The Man Who Was Almost a Man

by Richard Wright

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, School, Read For School, American, African American Literature

Unknown Binding

First published September 1, 1979

About the author

Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of powerful, sometimes controversial novels, short stories and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerned racial themes. His work helped redefine discussions of race relations in America in the mid-20th century.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Kristýna Marková · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like Hughes, Hurston and other writers from the Harlem Renaissance, Wright also writes in African-American vernacular. “A Man Who Was Almost a Man” is a story about a seventeen-year-old teenager called Dave who wants to be treated like a man, but he feels as though everybody treats him like a kid and that angers him. He therefore decides to buy a gun to learn how to shoot. He thinks that if he has a gun, people will respect him and treat him like a grown man, because with a gun, he “Could kill a man with a gun like this. Kill anybody, black or white. And if he were holding his gun in his hand, nobody could run over him; they would have to respect him”
He wants to be seen as a man, but he still has to ask his mother for the money, and for the permission to even buy the gun in the first place. So he tries to sweet talk her into letting him buy it, until she finally does, saying it will be for his father, but he instead hides it for himself, unable to let go of it. The next day he takes it out to the field to practice shooting, but instead shoots his boss’s mule, and quickly has to make up story about how it happened, because he’s scared to tell them to truth, which is just another way of him acting like a child. His mom, just like everybody else, sees through the lie and makes him tell the truth, which makes everybody who gathered around the mule laugh at him. Dave feels humiliated and angry. Instead of learning a lesson and taking responsibility for his actions, he thinks only about how they laughed at him and what a fool he was. He thought it couldn’t be so hard to learn how to shoot, so he goes to dig up the gun and shoots several times, feeling excited about it, and encouraged he wants to go shoot at the house of his boss, to show him he’s no kid. In the end he realizes that the gun may have given him power, but it’s not going to make him a man.
I think that that’s exactly what Wright wanted to show, that the stereotype of man killing an animal and becoming a man, isn’t really true, and that it takes a lot more to become a man.

[The Nutmeg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dave, hon. You should've listened to your mom.

(I do realize there's a lot more going on in this story than kid-disobeys-and-gets-in-serious-trouble.)

(But seriously. Dave.)

[Amy J · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice. I just really enjoyed how my English teacher always said the title. ;P

[Max Cannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Kendrick’s “Backseat Freestyle” was a short story

[Alex Jameian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alex Jameian

This book is interesting. The title had got me wondering, what is meant by a man who was almost a man. It drawn my undivided attention to find out. The main character Dave Saunders, a African american seventeen year old boy who gets a job over his summer break. He works on a plantation plowing fields. At his job the other fieldworkers don't respect him and he is treated unfairly, because of how immature he is. All of the people he work with are white.

David lacks proving and doesn't have nothing to show for it. So he takes action in the wrong direction. Which I find in my own opinion a stupid thing to do and only someone with a mind of a younger person can think of. He wants to own a gun and think this will instantly make him a man. You can't be serious? He takes advantage of it and meets a guy named Joe, the salesman who is a bad influenced sells him the gun even though he is under age. It seemed to me as if he is demanding respect. You have to earn respect to get it,it isn't given to you. Some parenting.

Dave's mother and father Mrs. and Mr. Sauders are somewhat different than each other. His mother is caught between her son's happiness and doing the right thing. The father is the more strict figure. He is violent and seems more concerned at what he wants for Dave. He wants to make the choices for him. Kind of like the stories and films my class discussed. He does whatever he wants in the house to maintain discipline like Troy. I know for me this would be a tough task and very disturbing to focus. If he is to keep up with this, he'll end up just like his father.

If I were in Dave's shoes i'd come up with a better solution and think through what he has planned. It is not a good idea,he is trying to take the easy way out. Thinking that he is making a point,when everyone is really laughing at you.

Dave is a pretender, is what I'd call it. He is more in the situation of running away rather than solving his problem. I learn from experience. He life is based on a whole lie, little does he know that it isn't bringing nothing but more frustration and stress. He is like a premature adult on the outside, but a little toddler boy inside.

He feels as if since almost his entire life has been based on humiliation, taken as a joke, and hatred, How a lot of insecure people look at life, their is no hope. He has the potential but is not willing to do the right thing. He isn't showing commitment,and is going down a path he can't follow.

His foolishness escalated to an incident where he fired the gun at his boss's mule Jenny and killed it. Here he lies about what happen both the death and where the gun was at. He finally confessed what I would've done from the jump and emptied out the bullets and got rid of the gun then escaped on a train leaving everything behind.

I had to find out the hard way that if you want to be something in life you have to work for it,it is what you make of it,there are obstacles, it takes time,motivation, sacrifices, you can't be impatient if your not ready. That's how I look at it, you have to begin from the bottom,and then work your way up, not skip ahead.

I recommend this to teens who are unsure on how to mature and grow up into a intelligent Adult. This is a lesson if you don't be smart about your decisions, it will only make your life a whole lot harder.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young sharecropper learns that having a gun gives one power, but it does not make one a man. Only responsibility and wisdom can do that. The background of the story is important as were the race relations of the time. The story takes place in Mississippi right after the civil war, when black Americans were freed from slavery only to enter grinding poverty as sharecroppers. Often they would have to work for their same ex-owner. The eponymous character is an angry young man who receives little to no respect and believes that gaining a gun will grant him respect and awe. Afterall, "A gun can kill any man, black or white". The plan ultimately backfires and leads to humiliation. At the end of the story the main character runs away to an uncertain but ill boding fate. This is an excellent short story in that unlike many other coming of age stories of the time, gaining a gun and killing a beast is not shown to be a definitive mark of passage into manhood. Instead we get something a little different and far more profound.

[Boy Dyl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always point you barrel in a safe direction. Never pull the trigger unless you intend to kill.

[Monzenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

(202502 update) four stars remain appropriate. The setting and characters are quite powerful, and the series of events harsh but poignant. And yet there's certainly more to this story.

Felt the story was a bit unfinished. Nonetheless, it's a good tale of a black kid's first encounter with a form of machinery.

[Kelly D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still thinking this one over. I read it for class so I'm sure my opinion will be changed and deepened, but for now, I think it brought forth some interesting concepts on race, gender, responsibility, and masculinity; however, it doesn't really serve as entertaining.

[John Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

For such a short story, I was pleasantly surprised. One of those stories where you wish growth would happen and a happy resolution would be found but truly exemplifies toxically masculine culture and the meaning of manhood

[emily ✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

✩ 3.0 ✩

Ahead the long rails were glinting in the moonlight, stretching away, away to somewhere, somewhere where he could be a man.

[morgyn west · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for school, good coming of age theme

[Emmawho97 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed, but really found it so sad too. The oppresion and the bad vibes are fuking imense, seems like an impossible feeling to escape.

[Elyse Casey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Man Who Was Almost a Man by Richard Wright is a powerful coming-of-age story about a young boy named Dave who is desperate to prove his maturity and independence. Feeling underestimated and trapped by his youth and social position, Dave believes owning a gun will earn him the respect he craves. The story explores themes of identity, power, and the struggle to define manhood. As Dave faces the consequences of his choices, Wright highlights the gap between wanting to be seen as a man and truly understanding what it means to be one. It’s a poignant and realistic look at the painful transition from adolescence to adulthood.

[kimby · Rating 2 out of 5]

DAVE WHY.
i feel like if this took place in this day and age there would be a lot of discourse about if it was also partly the fault of the mom for giving him the money (i only watch court/detective shows) but i am just frustrated with the decisions of dave LIKE WHY WOULD YOU PULL IT OUT AND SHOOT NEXT TO THE MULE... anyway it's probably pretty accurate to whatever goes on in the minds of teenage boys (i would not know but i have been around enough teenage boys to know that they lack logic) so . this is just like a good argument for gun control. i can't stop thinking abt that SADFAS

[Dimitri Bartels · Rating 4 out of 5]

***4.5 Stars

After writing about this story a few times now, I am more and more becoming invested in its nuances and deeper meaning. While I apparently read it with a more violent tone than most of class, I still feel that Wright is able to take such a shocking subject, a child with a gun, and transform it into a conversation of race and privilege. I am enamored by this story simply due to these hidden layers, and I would love to explore both it and Wright's other works as much as I can.

[Sarah Nunley · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’ve read this before, but i can’t remember when. high school maybe? i’m glad Wright chose to write this short story in dialect. it definitely adds a certain feeling to the narrative. the entire story is filled with foreboding

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boy on the verge of being a man makes an error, a foolish mistake. Through his ignorance and fear it’s made worse.

[✧Clarissa✧ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor Jenny :(

[Dean Oken · Rating 2 out of 5]

(he doesn't know i know this trick) I'VE GOT A GUN

[Trina M. Allen]

Required reading for American Literature

[sugar jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. Written interestingly

[Carmen Badea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mebbe Ah enjoyed this 🤓 fun

[Cheyenne Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

AP LIT class

[Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was a really good allegory for trying to grow up too soon.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is best known for his stories describing the plight of African-American people after formal slavery ended and the informal version of Jim Crow and prejudice took its place. However, while this short story features a teenage black male that works hard on a farm, it is generally free of the explicit expression of racial bias.
Dave Saunders is the main character and he spends his summers off of school following a mule named Jenny as she pulls a plow through the fields owned by Mr. Hawkins. Like nearly all boys in their late teens, he resents still being treated as less than an adult and he is desperate to find a way to be thought of as a man. His solution is to acquire a handgun, for he believes that if people see him carrying a gun, they will look up to him. He manages to acquire one with several bullets, but his inexperience leads to a catastrophe.
One of the most significant points of this story is the presence of the intact black family. While Dave’s mother is willing to give in to his requests, his father is a very stern disciplinarian. His father is interested in Dave contributing to the family unit and will not hesitate to whack him good when he believes that Dave has misbehaved. While there are some black stereotypes in this story, it is one where the racial makeup of the characters is largely irrelevant. It is a story very well suited for an English class in the late K-12 educational sequence.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wright: "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 a man with a gun like this. Kill anybody, black or white. And if he were 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 barrel and a heavy handle. He raised and lowered it in his hand, marveling at its weight."

Max Weber in Politics as a Vocation: "A state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory."

Achille Mbembe in Necropolitics: "The ultimate expression of sovereignty largely resides in the power and capacity to dictate who is able to live and who must die. To kill or to let live thus constitutes sovereignty’s limits, its principal attributes. To be sovereign is to exert one’s control over mortality and to define life as the deployment and manifestation of power."

Frantz Fanon in Wretched of the Earth: "In spite of the metamorphosis imposed on it by the colonial regime in tribal or regional conflicts, violence continues to progress, the colonized subject identifies his enemy, puts a name to all of his misfortunes, and casts all his exacerbated hatred and rage in this new direction."

[Athena · Rating 2 out of 5]

The man who was almost a man was really a boy named Dave Saunders.

Dave worked on a farm for Mr Hawkins, and when he got paid his Ma took his paycheck to use it for the household. This didn't bother Dave so much except for the fact that he wanted a gun believing he would then be considered a man. Little did Dave know.

He begged his Ma for money for a gun, he is relentless, saying that they didn't have a gun in the house with which Pa could protect them. Against her better judgment Ma finally gives in, but she implores him to be careful.

Let's suffice it to say that once Dave Saunders got the gun he didn't heed his Ma's warning, and he certainly didn't become a man.

Dave Saunders has much in common with another of Wright's protagonist Bigger Thomas who also makes bad and impulsive decisions until he has reached the point of no return.

[Mark Sexton · Rating 2 out of 5]

"A young sharecropper learns that having a gun gives one power, but it does not make one a man. Only responsibility and wisdom can do that." Dave thinks that he does not get the respect he deserves form family and friends. So he decides to buy a guy. he thought it might make people relies he is a real man. Dave is really just trying to show that he a real man. He hides the gun from his mom and dad. He really needs help to understand that people will start respecting him. Just not in that way. He fires a few shots without looking accidentally hits a mule. he has to hide the gun and he lies to everyone that the mule feel on a rake. This book was mainly the same type of story the whole time with no other plot them Dave trying to get people to see he's a man.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Man Who Was Almost a Man" is an interesting exploration of the intersection of race and masculinity in a time of more extreme oppression. Its more well-written and humane than some of Wright's other more well-known offerings.

For my part I can't stand the eye-dialect. It's not used ad naseum like Hurst, but there was enough for me to find it off putting and it elicited more than a few audible groans of frustration. Good introduction to Wright and/or fictional exploration of the oppression of sharecropping.