's plantation. When Dave asks to borrow Old Joe's gun catalog, Joe is...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Dave feels that others don't respect him and look down on him because he is young, poor, and has not yet made his place in the world. He has a job, but his parents keep his wages. He feels put down...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The main character in Richard Wright’s story “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” struggles to know who he actually is. Dave Saunders’ identity crisis comes from living in a small southern town...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
I think that the ending is where Wright's story becomes powerful. The final image of Dave leaving town and jumping on a train to go North with only the gun in his pocket is compelling. On one...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Finding what's opposite is much easier than finding what is the same between these two titles. For one thing, "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" is a short story (the projected novel version was never...
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Man Who Was Almost a Man are similar because both are about boys who are trying to find their way in a difficult world, mostly alone. Huck Finn is almost...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The setting of the story is farmland in the rural South around the turn of the century. Setting is the time and place of the action of the story. Specifically, the story takes place on the Hawkins...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
There is a permanent sense of loss that is intrinsic to both Dave and Bigger. Wright constructs both protagonists with an understanding that the potential for social change rests with illuminating...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Wright's story is indicative of Modernism because it shows a fundamental "shift" in human relations. One of the premises of Modernism is that it helps to show how human relations have "shifted" to...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
One of Wright's most interesting premises of the story is how the concept of masculinity is one that is socially driven. Part of the reason that Dave wishes so much to be seen as a "man" is...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Here are some tips to help you identify Point of View: 1) Omniscient narrators are "all knowing." They can comment on the thoughts, feelings, and actions of ALL of the characters in a work. 2) A...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Dave's remark indicates the context of this novel and the widespread problems of racism that African-Americans faced during the first few decades of teh twentieth century. Let us remember that...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The third person omniscient point of view (POV) uses an all-knowing narrator. This POV gives the reader an honest and objective look at the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the story....
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
If you will decide upon an analytical question that you wish to answer in your thesis, then you can look for passages that explicate this question and support your argument. In this way, you...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Yes, the story still seems relevant today. It would probably have seemed relevant thousands of years ago, and I suspect that it will remain relevant as long as human beings (young men in...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The whole story is told in third person omniscient, meaning that the narrator can see into Dave's thoughts. What you think is first person is actually interior monologue, a narrative device where a...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Seventeen-year-old Dave desperately wants respect and power. He wants his parents and coworkers in the field to see him as a man, and in his eyes, owning a gun will allow him to get their respect...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Achieving adulthood or manhood in America is all about working hard to earn a good living and provide for oneself and one's family, no matter what your circumstances were when you started. It is...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Commercial works must appeal to large, massive audiences, and so tend to have themes, characters, situations and conflicts that are more general, universal and relatable. "The Man Who Was Almost a...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
In The Man Who Was Almost a Man, consider Dave’s original goals for buying the pistol and what ultimately happens. His aspirations to become a man backfire on him terribly, resulting in him...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Dave wants to be treated as a man, but lacks most means necessary to be treated as one. He is uneducated and immature. He lives a life subject to his parents’ whims. He views owning a firearm as...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The main conflict in the story occurs within the main character, Dave, as he struggles to prove that he is an adult worth respecting and admiring. That conflict is definitely internal, and is the...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The gun represents authority, manhood, and freedom to Dave. If he has a gun (thus, disobeying his dad's orders), he believes that he will be his own boss. If he has a gun, he believes that he will...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The train can symbolize many different things, depending on what you are taking away from the story. The story is essentially about a kid who wants respect from others, and goes about it in all of...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Perhaps a comparison and commentary on how society determines when a young person is "mature" would suffice. The idea of a 17-year-old boy purchasing a gun (legally) is unthinkable today, but...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
This all depends on what you think the central conflict is. I'll run through a couple different options for you. If you feel that central conflict is Dave's accidental shooting of the mule, that...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
In Richard Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost A Man", David does (not surprisingly) confess everything to his father when he begins to violently shake him and demand the truth. He tells him that he...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
This story is a modernist story, and one of the traits of the style of modernism is that the characters contained in the story are often alienated and disconnected, and have a hard time...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Dave Sanders is a young kid who desperately wants to prove that he is deserving of respect and fear. He is picked on a lot, and wants to be able to stand up for himself and be the one in the...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Bill, the father of Dave, symbolizes the impotent position of the black male in both the family structure and in society. Although as an adult man, Bill is physically powerful, he has little...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
In The Man Who Was Almost A Man, Dave is a boy who feels like he is an adult. The reason that he feels that he is an adult instead of a child is that he is already 17, he works and earns money. He...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
An adult takes responsibility for his actions; he has the maturity, responsibility, wisdom, and respect necessary to own a gun, which is a weighty responsibility. Dave does not demonstrate any of...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
I wasn't aware that there was any moral courage displayed in the story. The main character, Dave, is at heart a petulant and cowardly boy that shows no moral courage whatsoever. Take for example...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The mule represents manhood because manhood often symbolizes a crossroads in life, and making the right decision "makes you a man". Jenny, who Dave has shot, represents that crossroads for Dave....
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Originally, Dave stops by the store to pick up a catalog that has revolvers in it; he wants to look at them. As he does, he imagines how great it would be to have one, how it would make him more...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The gun is the catalyst that reveals the true nature of his relationship with these characters. His acquisition of the gun reveals that:1. He is willing to lie to his mother and father in order...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
They were ordinary people trying to make a living and take care of their children despite poverty and injustice. Dave's parents are sharecroppers. Instead of paying a monthly rent to their...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Wright's use of dialect helps the reader to put himself there; this literary tool, in addition to sensory and setting description, makes the entire scenario more believable. Any way the writer can...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Everything about Dave's environment speaks to the oppression and poverty in which he, his family, his co-workers and peers must live. Wright engages all of our senses in order to make the reader...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Wright's consistent thesis throughout his writing is that society is responsible for the monsters they piece together. Dave is emasculated and disempowered by everyone he encounters: his...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Dave Saunders wants a gun in “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright. This teenager finds himself struggling to be a man; however, his immaturity in thinking and no understanding of...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
In a word, no. The clue can be found in the title, "almost." There is much evidence that Dave has not reached maturity. For example, he is not allowed to manage his earnings, he cannot...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Dave is lacking in self-worth. He focuses on the need for a gun to make him feel powerful and in control. Dave believes he needs the gun to feel like a man. He is also impulsive, as well.Dave does...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
It can be seen that way. There are a few factors to take into consideration, though. He uses violence to express his frustration, and the fact that he is a killer loses him sympathy. However,...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
One theme in the story is overcoming oppression. Since the Civil War, even with the abolishment of slavery, there was still oppression for the black man and he couldn't own property or sell his...
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man
In the story Dave demonstrates that he is just a 17 year old "boy" and not ready to make the rite of passage into manhood. He felt that a gun was a status symbol to be a man and if he...
