Dave, seventeen years old, feels that it is time for him to be treated with respect, he is “Almost a man.” Richard Wright, in “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” tells of a young boy’s yearning to be respected like an adult male. His “almos a man” motif plays a function in creating plot, revealing characters, and developing theme in his story.
First, the “almos a man” motif creates the building blocks and foundation for the plot of this story. In the beginning of the story, Dave’s purposes to prove himself to “em niggers in the field” that he is not a little boy. This feeling stems from Dave’s belief that he is a man. The narrator establishes this idea by saying, “One of these days he was going to get a gun and practice shooting, they couldn’t
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Dave’s mother is revealed as a strict and stern mother as she and Dave talk about Dave possessing a gun. When Dave sits at the table and places his catalog on the table, his mother quickly snatches it. Shortly after, Dave receives the catalog back; then, Dave asks his mother if he can have his money from Mr. Hawkins to purchase a gun, but she animatedly says, “Nigger, is yuh gone plumb crazy?” As the discussion goes on, she emphasizes that he cannot buy a gun due to his age: “Yuh ain nothing but a boy yit!” Dave’s mother’s firm stance of not allowing Dave to purchase a gun because he is a boy displays her strict and stern persona.
Dave’s father is also revealed as strict and stern concerning Dave having a gun. Although he does not say that Dave is only a boy, almost a man, it is known that he did not want Dave to possess a gun. Dave’s mother says, “N ef yo pa jus thought Ah let yuh have money t buy a gun he’d hava fit,” and when Dave’s father confronts Dave in the aftermath of the Jenney shooting, he asks, “Whut wuz he doin wida gun?” Dave’s strict and stern father does not explicitly talk about Dave’s age, but an assumption can be made that he does not want Dave to have a gun because he is merely almost a