Life into Adulthood

Life into Adulthood

Stories about youth, the transition from that stage of life into adulthood, racism and struggles with identity form a very solidly populated segment of literature. In two such stories, Richard Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," and Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal", young men face their transitions into adulthood, struggle for equality and identity, and invisibility or forgotten. Each of these boys faces a different element of youth that requires a fundamental shift in their attitudes. The narrators of these stories are an above youth of the African American community (Goldstein-Shirlet, 1999). The narrator, in "Battle Royal", is given an opportunity to give a speech to some of the more prestigious white individuals. His expectations of being received in a positive and normal environment are drastically dashed when he is faced with the severity of the process he must deal with in order to accomplish his task. Dave, in "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," struggles with the idea that what defines a man is physical power. Each of these stories gives us a surprise ending, a view of ourselves as young people, a struggle for one's rights against great odds, and a confirmation that the fears of youth are but the foundation of our adulthood.

"Battle Royal" is the first Chapter of the book "The Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison. The writing was also published as a short story. Ellison himself grew up in Oklahoma at a time when the rest of the country was strongly divided due to racial prejudice. Yet, in Ellison's own town there was no such separation of the races, as most were poor and simply trying to survive (Seidlitz para. 1-4). Beyond his childhood, however, Ellison was well aware of the manner in which society viewed culture and race with negative viewpoints that created a segregated society. Ellison's personal perspective on the larger world outside of Oklahoma was that there were multitudes of individuals that were forgotten or "invisible", and it was with this approach that he began to write his first novel (Seidlitz para. 1-4).

The author of "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" is Richard Wright. Richard Wright's moved to Chicago from Mississippi. The short story was published in the 1960's around Wright's death. Wright was uneducated while he was young and he lets you know this with his vocabulary. Wright showed some prejudice in this short story as he did in many others. Wright does not mind writing with racism because he believed it to be a part of a life in America (Hannon 128). Wright was one of the first American writers to confront racism and discrimination (Fabre 102). Through the book Eight Men, which includes this story, Wright alienated impoverished black men who have been denied freedom and identity by a racially oppressive society, and are driven to violence as a means of asserting their humanity (Walker 23).

Richard Wright's story, "The Man Who Was Almost a Man", is a story of a youthful ignorance of the actual complexities of the world. To Dave, the main character of the story, getting a gun will make all the difference in his becoming a man, musing "Shucks, a man oughta hava little gun aftah he done worked hard all day...."(923), the gun is the central literary symbol of Wright's. With a gun in his hand, Dave is convinced that his fears will disappear, that he will become powerful and honored. Wright shows us that Dave is both naïve and misguided. From the first, Dave demonstrates his childishness in his very strategy to get the gun. He speculates, sounding quite immature, that his mother will give him a gun. He is subsequently childish in his handling, or mishandling, of the old revolver. As he tries to fill the hole he has shot into the side of the dying mule with dirt, his concocted story is also childish. Wright's story ends in a change that is certainly unexpected. His flight from home, gives him a reprieve from the fate that he has brought upon himself. He has wrapped himself up in so much stupidity through his immaturity that he cannot think that if only he stopped behaving in that way, no one would remember his behavior. Everything that Dave hopes for is ironically reversed.

The stories title The Man Who Was Almost a Man holds many different meanings to how Dave must have felt back in those times. Dave's struggle was man versus society in an era where his skin color meant more than his actions. He was unable to interact with the white society and was outcast by his peers because of his age. He believed at this time in his life that being a man was the more important than life itself. Buying a gun and learning to shoot was his solution to becoming a man. This was not the case though. The first time he fired the gun it numbed his hands and fell to the ground. He also shot Mr. Hawkin's mule, which he was unable to cover up. Now everyone would know what he had done which would give his peers a bad impression of him. He would not gain their respect, nor would he be able to socialize with them.

Wright's stories of helpless or long-suffering blacks victimized by societal and individual white brutality mark the beginning of a new era in black fiction, and even his least important pieces contain unforgettable scenes and characters that burn their way into the reader's consciousness (Brignano 20). He would not be a man in their eyes or his own. Most of the story focuses on Dave trying to buy a gun so he can become a man. The gun symbolizes the power Dave is trying to obtain. He will stop at nothing to obtain his manhood. He talks his mother out of money, which was going to be used to buy clothes for the next school year.

Dave throws his morals aside and cons his mother out of the money by telling her that his father needs a gun in the house. This action shows how far Dave will go to obtain what he believes will make him a man. After buying the gun, he then begins his next endeavor. Instead of coming straight home, he waits to make sure that his parents are in bed to insure no confrontation. Nevertheless, his mother was prepared and questioned him at bedside. He again lies to her and tells her the gun is hidden outdoors. Wright then describes in detail what Dave does with the gun. Dave's symbolism with the gun in evident. He is almost a man. The last test will be firing the weapon and showing his peers that he is a man.

The society around which Dave was living was very harsh towards blacks. Dave's struggle with power and oppression was evident in his lack of judgement in his actions. His struggle with his self-identity was ruining his life. Much of Wright's works were written through his own past