The Man Who Was Almost a Man PDF Free Download

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Book overview:

 The Man Who Was Almost a Man is a 1961 short story by Richard Wright about Dave, a young African-American man struggling to find his identity and prove his manhood in the rural South. Dave works on a plantation for Mr. Hawkins and feels he lacks autonomy, so he decides to buy and learn how to shoot a gun. The Man Who Was Almost a Man is a short story by Richard Wright, adapted into a 1976 film starring LeVar Burton.Wright’s “A Man Who Was Almost a Man” is a story about a seventeen-year-old teenager who decides to buy a gun to learn how to shoot in order to be seen as a grown man. He tries to sweet talk his mother into letting him buy it, but instead hides it for himself. The next day, he shoots his boss’s mule and makes up a story about how it happened, acting like a child.

Summary of The Man Who Was Almost a Man:

Dave is determined to own a gun and prove to others that he is no longer a child. He goes to the local store to examine the guns offered in a mail-order catalog, but is surprised when Joe offers to sell him an old pistol for $2.Wright’s use of local dialect provides unique voices for the story’s black characters, contrasting with the white-skinned Joe and Mr. Hawkins. Dialect helps separate the two groups, highlighting inequalities in lifestyle and standards of living.Joe laughed and asked Dave what he was planning on buying. Dave looked at the floor, scratched his head, scratched his thigh, and smiled shyly.He looked at the guns in the catalogue, longing to present his case to his mother. He rose and went to her side with the open catalogue in his palms.Dave asks his mother for money to buy a gun, but she dismisses the idea and gives him $2 on the condition that he bring the gun directly to her after buying it.Dave buys a pistol and waits until it’s dark to give it to his mother. When he wakes up, he realizes he has the power to kill someone and ties the pistol to his leg with an old strip of flannel.Dave is tired of being talked down to and decides to get a gun and start shooting into the fields. He stops in Joe’s store to look at a catalogue and Joe greets him energetically.

A young man who is not quite a man yet, walking home from work. He decides to purchase a gun to prove that he is a grown-up and goes to a local store to look at the guns in a Sears Roebuck catalog. Dave is reluctant to answer, but Joe promises not to say anything and Dave tells him he’s looking to purchase a cannonball. Dave leaves the store vowing to come back for the gun later.When Dave returns home, his mother takes the borrowed catalog from him and threatens to make it outhouse material if he does not get up and wash. He decides to ask his mother for the money and not his father, as his father would say no and his mother might be easier to persuade.

Dave purchases a pistol from Joe and plays with it in the fields, but breaks his promise and hides it under his pillow. He wakes up with the gun in his hands and thinks he has the power to kill anyone, so he ties it to his leg and leaves early to go unnoticed. He takes his gun out to show Jenny and takes his first shot, which scares away the mule. He decides to retrieve the gun in which he had buried and fire it with his eyes open until he empties it.Dave is told to pay $50 for a mule, but his father tells him to retrieve the gun and give it to Mr. Hawkins as his first payment. He forces himself to shoot the gun four times until there are no more bullets left. He then hears a train in the distance and hops into a moving boxcar.Dave confesses to lying about Jenny’s death, and Mr. Saunders is shocked

Symbolism of the gun

The gun symbolizes Dave’s struggle to achieve his goals, such as power or control, independence, maturity, and masculinity. In the scene where Dave kills Jenny, he exposes his immaturity and lack of control by misusing the weapon.Dave woke up early and started for Jim Hawkins’ plantation. He tied a gun to his thigh while it was still loaded, then hitched Jenny to a plow and started across the fields. When he reached the woods, he untied the gun and held it in his hand. He smiled and asked Jenny if she knew what it was. Dave holds a gun at arm’s length and looks at Jenny, a mule, with head down and ears pricked straight.He tries to shoot the gun, but it feels loose in his fingers and he hears Jenny whinnying and galloping over the field. He stands up and kicks the gun, thinking it broke his arm. He turns to look for Jenny, who is running wildly over the fields.Dave catches up with Jenny, who is bleeding from a bullet hole in her side. He knows he must stop the bleeding or Jenny will die. He tries to plug the hole, but blood comes anyhow, so he rubs dirt into the hole and leads her back to the plow and gun. Dave attempts to plug the bullet hole in Jenny’s leg, but she shies away, kicking her heels high. When he goes to her, she does not move, but when he touches her, she gives a low-pitched whinny and knelt to the ground, her front knees slopping in blood. Dave picks up the gun and buries it at the foot of a tree, taking a stick to cover the pool of blood with dirt.

Review:

  The book brought forth interesting concepts on race, gender, responsibility, and masculinity, but was not entertaining.Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” is a well-written and humane exploration of race and masculinity in a time of extreme oppression.The story exemplifies masculine culture and the meaning of manhood.Dave Saunders begs his Ma for money for a gun believing he will become a man, but she warns him to be careful. He makes bad and impulsive decisions until he reaches the point of no return, similar to Bigger Thomas.

The Man Who Was Almost a Man PDF Free Download