Literary Devices In The Man Who Was Almost A Man

Literary devices help the reader understand in depth what the author means to write, and helps get the point across of what the story is trying to depict. The literary devices help the author guide the audience through the story, however it gives it a little twist. The authors do in order to keep the audience off their feet and wondering how the story will end and what will happen to the main characters in the story. In the short story, “The Man Who was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright, the literary device used is conflict. The short story depicts different kinds of conflicts all over the story, Man vs Man, Man vs Society, and Man vs Self. Conflict can be viewed upon as a problem that a main character has with another character, with himself …show more content…
Wrights childhood was a very difficult, with most of his time was spent taking care of his sick mother or at school when he could attend. Wright was one of the firsts authors to put the black American authors name on the spot light. Wright never gave up and always fought for what he believed was good. Richard was a very ambitious man and overcame every little bump that made him fall back, from his dad leaving him to racial segregation in a white society. This is why many black Americans admire Wrights work, and many of his short stories reflect on the life he has …show more content…
In the short story, Dave faces the conflict of being a black American trying to overcome the white society. Dave as well as the rest of the black people want and desire opportunities for them to advance and overcome the white society, however the white Americans don’t let them achieve anything. Dave is fed up with the way it is, and is very ambitious on what he wants. Dave feels that in a way killing the white man that gives him a job but at the same time brings the black peoples attitude and ambitions down, will make him feel better and relieve the “stress” he has been carrying in his shoulders. As stated in the story, “Could kill a man with a gun like this. Kill anybody, black or white. And if he were holding his gun in his hand, nobody could run over him…” (Wright 371). It is easy for the audience to understand the conflict he has towards Hawkins.
Not only that, but it also shows that Dave has an internal conflict with himself because he wants to prove to the other black men that work with him that he can be a man, and he believes killing a man could be his way of showing them that he is capable of being a man. Dave is so determined to prove not only the other workers working with him but also himself and is not afraid to use the gun even if he doesn’t know how to use it. This part of the short story reflects the conflicts he has with himself while at the same time the conflicts he has