Almost A Man By Dave Saunders

Dave Saunders, a young seventeen-year-old plantation worker, attempts to find his self-identity. Dave, living in an impoverished area, is forced to live under the command of a plantation owner, Mr. Hawkins. Thus, this creates this strive to discover something that will resemble his growth and maturity: “One of these days he was going to get a gun and practice shooting, then they couldn’t talk to him as though he were a little boy” (Wright). In order to fulfill this goal, Dave must own a gun. Owning a gun, through the eyes of Dave, symbolizes toughness and masculinity:”Ahm ol enough to hava gun. Ahm seventeen. Almost a man” (Wright). Evidently, this idea allows him to realize who he is and who he wants to be as a young black man. Throughout

The plantation workers begin to observe the mule, Jenny, on the ground surrounded by a pool of blood. Her head facing her side, her knees dripping with blood, and her ribs swollen. A bullet hole is shown in between her ribs and Jim starts to question Dave. Jim Hawkins’ dead mule, consequently, receives the attention of everyone on the plantation, including Dave’s parents. Out of fear, Dave attempts to lie to Jim and his parents about what truly happened to the mule. However, this contributes to Dave’s attitude of believing everyone is preventing him to grow and become a man. After hearing Dave’s story, Jim starts to degrade him, “Did you ever hear of anything like that in all your life?” (Wright). Moreover, Dave’s parents intervene and join Jim in questioning him. They both start to yell and demand Dave to tell them the truth: “His father caught his shoulders and shook him till his teeth rattled. ‘Tell whut happened, yuh rascal!’” (Wright). Therefore, when he is caught in the lie, the crowd begins to laugh and humiliate Dave: “All the crowd was laughing now. They stood on tiptoe and poked heads over one another’s shoulders. “Well, boy, looks like yuh done bought a dead mule! Hahaha!” (Wright). As revealed by his lie, Wright portrays that Dave is not truly ready for maturity, let alone manhood. Without thinking to tell the truth, Dave instead chooses to conceal the fact that he was the one responsible for the mule’s death. As

After the incident with the mule, Dave goes back home and lies on his bed in regret and agony. That same regret turns into rage, as remembers all the times he has been ridiculed, victimized, and mocked at. Furthermore, he gains the courage to go back to the plantation again, to retrieve the gun he had buried. In the woods, he begins to fire shots, feeling satisfied and fulfilled. Dave begins to feel this vast confidence that he was willing to shoot anyone that would threaten his masculinity: “Lawd, ef Ah had just one mo bullet Ah’d taka shot at tha house. Ah’d like t scare ol man Hawkins jusa little.. . . Jusa enough t let im know Dave Saunders is a man” (Wright). The story ends with Dave hopping on a train, looking for a place that will allow him to become a man. Dave takes off without anyone knowing or noticing. He tells himself that he would go away somewhere to become a man, but in his belief, all he needs to become one is a gun: “Because he invests the gun with the power to provide him with manhood and still has difficulty physically using the gun, he continues to ride the tracks that a racist American society has devised for him” (Butler). However, one can argue that Dave will not be able to find a place where he can become mature and truly masculine. This story dates to a time when African Americans were deeply discriminated against,