The Man Who Was Almost a Man

“Ah ain scareda them even ef they are biggern me! Aw, Ah know whut Ahma do. Ahm going by ol Joe’s sto n git that Sears Roebuck catlog n look at them guns. Mebbe Ma will lemme buy one when she gits mah pay from ol man Hawkins. Ahma beg her t gimme some money. Ahm ol ernough to hava gun. Ahm seventeen. Almost a man.”

Dave’s monologue suggests his internal conflict. His assertion of being “[a]lmost a man” highlights the irony in his goal. Dave feels that his coworkers undermine his masculinity, and he wants to buy a gun to prove himself. However, he lacks the economic independence of a grown man, still situated between boyhood and adulthood.

“He felt very confident until he saw fat Joe walk in through the rear door, then his courage began to ooze.”

Dave’s determination as he enters the store to buy a gun from Joe lessens when he sees the old white man. The description of his courage “oozing” suggests Dave’s vulnerability, as well as the intimidation that whiteness exerts on the young man.

“His eyes glowed at blue-and-black revolvers. He glanced up, feeling sudden guilt. His father was watching him.”

Bob Saunders’s gaze on Dave suggests his strictness toward his son. Dave feels restricted and oppressed by his father, and his father’s reaction to seeing guns in the catalog kills Dave’s resolve to ask his mother for money. 

“‘Ah ast yu how wuz yuh n ol man Hawkins gittin erlong?’

‘Oh, swell, Pa. Ah plows mo lan than anybody over there.’

‘Waal, yuh oughta keep yo mind on whut yuh doin.’”

The short dialogue between Dave and his father reveals their tense relationship. Bob Saunders cares about his son’s efficiency as a plantation worker and instructs him to focus on his job. The passage suggests that Dave’s father has internalized the nature of his oppression and expects Dave to follow the same trajectory.

“Yeah, but ain no usa yuh thinking bout throwin nona it erway. Ahm keepin tha money sos yuh kin have cloes t go to school this winter.”

The passage highlights the significance of Dave’s social class status. His family is poor, and he has to work to afford his school necessities. It also suggests a different mindset between his mother and father, as she is concerned with his education and perhaps envisions a different future for him than manual labor.

“But, Ma, we needa gun. Pa ain got no gun. We needa gun in the house. Yuh kin never tell whut might happen.”

Although the story does not depict graphic racial violence, this passage hints that it is a pervasive threat against African Americans. Dave realizes that racism and violence are inherent in the social environment he inhabits. His claim suggests that the gun might be a means of self-defense for him and his family, as well as a way for him to claim his manhood.

“Lawd knows yuh don need no gun. But yer pa does.”

Dave’s mother gives in to his pleas for a gun, agreeing that his father might need one. Her words reveal a contrast between Black boyhood and manhood; while she doesn’t understand that Dave feels emasculated, her husband does have a legitimate need to protect himself against the threat of racist violence.

“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.”

The passage reveals the significance of the gun as the narrative’s main symbol. For Dave, the gun is connected to power, and power is connected to masculinity. Regardless of race, Dave feels that other men, Black and white, repress his manhood. He believes that he can affirm his male identity by exerting the violence he himself experiences. Power and domination characterize his ideas about the meaning of manhood.

“His hand was numb; he jammed it into his mouth, trying to warm it, trying to stop the pain. The gun lay at his feet. He did not quite know what had happened. He stood up and stared at the gun as though it were a living thing. He gritted his teeth and kicked the gun. Yuh almos broke mah arm!”

Still a young man, Dave does not yet know how to handle a gun. Talking to the gun as though it were a toy suggests his innocence and naivety. His initial frustration and pain while shooting reveal that despite his aspirations to adulthood, he is not yet prepared for a world of manly violence.

“‘Jenny . . . Jenny . . .’ he whispered. For a long time she held her neck erect; then her head sank, slowly. Her ribs swelled with a mighty heave and she went over.”

The scene depicts the mule’s slow death and Dave’s mourning. An innocent victim of careless violence, Jenny’s death signals a shift for the protagonist, representing a break from his boyhood. Despite his sadness, he quickly resolves to continue his journey to manhood.

“‘Well, you needn’t worry about it, Bob,’ said Jim Hawkins to Dave’s father. ‘Just let the boy keep on working and pay me two dollars a month.’”

Hawkins’s exploitation of his Black workers suggests the overall authority and economic control of white men over Black people. Racism and economic oppression keep African Americans in a system structured to oppress them and possibilities of escape seem limited in the text. By insisting that Dave continue to work without wages, Hawkins is effectively suggesting enslaving Dave.

“Something hot seemed to turn over inside him each time he remembered how they had laughed. He tossed on his bed, feeling his hard pillow. N Pa says he’s gonna beat me . . . He remembered other beatings, and his back quivered. Naw, naw, Ah sho don wan im t beat me tha way no mo. Dam em all! Nobody ever gave him anything. All he did was work. They treat me like a mule, n then they beat me. He gritted his teeth. N Ma had t tell on me.”

The simile comparing Dave and the mule suggests his feelings of dehumanization. He feels abused by his family, humiliated by everybody, and condemned to work like an animal. The passage highlights Dave’s inner rage, which intensifies his masculinity crisis.

“When he reached the top of a ridge he stood straight and proud in the moonlight, looking at Jim Hawkins’ big white house, feeling the gun sagging in his pocket. 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.”

The passage illustrates Dave’s desire to subvert Hawkins’s socio-political authority and acquire power himself. His wish to scare Hawkins suggests that he is intimidated by the plantation owner. The text suggests that white male authority defines Dave’s concept of masculinity.