Question

99PTS Brainliest goes to first answer! In at least 150 words, explain how the plot, setting and characters of Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”, help the author to develop a specific message about the Civil Rights movement.

Answer 1

The story "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" describes how Dave, a seventeen-year-old boy, wants to buy a gun in order to earn the respect of the field hands that work with him. Dave ends up getting it, but accidentally shoots someone, and this precipitates a series of events that complicate his life.

The story contains a message of racial inequality that connects it with the civil rights movement. Dave and his family take part in sharecropping, one of the main ways in which African Americans could work the land. However, they were often dependent on white people and they earned very little money. This is shown by the way Dave's mother is often short on money. Moreover, Dave is victim of the oppression that many African Americans suffered, which leads him to feel powerless and desire the gun.