It Takes A Gun To Be A Man

Timothy S. Shoemaker English 2900 Prof. Horwitz Paper #2-Aswering Q. 2 It Takes A Gun To Make A Man Richard Wright's short story “The Man Who Was Almost A Man” is centered on the protagonist's transition to manhood and his misunderstanding of what being a man means. The young man, Dave, views his masculinity as external to himself - in the ability to own and shoot a gun. Owning a gun, for Dave, symbolizes becoming a man. …

…through physical and economic enslavement. Dave chose to find his manhood through an outside source – the gun. Wright shows, howeve! r, that one price to pay for choosing that option is the unmanly choice of refusing and, or, ignoring one's responsibilities. Works Cited Pickering, James H., and Jeffrey Hoeper. Literature. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1997. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** Works Cited Pickering, James H., and Jeffrey Hoeper. Literature. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1997.