The Development of Dave Saunders in Richard Wright's The Man Who was Almost a Man

In "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" by Richard Wright the main character, Dave Saunders, goes through three behavioral stages throughout the story; the first is greed, the second is panic, the third is hopelessness. Each stage seems to have an event that initiates it. By analyzing the plot we can get a good feel for what Dave's character is like and how his temperament changes as events unfold.

The event that starts Dave's greed for a gun is the very beginning of the story. He is frustrated after working a hard day in the fields and thinks to himself "a man oughta hava little gun aftah he done worked hard all day". (James 1927) Dave on the surface may seem greedy for a gun, but he is really greedy for respect or better yet power. Dave feels like Mr. Hawkins and those who work the farm with him treat him badly because of his age. He desperately craves respect and acceptance from his co-workers and his family. He feels that a gun would give him that respect because only men carry guns. Therefore he would rather use money for a pistol than investing it in more useful things for his family.

The second major event in the story is when Dave first fires his new gun and without looking where he is aiming, hits Mr. Hawkins mule Jenny. When Dave sees the pool of blood start to form below Jenny he begins to panic. He chases the mule around the field till she falls dead. Dave now panicking, begins to be deceitful; he buries the gun at the foot of a nearby tree and he covers up the pool of blood with dirt. This irrational behavior shows how much of a panic Dave was in, because obviously Jenny is still lying there dead and he is fooling nobody. Dave continues the deception by making up a phony story to tell Mr. Hawkins. He claimed that the wound Jenny received was from falling on a sharp point of the plow.

The third event, which triggered Dave's hopelessness, was the humiliation he suffered by the crowd after his lie had been revealed. After being shamed in front almost everyone he knew Dave thought there was no way he could ever be considered a man in his town. He owed Mr. Hawkins $50 for the dead mule, in order to pay off the debt Dave had to stay at the farm for two more years. He knew had to sell his prized possession also, his left-handed Wheeler pistol. In the middle of the night he went to fire his gun one last time before he had to sell it back. It was then that Dave heard the train and decided that two years was too long. So he ran away, from his family and from his former life. This happened all because Dave wanted respect; he needed to learn the lesson that he had to earn people's respect.

The three stages Dave went through in this story are products of the snowball effect. Dave's greed for respect and admiration by his peers caused him to beg his mother for the pistol. Once he had the pistol it caused him nothing but grief because he could not properly fire it and in the process he killed Mr. Hawkins mule Jenny. This sent Dave into a panic. In his panic Dave tried to deceive Mr. Hawkins and others, but his lies were revealed. Dave then became hopeless of earning his family and peer's respect and he was forced to work in the same situation for two more years. Due to his hopelessness in his situation he decided to get on a train to anywhere.