A Man Who was almost a Man

Analysis of “The man who was almost a man”I. Introduction:The Man Who Was Almost a Man is a short story by Richard Wright. Richard Nathaniel Wright was an American author of sometimes controversial novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially those involving the plight of African Americans during the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. Literary critics believe his work helped change race relations in the United States in the mid-20th century It was published in 1961 as part of Wright's compilation Eight Men. The story centers on Dave, a young African-American farm worker who is struggling to declare his identity in the atmosphere of the rural South. Abstract:In the story the man who was almost a man, the protagonist, Dave, is a round character, he as a round character, his character changed during his life experience. And the title “the man who was almost a man”, shows that Dave is in the period of growing. His character and thought are not only changed gradually but also are different in different periods. As the development of the plot, we can analyze Dave’s character in three parts.Key words: round character change different period self-respect ImmatureII. Analysis of Dave’s character in “The man who wasalmost a man”In the story “The man who was almost a man”, the protagonist, Dave, is a round character, In E. M. Forster’s book Aspects of the novel, he defined two basic types of characters, their qualities, functions, and importance for the development of the novel: flat characters and round characters. Flat characters are two-dimensional, in that they are relatively uncomplicated. By contrast, round characters are complex figures with many different characteristics and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader. So Dave as a round character, his character changed during his life experience. And the title “The man who was almost a man” shows that Dave is in the period of growing. His character and thought are not only changed gradually but also are different in different periods. As the development of the plot, we can analyze Dave’s character in three parts.First, is before Dave got the gun, we can see his character through his dialogues with Joe, his mother and his father. In this period Dave just “struck out across thefields, looking homeward through paling light.”And “one of these days he was going to get a gun and practice shooting, and then they couldn’t talk to him as though he were a little boy”. (paragraph1)The only thing he wants is to get a gun, and he thought the gun means power. He has a hard time because people around him are not and treat him as a man instead of a boy. In order to clear up any confusion belongs to his age, Dave comes to the conclusion that purchasing a gun will solve all of his problems and finally he will be treated in the manner which he desires. His thoughts are immature and has no original and base. So in this period all his thoughts are only his own ideas. Because he doesn’t has social experience. When he talking with Joe, he is a little unconfident, “he felt very confident until he saw fat Joe walk in through the rear door, then his courage began to ooze”.(paragraph 2) His confidence is totally fly away when he seeing the shopkeeper Joe, a white man. And he is childish. He even doesn’t know the exactly reason that he want the gun. When Joe asks why hone came here and what he wanted to buy. He begins to show unconfident and feels nervosa, he “looked at the floor, scratched his head, scratched his tight, and smile. Then he looked up shyly”. These behaviors can show that he is an immature and shy boy. But things are different when he talks with his mother. He likes a wayward and naïve child. He begs his mother for the gun, and doesn’t listen to his mother’s words. “He bumped into a chair, it clattered to the floor the catalogue sprawled at his feet. When he had dried his eyes he snatched up the book and held it again under his arm. His mother stood watching him.”(paragraph53) He is just rebel at that time, only does the things he wants. He does every thing to get the money from his mom and buy the gun finally. But, when he faces his father, he shows his resignation, and feels uneasily. He even doesn’t “want to mention money before his father. He would do much better by cornering his mother when she was alone. He looked at his father uneasily out of the edge of his eye.”(paragraph60). We can draw a conclusion, Dave in this period, is a immature, shay and rebel boy.Second, after he got the gun. He became ambitious, “the first movement he made the following morning was to reach under his pillow for the gun. In the gray light of dawn he held it loosely, feeling a sense of power. Could kill anyone, black or white. And if he holding his gun in his hand, nobody could run over him, they would have to respect him. It was a big gun, with a long darnel and a heavy handle. He raises and lowered his hand, marveling at its weight.”(paragraph113) At this time he gets the gun, in another he gets the power, but he doesn’t have the ability to use the power, and can’t see the power in a mature and right way. The gun is too big for him, which means though gets the power but he can’t use the power to get want he wants. In this period, he begins to show self-respect, but it is not mature, because when he faces hismaster he shows his obey unconsciousness. When his master, Mistah Hawkins, asks him to plowing that stretch down by the woods, he says that suits him. In this period Dave begins to feel self-respect, but his self-respect at that that just shows as he is sensitive to the things happens to him.Third, after he killed the mule. In this period, he faces the unpredicted results of use the gun, when he “saw the hole in Jenny’s side, right between the ribs. It was round, wet, and red. He felt panic. He knew he had to stop the blood, or Jenny would bleed to death. He had never seen so much blood in all his life. He chased the mule for half a mile, trying to catch her. Finally he stopped and groped handful of damp black t where the plow and gun lay. Then he stopped and grabbed hand full of damp black earth and tried to plug the bullet hole. Jenny shuddered, whinnied, and broken from him. He felt hopeless and his lips trembled. And his stomach felt empty, very empty. He picked up the gun and held it gingerly between his thumb and forefinger. He buried it at the foot of a tree. He walked across the field slowly, head down.”(From paragraph133 to paragraph141) After sunset, many people see the dead mule but Dave just choose to tell the lie and say he know nothing. Although he gets the power but he never thought how to use the power correctly and the result of using the gun. He is still immature and doesn’t know how to deal with the things and response to his behaviors. His lie is childish and when he faces the blame and laugh of others, he “looked at Jenny’s stiff leg and began to cry.”(paragraph160) and after asked him to pay for the mule, he just “stood, head down, twisting his feet in the dirt.”He never thought to solve the problem by himself, he would rather let his parents deal the thing and punished by his father, than deal the problem by himself. In this case, he is still can get away from the limit of his family and he is not independent. But after he back home, “he was glad that he had gotten out of killing the mule easily, but he was hurt”(paragraph199). At this moment Dave feels that he escape the punishment easily but his self-respect got hurt. And then “eased out of bed and 0slipped into overalls, he looked around and clutched the gun stiff and hard in his fingers. But, as soon as he wanted to pull the trigger, he shut his eyes and turned his head. With the effort he held his eyes open and he can finally used the gun, when he reached the top of a ridge he stood straight and proud in the moonlight, looking at Jim Hawkins’ big white house, feeling the gun sagging in his pocket. He thought, Ah’d like t scare ol man Hawkins jusa little…jusa enough t let im know Dave Saunders is a man.”(from paragraph199 to paragraph206 ) Dave finally begins to face his own heart, and against others, he says his family name, and emphasis his first name, it shows that he concerns himself and the mature of self-respect is the sign of mature. At the end of this short story he left his hometown and “he felt his pocket, the gun was still there.Ahead the long rails were glinting in the moonlight, stretching away, away to somewhere, somewhere he could be a man” this shows that he finally break the limit of his family and his own thought, he leaves the hometown and try to find somewhere he could be independent and be a man.III: conclusionIn a word, Dave at first is an immature and rebel child, never thinks the results of one thing. And after he got the gun, he feels more confidence and ambitious, but he still shows his obey to his master, so at this period his self-respect is limited. Finally, he feels hurt and began to follow his own heart and his self-respect became intensely. And he leaves his hometown to find the real independent and freedom.The words in this short story is special, the author uses many typical Afercian-Amercia words, let the story more real and vivid. The descriptions of the character is accurate, especially the words of every character.Biliogrophy:1.Hoffman, Michael J; Patrick D. Murphy. Essentials of the theory of fiction(2 ed.). Duke University Press, 1996. p. 36.2. Forster, E.M. (1927). Aspects of the Novel.。