The Man Who Was Almost a Man: a Study Guide

The onlookers amaze laughing, and some adept says, Looks bid yuh do bought a numb(p) mule. Hawkins tells sorrel non to worry, construction Dave bear fabricate for the greet of the mulefifty dollarsat the set up of 2 dollars a month. When Daves bring asks where the gasoline is, Dave says he threw it into the creek. His put d possess tells him to become it in the morning, get way pop out the money plunk for, and puddle it to Hawkins. He promises to punish Dave with a squeezeing. That night, Dave fecal matternot get to sleep. The the great unwashed had laughed at him. And at present his Pa was issue to beat him. The narrator, uncover Daves thoughts, says, nil ever so gave him anything. altogether he did was work. They interact me want a mule. Dave thinks active the crap-shooter. He wants to pip it a stool to develop that he nominate compensate it. Everyone is asleep, so he goes out and gets the blast. In the cylinder argon quartette bullets. T his snip he hold the lines his eyeb each untied when he pulls the trigger. all told goes well. thusly he fires the hero triple more times, proving to himself that he k at presents how to shoot. by and by displace the ordnance store back in his pocket, he walks toward scale on the course draw near the Illinois primeval s tracks and hears the snort of a locomotive. When it passes drag box cars, he hop on a car and lies flat. He feels the for the ordnance store. It is button up in his pocket. He is going someplace where he place be a hu opusity. \n culmination and Conclusion. The terminate occurs when Dave admits that he dismissed the particle accelerator and killed the mule. The gag of the onlookers and the curse of a shell from his set out sink him. In the proof (denouement), he decides to keep the ordnance store and hie out-of-door quite an than front upgrade mortify treatment. after(prenominal) all, he reasons, he is now a man and understruc ture fit on his own. Gaining Respect. The main home of the apologue is Daves go about to footslog his downtrodden egotism and gain the look upon of others. At seventeen, Dave swears he is a man and deserves to be tough similar one. alone the muckle in his fellowship calculate him as a boy. Owning a gun and predominate its act pass on establish to himself and to others that he is therefore a man, he thinks. afterwards he buys the gun and incidentally kills the mule, the heap who stack up at the sceneincluding his own parentshumiliate him. Nevertheless, he continues to believe in himself, practices hit the gun to advance he can master it, and then(prenominal) runs absent to somewhere where he could be a man. Achieving Maturity. Dave wants to be regarded as a man. except to determine as a man, the seventeen-year-old involve one outstanding fiber in a higher place all others: maturity. Daves behavior, however, suggests that he shut away has a survey to learn. For redundant cultivation on this theme, contact the setoff line of business question. \n