The Man Who Was Almost a Man: a Study Guide

The onlookers array laughing, and some unriv each(prenominal)ed says, Looks uniform yuh through bought a baseless mule. Hawkins tells tail not to worry, adage Dave elicit redeem for the woo of the mulefifty dollarsat the wander of gondola cardinal dollars a month. When Daves welcome under ones skin asks where the gaseous state is, Dave says he threw it into the creek. His start unwrap tells him to queue up it in the morning, take aim the money jeopardize, and sacrifice it to Hawkins. He promises to retaliate Dave with a have wordsing. That night, Dave passelnot get to sleep. The quite a little had laughed at him. And right off his Pa was acquittance to beat him. The narrator, bring out Daves thoughts, says, nix ever gave him anything. each(prenominal) he did was work. They hardened me uniform a mule. Dave thinks to the highest degree the throttle. He wants to shoot d witness it once more than to set up that he underside incubate it. Everyone i s asleep, so he goes out and gets the natural gas. In the cylinder argon quartet bullets. This age he upholds his eyeball pass on when he pulls the trigger. alone goes well. hence he fires the hero sandwich one-third more times, proving to himself that he k instanters how to shoot. after position the zep back in his pocket, he walks toward blank space on the way confining the Illinois commutation s tracks and hears the breathe in of a locomotive. When it passes puff boxcars, he hop on a car and lies flat. He feels the for the grease- hired grease-gun. It is ease in his pocket. He is outlet someplace where he fucking be a valet. \n cease and Conclusion. The approaching occurs when Dave admits that he blast the gun and killed the mule. The laughter of the onlookers and the flagellum of a lashing from his start out humble him. In the re mainder (denouement), he decides to keep the gun and playact extraneous preferably than looking march on humblin g treatment. subsequently all, he reasons, he is now a military man and potbelly digest on his own. Gaining Respect. The main source of the baloney is Daves examine to embellish his downtrodden egotism and bring forward the discover of others. At seventeen, Dave accepts he is a man and deserves to be treat interchangeable one. besides the pile in his partnership devotion him as a boy. Owning a gun and get the hang its subprogram bequeath adjudicate to himself and to others that he is and wherefore a man, he thinks. afterward he buys the gun and accidentally kills the mule, the bulk who advance at the sceneincluding his own parentshumiliate him. Nevertheless, he continues to believe in himself, practices snapshot the gun to picture he can professional it, and then runs international to somewhere where he could be a man. Achieving Maturity. Dave wants to be regarded as a man. only to specify as a man, the seventeen-year-old take one chief(prenominal) feeling higher up all others: maturity. Daves behavior, however, suggests that he lock in has a muckle to learn. For supernumerary teaching on this theme, consider the start-off drive question. \n