Monday, April 19, 2010
Dave's Dilemna
After reading Richard Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost a Ma," what do you folks think of Dave's decision to buy the gun and how it affected his life? Do you think it was a good idea or a bad idea? Tell me why - prove it with examples from the story. Think carefully about Dave's life before the gun, and how he acted after. Was he turning into a man, or was it forcing him to make poor decisions? Either way ( and I can agree with both sides), tell me why.
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In this story I think Dave never accomplished becoming a man because he brought a gun, but accomplished part of becoming a man by learning to tell the truth. Even though he lied at first to the townspeople how the mule fell over, he ended up not sticking with that story but actually telling what happened. He told how he accidently shot the mule, and never meant to hurt anything, or then just wanting the feel the power of a gun. I do not believe in whether or not it was a good or bad decision to buy a gun. Rather I look at it as a decision made that turned into a valuable lesson. Dave learned that the one thing he wanted the most did not automatically turn into everything he dreamed of. Rather becoming a man is a process and does not happen overnight, or in his terms, does not happen buying a gun. And to look into the bigger perspective of things, what people want the most, usually does not come easy or accomplished with a simple desire. Dave was yearning to turn into a man not because of a poor decision of buying a gun, but because he did not know any other way to express being called a man.
ReplyDeleteMeghan Viola
“One of these days he was going to get a gun and practice shooting, then they couldn’t talk to him as though he were a little boy.” (Wright, 1367). Dave only wanted to buy a gun to prove that he was not a little boy anymore. He wanted to show others that he could be a man too. He wanted people to respect him and treat him like a man, not like “a little boy.” Dave believed that the only way he would turn into a man was if he purchased a gun. “And if he were holding his gun in his hand, nobody could run over him; they would have to respect him.” (Wright, 1370). I think it was a bad idea for Dave to buy a gun because he only made himself look less like a man. Dave obviously wasn’t ready to purchase a gun because he didn’t know how to use the gun properly. Everyone still looks at Dave as a little boy because he killed a mule. Dave’s first start at becoming a man was when he told the truth about killing the mule. Now Dave has to live with the embarrassment that he can’t shoot a gun properly. Dave will always be looked at as a little boy because buying the gun shows that he is not responsible. It takes great time to become a man and buying a gun will not speed up the long and tedious process. Getting on the train, shows that Dave isn’t man enough to fix his mistakes. Instead, he tries to run away from his mistakes by searching for a place where he can be a man.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Bordiere
I think Dave's decision to buy a gun truly made no difference good or bad, but just plain stupid. His life before he bought the gun was not much different than after he had bought the gun, except for in his head he felt like he had more power. Dave was a little bit cockier after he purchased the gun and that led him to feel stronger. Buying a gun would not make him a man, the decisions he made while handling the gun would determine that for him. After shooting Jenny, Dave should have told the truth the first time. He also ran from his situation at the end of the story. Both situations prove that Dave is not a man and is not near ready to accept the responsibilities of being one. A real man would not lie or run away, but rather face the consequences.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that Dave became a man in this story because he did a lot of childish things like lying, hiding the gun, and running away in the end. I believe that he was more like a man in the beginning of the story then the end. In the beginning Dave worked hard to earn money for himself and his family. At the end of the story Dave deserves to be punished and he just runs away. If he was really ready for manhood he would have stayed to pay his debts and then left. I do not think that Dave needed a gun because he was only seventeen years old and does not have any use for it. The gun made his life worse because the whole town laughed at him and his mother gave him up. All of his actions were poor decisions because he was forcing himself to grow up.
ReplyDeleteI think Dave’s decision to buy a gun was more of a childish act to make him look more mature then he really is. It wasn’t a good idea, since seeing as how Dave was so eager to get it, and being so secretive with the catalog before he even got the gun, and the way he asked his mother rather then his father all point back to the fact that he really shouldn’t be given such responsibilities yet. But, his mother gives in and in a way encourages his behavior, which leads to Dave making even more bad decisions, like going out into the field with the mule to try shooting it and ends up killing a mule that didn’t belong to him and now owes 50 dollars he doesn’t have, and the farmer really doesn’t need. Further yet, he chooses not to face the problems he has created trying to be a man, but runs away and hitches a ride on a passing train. In a sense this shows that he may not be ready to be a man, but now he is free to choose whether he can handle responsibilities or remain his childish self.
ReplyDeleteStephen Denninger
I believe that the gun itself symbolized "new beginnings". I think this because as soon as Dave shot the gun, he was full of smiles and laughter knowing he could shoot a gun like a man. Because of that reason, i believe that it was a good idea for Dave to buy the gun. Earlier in the story, he talked of how horrible his father treated him. "They treat me like a mule, and then they beat me" (Pg. 1375) I think Dave needed to feel invigorated once again and that's what the gun had done for him. It made him feel empowered once again and he will hopefully find himself a better life once his train ride ends.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Dave never became a man. He never became a man because he acted like a little boy when he lied about shoting Jenny and about the fact that he was buying the gun for his father and not himself. He also acting on impluse like a child does. Dave buys the gun for the sole purpose that it will make him feel like a man,that right there shows that he is not a man. A man does not need to prve himself to anybody especially himself. The gun has a bad affect on his life because it made people trust him less because he lied about shoting Jenny and who it was for. He also bought it under it for the wrong reason. You should never buy something so that it makes you suprior to someone else.
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