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Dave is a Black seventeen-year-old living with his family in the American South around the 1930s. He works plowing fields on a plantation owned by a white man, Jim Hawkins, where members of his family (including his parents, Mrs. Saunders and Bob Saunders) also work. He dislikes the way he’s treated by older fellow workers, who he feels regularly mock and talk down to him. Having internalized a sense that respect is a product of masculine physical power, perhaps in part because his father regularly threatens to beat him, Dave concludes that the one way to prove himself a man is to own a gun. Dave then sets about convincing his mother to give him two dollars to buy a gun with the lie that he will immediately give it to his father. Instead, after getting the gun, Dave rather recklessly hides the loaded weapon under his pillow, and then sneaks out with it, planning to go do his field work in as distant a place as possible so he can practice firing it. But this plan backfires when he shoots the gun for the first time—he closes his eyes as he pulls the trigger—and accidentally kills the mule Jenny. He attempts to lie his way out of the predicament by saying Jenny accidentally impaled herself on a spike of the plow, but no one believes him and, crying, he confesses. His father is furious, and Dave ends up deeply in debt to Mr. Hawkins, who owned the mule. Faced with this situation, Dave runs away—hopping a train for parts unknown with his now-unloaded gun, hoping to find a place where he can be a man. Dave doesn’t show much growth over the course of the story—he begins it focused on a simplistic idea that strength will make him a respected man, and ends it still looking to become a man. The open-ended nature of the story’s conclusion, however, suggests that what sort of man Dave will become is still up in the air.
Dave Saunders Quotes in The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The The Man Who Was Almost a Man quotes below are all either spoken by Dave Saunders or refer to Dave Saunders. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Man Who Was Almost a Man Quotes
Shucks, a man oughta hava little gun aftah he done worked hard all day.
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“How you n ol man Hawkins gitten erlong?”
“Suh?”
“Can’t yuh hear? Why don yuh lissen? Ah ast yu how wuz yuh n ol man Hawkins gittin along?”
“Oh, swell, Pa. Ah plows mo lan than anybody over there.”
“Waal, yuh oughta keep yo mind on whut yuh doin.”
“Yessuh.”
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“But Ma, we needa gun. Pa ain got no gun. We needa gun in the house. Yuh kin never tell whut might happen.”
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In the gray light of dawn he held it loosely, feeling a sense of power. Could kill a man with a gun like this. Kill anybody, black or white.
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The gun felt loose in his fingers; he waved it wildly for a moment. Then he shut his eyes and tightened his forefinger. Bloom! A report half deafened him and he thought his right hand was torn from his arm.
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Then he saw the hole in Jenny’s side, right between the ribs. It was round, wet, red. A crimson stream streaked down the front leg, flowing fast. Good Gawd! Ah wuzn’t shootin at the mule.
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Somebody in the crowd laughed. Jim Hawkins walked close to Dave and looked into his face.
“Well, looks like you have bought you a dead mule, Dave.”
“Ah swear fo Gawd, Ah didn go t kill the mule Mistah Hawkins!”
“But you killed her!”
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Nobody ever gave him anything. All he did was work. They treat me like a mule n then they beat me.
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When he reached the top of a ridge he stood straight and proud in the moonlight, looking at Jim Hawkins’ big white house, feeling the gun sagging in his pocket. Lawd, ef Ah had just one mo bullet Ah’d taka shot at that house. Ah’d like t scare ol man Hawkins jusa little . . . Jusa enough t let im know Dave Saunders is a man.
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He felt his pocket; the gun was still there. Ahead the long rails were glinting in the moonlight, stretching away, away to somewhere, somewhere where he could be a man . . .
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Dave Saunders Character Timeline in The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The timeline below shows where the character Dave Saunders appears in The Man Who Was Almost a Man. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Man Who Was Almost a Man
As he’s heading home from the fields for dinner, Dave Saunders thinks about some of the other, older workers in the field who always talk...
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On the way home, Dave stops by Joe’s store. He feels confident at first, but once he sees Joe—a white...
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Dave feels triumphant for getting Joe to give him the catalog. As Dave is leaving, Joe...
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When Dave makes it home, his mother, Mrs. Saunders, chides him for being late and for coming...
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Soon, Dave’s father, Bob Saunders, and his younger brother enter the room and sit at the table....
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Dave’s father tells Dave to stop fooling with the catalog, and then asks Dave how he’s...
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When Dave’s father and younger brother leave the kitchen, Dave begins working up the courage to ask...
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Dave opens the catalog for his mother to the page with the gun on it, but...
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Dave tries a different approach to convince his mother to buy him the gun. He says...
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Dave’s mother promises to let Dave get the gun on one condition: he has to bring...
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The next morning, the first thing Dave does is reach under his pillow for the gun. He holds it loosely and feels...
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Now in the early morning, Dave wraps the loaded gun to his thigh with a strip of old flannel and skips...
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Dave plows two whole rows with the mule Jenny before even taking the gun out. He...
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Dave chases after the mule Jenny, calling for her to hold on. When he catches up...
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Dave’s stomach feels empty. He takes the gun and buries it at the foot of a...
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...woods. Mr. Hawkins remarks that he doesn’t know how in the world it happened. Soon Dave’s family arrive to the gathered crowd, asking where Dave is. Mr. Hawkins points him out,...
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Dave finally admits what happened. Stuttering, he swears he didn’t mean to shoot the mule Jenny....
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Mr. Hawkins comes up close to Dave and informs him that he just bought himself a dead mule. The whole crowd begins...
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That night, Dave doesn’t sleep. He is glad at first that he got out of killing the mule...
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Dave thinks about how he fired the gun and gets the urge to do it again....
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Dave blows the dirt off the gun and checks the barrel, which holds four cartridges that...
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Dave starts to walk back home. When he reaches the top of a ridge, he stands...
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Dave hears a train coming down the tracks nearby. He thinks about his debt to Mr....
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