Why He's Not a ManIn the story "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" by Richard Wright, there is a boy named Dave. Dave is a young boy trying to understand what a man really is. Right now he believes a man is someone who owns a gun. Dave needs proper gun education and knowledge of what a man really is to be a man. Dave needs to learn what a man really is, because he's not a young man just because he has a gun. Dave is a seventeen year old boy who wants a gun. He thinks he's almost a man. He thinks that having a gun will make him a man and give him power. Toughness is a common perception of masculinity. A man is not someone who owns a gun, but someone who knows how to behave like a man and own a gun like a man. He believes that only a gun will make him a man instead of his actions dictating his maturity to others. He thinks this will instill fear in others around him. When you are a man, others treat him with respect. Dave's parents look down on him and treat him like a child, while he tries to become a respectable young man. Dave's mother says, "You're just a boy, aren't you?" " in the story, proving that they despise this seventeen year old boy. His mother tells him in the story to go wash his hands before eating. If Dave were a man, his mother should never have had to say that. In our society today, when a boy is seventeen, he is almost a man or considered a young man. In Dave's society, he is treated like a young boy. If Dave's parents understood his views on having a gun, they might want to understand why he wants it. At that point, they should tell him that one gun doesn't make a man. His mother doesn't think he should have a gun. In reality, if Dave were a man, he wouldn't have wanted a gun to gain power over others, but for fun. In Dave's actions, he is like a young boy. A man who owns a gun knows how to shoot a gun and knows the right and wrong time to use a gun, unlike Dave..