Richard Wright - The Man Who Was Almost a Man

                I enjoyed reading the short story “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright.  I have finally got the hang of reading the slang language and I love it.  In this short story there was one theme that stuck out to me.  The theme is the search for power.  Dave is imprisoned in a world that deprives him of his personal and money-making power.  He sees his life as a series of abuses and embarrassments.  He is forced to obey his parents, work as a field hand for pay that he never receives, and endure teasing from the other field workers.  His increasing sense of poverty robs him from social and economic forces which keep him from achieving his potential and pursuing his dreams.  Dave’s outlet comes from the idea of owning a gun which is a way for him to quickly become powerful and masculine.  Dave believes that having a pistol in his hand will give him more control over others.  Jenny’s death only limits his future by forcing him to repay Mr. Hawkins the price for the dead mule.  The death of Jenny was accidental but it could be interpreted as Dave’s unconscious desire to strike out against Mr. Hawkins.  Dave could be lashing out at an economic system and social order that he will always be excluded from simply because of his skin color by destroying a symbol of Hawkins prosperity and power as a landowner.  There are at least two symbols that I noticed in this short story.  The first symbol is the gun.  The gun represents control, manhood, respect, and independence. All of these things are exactly what Dave wants.  Dave sees the gun as the solution to all his problems and a reward for all his flaws.  Dave hates the fact that the other field hands treat him like a child and thus mistakenly believes that owning a gun would instantly make a man out of him.  Despite the fact he doesn’t even know how to fire a gun.  He improperly reasons that owning a gun would somehow provide him with independence.  He thought that knowing how to fire it would keep him out of the fields and provide him with greater opportunities.  Dave fantasizes about shooting at Mr. Hawkins house, which suggests that Jenny’s death taught him nothing.  It has only made him want more power, independence, and manhood.  Another symbol is the mule.  The mule, Jenny, represents Dave himself, which fears working as an obedient field hand on another’s man’s land for the rest of his life.  He deliberately recognizes the similarities between himself and Jenny when he says that everyone “treat[s] me like a mule, n they beat me,” referring to the beating that his father had promised him.  Dave believes that all he does is labor like Jenny, hooked to a plow with little hope for reward, escape, or even becoming something better.  The mule also signifies dedication and responsibility, promises of adulthood that Dave is still unwilling to accept.  All he wants is the freedom that he visualizes adults to have without any of their responsibilities.  Jenny’s death is the symbolic death of Dave’s childhood, which he wishes to escape the community and a life of labor.  The power that Dave links with owning a gun brings change but it forces him to go aboard a journey to manhood for which he’s not yet ready for.              

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Man Who Was Almost a Man.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.