The Man Who Was Almost a Man was a short story that was about a young man who was enamored with guns and felt that he would be respected if he owned one. The gun was very important to Dave because he felt it would signify him becoming a man. In the story, becoming a man was something that every young man wanted to be. When the story was written it was very common for African-American males to be considered less than a man because that is what they were thought of in America.
Wright was trying to show how hard it was for an African-American to be considered a man. The gun was an external symbol that Wright used to symbolize Dave’s struggle. Wright used the gun because it is powerful and was something that most men possessed. Guns were kept in almost every house and were not used as negatively as they are used now. It was not uncommon for young men to use guns for the way the man at the store was
The idea that his mother was so understanding with the idea that her son would own a gun gave me the impression that it was not uncommon. She even encouraged the idea because her husband did not own a gun. It was interesting to me how she did not remember to get the gun from Dave once he came back home. This showed that the mother understood how important the gun was to Dave, and how busy she was with her own work.
Society did not dictate to him that he had done something morally wrong, but that he was at fault because he cost his parents some money. They were worried how they were going to pay it off which proved that they were part of the lower class. If Dave were ready to become a man he would have realized that he made a mistake, confessed to it, and do whatever he needed to do to pay back for the dead mule.
After Dave killed the mule his parents were still absent in recovering the gun.
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