Dave and Andre Dubus

Comparison Essay # 5310

English > Comparison
Hot Topics > Gun Control
Literature > American

A comparison of Richard Wright's "The Man who was Almost a Man" and Andre Dubus' autobiography "Giving up the Gun".

950 words () | 0 sources | 2001 United States

Paper Summary:

This is a compare/contrast essay. It compares Dave from Richard Wright's "The Man who was Almost a Man" and Andre Dubus from "Giving up the gun". It shows that their experiences with guns were very similar despite the great differences in their background and upbringing. Their motives for the use of the gun, however, were far apart.

From the Paper:

"Another important difference between the two characters is in their goals for having a gun. Dave wants to be a man. Because he has a job and earns his own money, he considers himself a man. Even though he is seventeen, his parents still treat him as a little boy. He can t even manage his money. Not only Dave s parents, but his neighbors treat him as a little boy. He sees that almost every man in the village has a gun. He believes that owning a gun will bring him some respect that Dave has never gotten from anyone. He dreams to get one and practice shooting. He asks his mother: Ma, ef yuh lemme buy one Ah ll never ask yoh fer nothing no mo (Wright 388). Dave believes that the only way to prove himself as a man is to get a gun. On the other hand, he is not planning on a very dangerous action. After buying the gun from Mr.
Hawkins, Dave does not bring it to his mother as she had told; instead he had stayed out in the fields, holding the weapon in his hand, aiming it now and then at some imaginary foe ( 389). Without realizing that he could hurt someone he kills a mule. Because of this accident he will never get respect from people in his community"