...Blake German Theme Essay Comp B/Mrs. Light 11/22/14 Who Am I In Richard Wright’s “ The Man Who Was Almost a Man”, the main character is a 17-year-old child, Dave Saunders. Dave is shown as a troubled child who does nothing but work and spend time at home with his family. Dave struggles with who he is as a man so he has to experience different scenarios to find his manhood. Wright’s theme of identity was revealed through Dave Saunders by expressing his feelings towards facing adulthood. Dave’s family is a struggling African-American family that lives in poverty. This is made clear when his mother says, “Waal that’s good. We kin use it in the outhouse”, referring to the store catalog. His family is at a financial point where the bare necessities cannot be met. They have to find resourceful methods of meeting their necessities. This is one of many clues that point to the Saunders family being of low social status. The family seems to be struggling to a point where Dave isn’t even trusted with his own money. Dave is not trusted with his own money because his parents seem to think he would spend it unwisely. This makes David feel like his manhood is jeopardized. David’s mother, on the other hand, makes it quite clear that as a family every penny counts and that’s why she takes care of Dave’s money. The next analysis that can be observed is the family relationship. Dave’s father intimidates him and this is made clear when he wants to buy a gun yet he will only ask his mom...
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...The Man Who Was Almost a Man President Abraham Lincoln signed the Proclamation Emancipation. This document gave slaves their freedom. Sharecropping was also called tenant farming. Blacks viewed this as the only opportunity to become self-sufficient. Knowing that slaves had nowhere to go and all they knew was farming or domestic work; through this system, the landowner still exercised a great degree of power, illustrated by the terms of a contract. Some plantation owners took advantage of majority of the black population, because they could not read, write or count. The plantation owners needed them to keep maintaining the fields and crops. The owners would over charge them for equipment, tools, and even rent if they lived on the land. As the most common farming arrangement, former slaves did not receive payment until the crops were harvested and turned into the landowner. In return, they would be paid, but not equally. They were typically given a portion of the crops instead of money. Many times they were told or cohered into signing a contract with the plantation owners saying they must pay back any advances received, cost of tools, and rent. Richard Wright’s short story “A Man Who Was Almost a Man” from the book of Eight Men clearly illustrate the continuous enslavement by means of sharecropping. A young boy named Dave decides the time has come for him to be a “Man”. Therefore, he makes an adult decision to purchase a gun. After purchasing a revolver he makes a series of...
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...The Sense of Power, Independence, and Freedom “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” was written by Richard Wright, during the 1960’s. “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” is a short story centering on a young man who believes that he earns the privilege to be treated as an adult. The main character Dave badly wants to reach the manhood stage and show everyone that he is independent and responsible. In this story, everyone sees Dave as a child whom is immature and irresponsible. For instance, Dave has to ask his mom for his money so he can purchase the gun that he wants. Dave’s mom keeps every cent that he earns on his own from working in Mr. Hawkins fields. Also Dave feels that the other men in the fields does not show him the respect that he wants. In “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” Richard Wright uses symbolism to show the innate desire for freedom within human beings. In the story, the first symbolic reference is the gun. The concept of Dave owning a gun becomes his way out of childhood and into adulthood. Dave believes that the gun will suddenly make him become powerful and manly. He knew that “if he were holding his gun in his hand, nobody could run over him; they would have to respect him.” In this story, Wright uses three stages of gun...
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...In Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” tells the tale of a young boy, seventeen year old Dave Saunders, struggling to prove his manhood, buys a gun. Evidently, to Dave the gun will make him a man because it represents power and masculinity “And if he were holding his gun in his hand, nobody could run over him; they would have to respect him.” (p.6) Also, his reasoning for associating the gun with power and violence stems from his father. Dave looks at his father as a man, but his father resorts to violence and fear to resolve things. In fact, when Dave gets in trouble at work his father threatens to beat him “ N Pa says he’s gonna beat me...He remembered other beatings, and his back quivered.” (p.11) At the same time, however,...
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...The guy who was holding the knife got a huge shock and almost dropped the knife. The one in the black t-shirt took Jakes phone out of his pocket and hang up. " go and check who's ringing on the door bell" sad the man with the knife to me. Jake was only a few steps from the door, but still it was on of the most slowly Step his ever had have to take. " if you try to escape or reveal us, your a dead man. We can find you, we will hunt you down. Do you get it? " Jake nodded and continued his slowly walk to the door. "It's my wife and children!" The two man was looking first at Jake then they turned there heads and looked at each other. " why aren't they going inside?" They asked him. " she has forgot he keys " Jake sad. 'Ring, ring ring' jakes phone began to ring again. The man in the black shirt took jake phone " who's Lilly?" " it's my wife!" Sad Jake. The man with the knife took Jake and ordered him to get over to the fire stairs. The knife was closer then 2 inches from his throat. The man in the black shirt opened the door. They punch him almost the whole way down the stairs. They ran down a alley and into a black van. There was two other people in the the van but they was passed out and bounded. Jake was wondering what they'll do to him. And seconds after he got thrown into the van. Jake took himself to his forehead. And 'bang' he was knocked out by his own phone that the man in the black shirt had taken. Jake woke up in a filthy basement, bounded to a pipe with 6 other...
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...National Gallery written by Doris Lessing a memory of a childhood love appears in an older man’s head again. By seeing a girl, who looks like one of his further loves, he suddenly remembers how his love was. He suddenly remembers how it was to be ignored and not to be seen. The short story is a description of the man’s passion for his childhood love, which never really came out of sight and almost was killed by more than forty-eight years, until the French girl appears in the Gallery. Whether it is good that memories reappear, you have to find that out for yourself. In this quote: “My intention was simple” (line 1), it is very clear that the narrator is a 1st person narrator. The person uses her/his voice to describe what is happening at the National Gallery. The narrator acts passively through almost everything in the story, and the only situation were the narrator does more than just observe, is when the narrator talks with an older man about his first love, at the same time that the French girl sits alone on the bench. This is the only time in the short story where the narrator actually has a role in comprehension of what there will happen later. The old man gets attracted by the narrator to take action, because the narrator comments on the old man’s story and make the old man agree on what he says. When we deal with a 1st person narrator, it is almost always seen that the narrator’s opinions are subjective and the narrator do set her/his stamp on how other things are. That...
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...Geoffrey Robertson’s, The Tyrannicide Brief is a very compelling story of a lawyer who can be attributed to shaping some very important precedents to modern laws. Robertson guides readers through the career of John Cooke. John Cooke is an attorney that is given the task of bringing charges to one of the most powerful men in the country, The King. John Cooke takes on the role of an attorney who must prove that his lord and commander is guilty of treason. John Cooke takes the opposite route in comparison to his colleagues. Rather than shy away from the duty of laying charges to Charles I, Cooke embraces this opportunity. The Tyrannicide Brief at surface appears to be about charging and eventually executing Charles I, but with the turn of each...
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...When J came out of the door for the first time he almost felt as if the illusion had spread its aura beyond the premises of that lugubrious hospital where the air was occupied by the rancid medicines and the stench of death which mingled more frequently than one expected. He had put up a cigarette to his mouth before even opening the door pretending his eagerness to put out the stress which in actuality did not existed but he almost forgot to light it up when he saw a legion proceeding towards the gate with their murmurs which were more of noises than whispers. For a moment J thought that these people must have been mislead by someone and have mistook this hospital for a place of some deity but soon the contradiction prevailed as two men from the crowd made haste to open the door followed by another four men who carried a body which seemed dead by all means but in truth there was still some life left in it. During the course of action the murmurs changed to convulsions but if one gave a little attention one could easily make out that it were prayers which came out incoherently from the trembling voices. Looking at such a commotion two ward boys from the hospital came out to dispose of the situation but on realizing the fervour of the event they instead rushed forward to help the patient whose life frailly depended on the efficacy of those workers. Soon the patient was taken in the labyrinth of the hospital rooms where it was natural for one to get lost if a certain set of directions...
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...The Hurt Man The Hurt man is a short story written by Wendell Berry. It was published in 2003 and is about a young boy and his mom. The young boy’s name is Mat Feltner. He lives with his mother in what seems to be USA in the late 1800. The environment is described as though they lived in a small town on the prairie, with only all the necessities, such as saloons, a church and a bank. The story’s narrative point of view lies with the boy, Mat. Almost everything that is told is being told from his experience. The narrator is in third person and is omniscient but still leaves out information as t hough it is Mat himself who is telling the story. The narrator knows things before they happen but is still almost only limited to what Mat has experienced. Mat and his mother have lost. It says in line 37-38 that there “(…) were many ways for a boy to get hurt, or worse. But in spite of her losses Nancy Beechum Feltner was not a frightened woman (…)”. However, it also says that Nancy is not a frightened woman. That tells us that she is a strong woman, as many were at the time, but she also needs to be strong because she has lost almost everyone. When the hurt man comes running towards Mat and his mother’s house Mat is told to get inside the house. When the hurt man arrives – after a visit from his “friends” – Mat’s mother tends to him. Mat finds out that death is real and not just something, you talk about. From the caring of his mother and the look on her face when she tends to the...
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...“Do you see him? Do you see the story? Do you see anything?” (24) Man is blind. Power and savagery combine to form an impenetrable wall, concealing the truth. Vision and comprehension are constantly obscured throughout the novel, Heart of Darkness, as Marlow journeys through the Congo with an attempt of “penetrating the darkness of the heart of the dark jungle and of the savagery which it nourishes” to find the truth hiding in the dark, only to find this dark fog impervious (Dowden). Through the use of blindness, Conrad displays an inability of man to see the truth. Throughout the novel, Marlow and his crew encounter fog, which obscures their vision more and more, the deeper they get into the jungle. As Brandon Kershner states, Conrad seems to play on “the interest in immediate perception, especially in difficult conditions for visual perception and comprehension…; the interest in smoke, fog, mist, and so forth as an integral part of the subject’s representation” (Kershner). One morning when the sailors get close to the heart of the jungle where Kurtz lies, they wake up to “a white fog, very warm and more blinding than the night.” (35) Just as Marlow and the other sailors cannot see clearly in the jungle, they fail to see...
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...A common problem among men is the inability to express feelings because of the conditioning of the hyper masculine ideology. It is thought of shameful almost for a man to express emotion in many situations. What it portrays according to a hyper masculine point of view is weakness and sensitivity. If a man shows that he lets his emotions out it is an indicator of uncontrollability. Going against this, many see a man who shows emotion as a man who is empowered. He is in true control because he does not care if he is seen as weak. He knows that letting out emotion will and often times this will give way to strength. He can let out emotion and can become stronger because that which was ripping him apart on the inside is no longer affecting him. The hyper masculine culture causes men to store up emotion and pretend it does not exist. This can cause men to go almost insane, men will store up so much inside that eventually they lose control and act out all...
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...101015189 This advertisement created by Old Spice Body Wash was an interesting way to not only market their product but it was also comical and entertaining to their audience in such a way that it will not be forgotten by the viewers, thus making it quite popular around the world. In this short to the point ad, it has the audience engaged right off the bat with superstar NFL football player Isaiah Mustafa shirtless showcasing his desirable muscular physique and speaking in a deep projected masculine voice directly telling the audience with full eye-contact that he’s “The man your man could smell like.” In a span of 30 seconds, the Old Spice Guy was able to gain popularity and also spread awareness all around the globe about the product that was being advertised. There are many reasons as to why this ad has gained so much popularity in recent years, and it’s not hard to see why. It is a very short ad that gets straight to the point and is rather easy to share and spread around the world. Another thing that the creators did well was the emphasis on humour. Generally, when we see an ad while watching T.V. and find it hysterical and humorous, we will proceed to search it online to view it and show it to friends and family. The main issues in this ad is the gender stereotypes that is easily noticeable, such as the idea that women like a masculine good looking male who smells good and a man who wants to feel manly and dominant like the Old Spice Guy portrayed...
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...The Man Who Loved Flowers The Man who loved flowers is short story about a young handsome man, who wants to surprise a girl named Norma by giving her some flowers. The story takes place in New York on a beautiful day in May 1963 where everything seems lovely, but it turns out that the young handsome man ends up killing a random girl, who he thinks is Norma, in a narrow lane in New York’s streets. The main character in The Man Who Loved Flowers is described as a handsome young in love. In the beginning of the story he seems like a guy whose life runs perfectly, he is suited up, he is in love and he just seems like a stand up guy “He was dressed in alight grey suit, the narrow tie pulled down a little, his top collar button undone. His hair was dark and cut short”. There is nothing suspicious about him. Stephen King tricks the reader into thinking that it is a perfect evening; maybe the young guy is going to propose to this Norma? “He reached into his coat pocket and touched something in there. For a moment his ace seemed puzzled, lonely, almost haunted, an then, as his hand left the pocket, it regained its former expression of eager expectation.” But when the young man finally meets this girl, who turns out not to be Norma, we find out that Norma has been dead for ten years. I believe that the young man ones has had a lover named Norma, who he thought was the only one but she died and he was forced to live on with that, but couldn’t accept it. Therefore he is now walking...
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...before the character was conceived, Fyodor Dostoevsky had already convicted Raskolinkov in his mind (Frank, Dostoevsky 101). Crime and Punishment is the final chapter in Dostoevsky's journey toward understanding the forces that drive man to sin, suffering, and grace. Using ideas developed in Notes from Underground and episodes of his life recorded in Memoirs of the House of the Dead, Dostoevsky puts forth in Crime in Punishment a stern defense of natural law and an irrefutable volume of evidence condemning Raskolnikov's actions (Bloom, Notes 25). Central to the prosecution of any crime, murder in particular, is the idea of motive. Not only must the prosecutor prove the actus rectus or "guilty act," but also that the criminal possessed the mens rea or "guilty mind" (Schmalleger 77). The pages of Crime and Punishment and the philosophies of Dostoevsky provide ample proof of both. The first is easy; Dostoevsky forces the reader to watch firsthand as Raskolnikov "took the axe all the way out, swung it with both hands, scarcely aware of himself, and almost without effort, almost mechanically, brought the butt-end down on her head" (Crime and Punishment 76). There is no doubt Raskolnikov caused the death of Alena Ivanovna and, later, Lizaveta, but whether he possessed the mens rea is another matter entirely. By emphasizing the depersonalization Raskolnikov experiences during the murder, the fact that he was "scarcely aware of himself" and acted "almost mechanically" the...
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...main focus of the essay, because of his darker nature and his motivations. A. At first, General Zaroff comes off as welcoming and kind in nature for taking Rainsford in. He gives Rainsford food, clothing and shelter after being lost at sea. B. The man explains to Rainsford that he has been a hunter his whole life and is good at what he does, but he has grown bored of hunting animals. C. He then comes to conclusion that he hunts man because of their strength, courage, and reason. D. Eventually he then forces Rainsford to participate in the game as Zaroff’s game. E. In the end, Rainsford finds his way back to the house and kills Zaroff, leaving him a s “food for the hounds” II. In the story, “The Child by Tiger”, Dick Prosser is the main character of the story. A. At first the story comes of praising Dick, almost making him seem perfect. He is a “deeply religious man” that was very talented in the things he did, and the Shepperton family believed there was nothing he could not do. B. He seems kind at first willing to help in any way he can with the family. Although, throughout the story they explain that there is something off about him. How he moves quietly like a cat, and even though he was deeply religious it seemed very dark and strange. The...
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