The Man Who Was Almost a Man

Irony of Childish Behaviors in “The Man Who Was Almost A Man”

In Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost A Man”, there are a constant examples of irony that is opposite of its literal meaning in the story. This irony, in which Dave expresses his needs to be acknowledged as a adult, but he does a lot of immature acts. In “A Man Who Was Almost A Man”, Dave acts of manhood worked against him. He goes about trying to get respect in the wrong ways. He wants a gun for respect, he wants to be a real man but his mother keeps his money, and he runs away from his debts, which is something a real man would never do. Wright’s purpose for writing is to not only show how immature Dave is but to show that becoming a man is a lengthy process and t help someone else avoid those same childish acts. The transition from manhood to adulthood is quiet and force to be reckoned with but Dave shows that his childish mind has a lot to accomplish.

A gun is merely a piece of metal tube in which bullets are propelled out of and a noise is given off. Dave wants a gun or metal tube for all of the wrong reasons. He believes that if he had a gun or brought a gun his co-workers would no longer treat him like an boy, in which he really is. Dave is only a young man who is trying to find his identity in his little hometown in the South. Every male wants to have power, to be masculine, and respected but if you still have a child mindset, there is no way possible that a person well ever take u serious and consider you as a real man who has values in society. Dave get the gun but he tells lies in the process. After Dave gets the gun he learns that he needs more than a metal tube to earn respect.

Dave is a seventeen year old working boy an he do not see not one penny of his own money. Dave mother spends his money for him. She knows that her son isn’t capable of spending his money on his own. Dave does not like his mother keeping his money because he feels like he is less of a man. All man work for money, therefore man should spend their own hard-working cash. In Dave case, he can’t. Dave goes to the store to buy an gun but the owner of the store even knows that Dave mother is over his money. Dave really get upset with that. Not only do his fellow workers