The Man Who Was Almost a Man
...nsible. After begging and pleading, like a little boy, with his mother for the money to give Joe for the gun the mother decides to give him it. The mother gives Dave the money under one condition that the gun was to be brought home immediately and given to his father for his fathers use. With the $2.00 in hand Dave feels a whole new empowerment. He is one step closer to becoming a man. He finally has a responsibility to obtain, to buy the gun and bring it home to his mother. He brings the gun home, and lies to his mother about it. This just shows his lack of responsibility and honesty, something he needs to overcome to become an adult. He tells his mother that he didn’t have the gun; meanwhile he slept with it loaded underneath his pillow. He could not sleep all night because he wanted to go sneak in the woods and fire the gun. Terrified his father will hear him, he decides to wait until the morning. Daylight breaks, and Dave wakes up excited. He decides to go to Mr. Hawkins farm early and even misses breakfast to do so. But when Dave arrives early for work Mr. Hawkins just gives him more work to do. This is the first real example that Dave, to Mr. Hawkins, is treated like a mule. Since Dave arrived early to work, this shows Mr. Hawkins he has extra energy in him to work. So Mr. Hawkins puts him right to work, just like any other animal displaying extra energy and a motivation to work. Dave then hitched Jenny, Mr. Hawkins’s mule, to the plow and started to cross the fields to the back corner field. When Dave is in the field far enough away from everyone, he decides to try firing the gun. He shut his eyes, and pulled the trigger tightly. It went off. This was the climax of the story, and the shot of man hood. After he pulled the trigger he felt a new empowerment, and thought he was now a man. Little did he know, this was just another sign of his totally lack of maturity. While closing his eyes, and being totally irresponsible, he ended up shooting the Jenny in the side. Not knowing what to do he panicked. He tried to stop the bleeding with putting dirt into the wound, but this did not help. Instead of running for help he decided to try and make things better himself, but Jenny ended up dying in the field. He threw the gun under a tree, and walked back to the house. When Dave returned to the house, he lied to Mr. Hawkins and all the others. He said Jenny wasn’t acting right, and she actually punctured herself on the plow and bled to death. He lied to all the community, only to be caught in the lie by his mother. This was another sign of his immaturity. However, when it is reveled that Dave shot Jenny, Mr. Hawkins isn’t mad or upset. Mr. Hawkins isn’t emotional, because he thinks of Dave as just a worker, just like Jenny. If Mr. Hawkins were to get upset and fire Dave it would be like losing another mule. Instead he makes Dave take responsibility for his lost worker, and makes Dave pay $50 over the next couple of months. This is the first responsibility in the story that Dave has to complete. However, that night Dave goes back to the field to find the gun and shoot off the remaining rounds. He does so, and as he was leaving ...