In Richard Wrights short story Almos A Man, he expresses the idea that becoming a man is not a physical change but an emotional one that involves taking responsibility for mistakes and accepting those consequences. Wright starts by introducing Dave as a young seventeen-year-old boy that thinks he is old enough to own a gun. Dave thinks he needs a gun to prove he is a man so that the other workers will stop treating him like a child.
In this excerpt, But Ma, we needa gun. Pa ain got no gun. We needa gun in the house. Yuh kin never tell whut might happen. Ah wans a gun Ma. Yuh kin lemma have two dollars outa mah money. Please, Ma. I kin give it to PaPlease, Ma! Ah loves yuh, Ma Dave shows very childlike behavior, begging his mother to give him the money. He also tries to trick her by saying that the gun is for his father. Technically Dave never gets permission to own the gun, so it never actually belonged to him. This behavior shows that Dave is not yet ready to own a gun and still has a ways to go before he becomes a man. When Dave lies to his mother about where the gun is hidden, it just proves further that he is acting like a child and not able to take responsibility for his actions.
Dave gets out to the field early the morning after he has bought the gun so no one else is around and he starts plowing far away by the woods. He starts bragging to Jenny (the mule) about the gun.
Know whut this is, Jenny? Naw, yuh wouldnt know! Yuhs jusa ol mule! Anyhow, this is a gun, n it kin shoot, by Gawd! He held the gun at arms length. Whut t hell, Ahma shoot this thing! He looked at Jenny again. Lissen here, Jenny! When ah pull this ol trigger ah don wan yuh run n acka fool now. Jenny stood with head down, her short ears pricked straight. Dave walked off about twenty feet, held the gun far out from him, at arms length, and turned his head. Hell, he told himself, ah ain afraid. The gun felt loose in his fingers; he waved it wildly for a moment. Then he shut his eyes and tightened his forefinger. Bloom!
Dave talks to Jenny as if he is trying to impress her. He tells her not to get scared when he shoots the gun. Jenny seems to know what is going on by the way Wright describes her posture. Dave never realized how much power the gun had and even though he told himself, he wasnt scared; he still held it loosely and shut his eyes when he fired it. Dave has probably never fired a gun before and does not understand really how it works. It seems very juvenile that he would try to use it without understanding it completely first.
When Dave tells Mr. Hawkins what had happened he lies about the gun. Dave doesnt say much at all while a crowd gathers around the dead mule. When Daves parents finally confront him about the whereabouts of the gun, he still thinks he has to lie, because he still wants to keep it.
Well, you neednt worry about it Bob, said Jim Hawkins. Just let the boy keep on working and pay me two dollars every month. Whut yuh wan fer yo mule, Mistah Hawkins? Jim Hawkins screwed up his eyes. Fifty dollars. Whut yuh do wid tha gun? Daves father demanded. Dave said nothing. Yuh want me t take a tree lim n beat yuh till yuh talk! Nawsuh! Whut yuh do wid it? Ah thowed it erway. Where? AhAh thowed it in the creek. Waal, c mon home. N firs thing in the mawnin git to tha creek n fin tha gun.
Hawkins is willing to let Dave pay for the mule over time so that they wont have to spend all the money now. Dave doesnt want to tell his father where the gun is because he knew he would make him sell it back to Joe and give the money to Mr. Hawkins. Daves father is a much better example of a man. He made Dave tell the truth and was going to make sure he paid back Mr. Hawkins one hundred percent. Dave should take a lesson on being a man from his father. From the start of the book, there was a sense that Dave didnt enjoy being around his father very much.
That night Dave goes and digs up the gun. As he stand on the top of a ridge, he can hear a train coming. The cars slide past, steel grinding upon steel. Ahm riding yuh ternight so hep me Gawd! He was hot all over. He hesitated just a moment; then he grabbed, pulled atop of a car, and lay flat. He felt his pocket; the gun was still there. Ahead the long rails were glinting in the moonlight, stretching away, away to somewhere, somewhere where he could be a man Dave thinks that he has to run away from his problems, to somewhere else where he can be a man. He is actually doing the complete opposite. He is running away from his consequences of his actions. He doesnt want to pay Mr. Hawkins back or be punished by his father, but instead of actually being a man and accepting those responsibilities, he takes the easy way out runs away from all his problems.
Throughout the story Dave shows childish behaviors despite saying that, he is a man. He has false identities of manhood, including the fact that he needs a gun to become a man. He needs some guidance on this subject and he should take more notice of his fathers actions and try to duplicate him.
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