Jacek Bożym

Growing Up Black in the Rural South: Richard Wright’s

“Almos’ s Man”

The Literature of American South Course

Urszula Niewiadomska Flis, PhD

Lublin 17 Dec 2008

 The central purpose of this essay is to show different aspects of growing up in the rural
area of Southern United States in mid 1930’s, as shown in the short story by Richard Wright
“Almos’ a Man,” with the aim to prove that mental and physical escapism was the only way
to avoid black existence in appalling conditions of the Rural South.
The essay, based on the period of youth of Dave Sanders, aims to show different layers
of character’s alienation, taking into consideration deteriorating relationships between whites
and blacks, affiliation within the black race, his family bonds and his escapism into sphere of
dreams and imaginations, seen also in the misunderstood concept of being ‘a man.’
The situation in the South between blacks and whites on the beginning of 20th century
was escalating. Although the black race was granted many rights and freedoms, among which
the most important were 13th and 14th amendments they were still abused by whites and
denied their civil privileges. Under the states law of Jim Crow they were constantly deprived
of fair wages, rights to vote, having health care and were not allowed to have their children
educated (Twombly, ch.3). To worsen the situation, many whites believed that physical abuse
and mental ill-treatment is the only way of dealing with “black problem.” Many riots and
instances of taking the law in ones own hands took place. According to Robert C. Twombly
“between 1882 and 1940 approximately 5,000 lynchings were recorded in the United States,
90 percent in the South, 80 percent against black people,” (76).
This situation of socioeconomic inadequacy forced many Negroes to migrate to the
large cities. Richard Wright himself also experienced the compulsion of “going North” in
order to avoid racism and gain dignity (Twombly, 172). The problem of forbidden education
and economical problems of the blacks are best summarised by Wright himself: “all the
geography a nigger needs to know is how to get from his shack to the plow” (Tyack,
“Growing Up Black,” 289) The circumstances of racial abuses are mirrored in “Almos’ a
Man”. Dave Sanders, as a black boy, is being used by whites to work in the field for two
dollars a month only, while white grown-ups were earning about $26.30 per month (Twombly,
76). Dave is also abused by whites when he accidentally killed the mule. No sympathy was
shown. Neither whites, who laughed at him and thought only about economical aspects of
missing the mule as Jim Hawkins reaction showed “Well, looks like you bought you a mule,
Dave” (Wright, 6), nor Dave’s own family did care about youngster’s psyche. The gap
between races remained unbridgeable and the gap within black race strengthened itself.
The scene of killing the mule is not the only scene where the clash inside the race is
shown. From the very beginning of the story we are acquainted with Dave’s thoughts about
his contemporaries: “Whut’s the use of talking wid em niggers in the field?”(1) He believes

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them to be uneducated and not-worthy to talk to. By judging them “Them niggers can’t
understan nothing,” (1) he shows his disrespect and need to cut-off of the group with whom
he should rather sympathize as was shown by the history in appearance of many black unity
movements (Halpern, “Organized Labour”). Dave is alienating himself from his family as
well. His behaviour at home shows only superficial feelings and emotions based on
economical premises – Dave does everything to achieve his goals. This relation is
demonstrated in his conversation with his mother – having no reasonable arguments, he uses
childish ones playing on his mum’s feelings: “Please, Ma! Ah loves yuh, Ma.”
This alienation amasses itself with the time. Young boy is full of grievance which
explodes within him after the scene with the dead mule. All his grudges let him know about
them – the dignity, hurt by others laughing, the lack of compassion from the family, the
apprehension of being beaten once again, as “he remembered other beatings, and his back
quivered,” (Wright, 8) and finally the unavoidable thought of being treated like a child despite
of his being seventeen years old. During that night bonds with the family were undeniably
broken. Dave cursed his parents by saying “Dam em all!” (8), denied any feelings, leaving
only traces of distress about his brother’s faith “Ah betcha Bill wouldn’t do it! Ah
betcha. . . .” (9) Subconsciously Dave knew that staying with the family would be a
submission to parental abuses and lack of acceptance of him as he really is. He was aware that
only by leaving them he could finally be a man.
Very significant in the process of Dave’s growing up is his sphere of imagination as
the only recluse from the sad Southern reality. In his, still childish, reasoning he believes in
the adulthood that comes down to the matter of other’s respect, which, consequently in his
reasoning, can be brought on by scaring them. Fear of being beaten and suffering pain is
reflected in his image of himself being looked upon with awe when he threatens people with
the gun: “one of these days he was going to get a gun and practice shooting, then they
couldn’t talk to him as though he were a little boy,” (1). Being not “laughed at” is the most
important facet of the adulthood in young Dave’s belief.
Another important idea is that, in Dave’s opinion, adulthood may be bought. Not only
does the gun stands here for the appliance used to protect oneself from being “laughed at” but
also as a symbol of being an adult. Dave seems not to see himself being ‘a man’ without
possessing a gun. He stands firm against all the reasonable arguments brought up by his
mother, or old Joe, being led by the inescapable need to finally ‘buy’ adulthood. The gun and
being full-grown equals in Dave’s eyes, the gun becomes his obsession, a thing he lusts so
much that he is no longer himself.

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 The gun, therefore, instantly became a part of Dave’s personality. Firstly obsession,
now the fulfilled dream, gave him “a sense of power” (4), a fake sense of control of his life,
he was conscious of all the ramifications of having a gun and, absurdly, that was, what was
making him so exhilarated: “Could kill a man with a gun like this. Kill anybody, black or
white. . . . nobody could run over him; they would have to respect him,” (4). The gun
embodied everything that Dave lacked and what he wanted to possess.
What explicitly shows his immaturity is the way he speaks about the gun and treats it.
His all reasons for becoming an adult by buying the gun are equalled to infantile whim by the
way he is speaking about it and behaving finally having it in his hands. From the very
beginning of the story he discloses his immaturity by saying “Shucks, a man oughta have
a little gun aftah he done worked hard all day,”(1). Later in the story the gun almost takes on
proportions of another person in his fantasies.
Consequently, Dave’s main problem is his inconsistency of behaviour. His split
personality perpetually shows lack of being stable in his heading for fulfilment of his dreams.
Boasting about maturity he actually behaves like a child. His thoughts are opposed to his
deeds: “He felt very confident until he saw fat Joe . . . then his courage began to ooze,” (1).
This final and most profound alienation, splintering of his consciousness, shows how complex
is the situation of a child growing up in such surroundings. The image is certainly evoked in
Wright’s story by his past experience. The story clearly posses strands of Wright’s biography.
Adrian Weiss, in her essay about Wright’s biographical novel The Black Boy, notices that
“Wright creates the impression that Richard is driven from the very beginning of his
development as an individual to look and reach beyond the phenomena of external reality,”
(“Portrait” 94).
Finally, the scene of killing the mule and all the aftermaths of it shows how strong
Dave’s alienation is. He has no-one to show his real emotions to, he himself does not know
what to do and is floundering from one helpless idea to another, being torn between whom he
really is and whom he wanted to be. The imaginary view on his life predominates reality on
the night succeeding and Dave conclusively resolves that his only hope and possibility to be
‘a man’ is escaping his current reality. Metaphorically, by killing the mule he deals with “the
mule” inside him – the reality he hates so much: “They treat me like a mule, n then they beat
me,” (8).
The great escape from the South and its reality becomes Dave’s evident necessity.
Such solution was also present in Wright’s personal life, in which he migrated from the South
in his childhood and also alienated and individualised himself from others by means of

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literature (Weiss 100). Knowing Richard Wright’s past it may be assumed that Dave’s destiny
in the story is set from the very beginning. The protagonist have only to options: to flee and
become “a man” who will decide himself about his life, or stay and die in either literal
meaning (as a result of poor economical situation) or metaphorical by becoming a puppet in
others’ hands. Wright had to face similar situation. Adrian Weiss describes it as the shift of the
priorities: “the “dream” of escaping to the North moves from the realm of a desirable goal to
the realm of absolute necessity . . . He had no choice but to flee or die,” (99).
In fact, lack of perspectives of living in the South was not Wright’s isolated problem.
Many black people, living in the same period of time, moved to the North in a pursuit of
better life. This phenomenon became common in early 20th century and had on its purpose
increasing chances of surviving in United States. Louis M. Kyriakoudes describes it as Great
Migration which term fully portrays the extent of the occurrence (“Southern Black
Migration”).
Concluding, the short story “Almos’ a man” shows a struggle of a youngster who, by
means of mental and physical escapism, is lost in the harsh reality he has to face and is,
simultaneously, a representative of the community of young black inhabitants of the South
who in order to avoid the reality of abuse and hardship go “against the tide” and fight for their
rights and better living.

Sources used
Berry, Mary Frances. Black Resistance / White Law: A History of Constitutional Racism in
America, New York: Meredith Corp., 1971

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Falk, William, W. and Bruce H. Rankin, “The Cost of Being Black in the Black Belt”, Social
Problems, Vol. 39, No. 3, University of California Press, 1992,
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/3096964>, 299-313
Halpern, Rick, “Organized Labour, Black Workers and the Twentieth-Century South: The
Emerging Revision,” Social History, Vol. 19, No. 3, Taylor & Francis, Ltd., 1994
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/4286221>, 359-383
Kyriakoudes, Louis M., “Southern Black Rural-Urban Migration in the Era of the Great
Migration: Nashville and Middle Tennessee, 1890-1930,” Agricultural History, Vol. 72,
No. 2, “African Americans in Southern Agriculture: 1877-1945,” Agricultural History
Society, 1998, < http://www.jstor.org/stable/3744386>, 341-351
Tolentino, Sylvia, “The Road out of the Black Belt: Sociology's Fictions and Black
Subjectivity in "Native Son",” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, Vol. 33, No. 3, Novel Corp.,
Brown U, 2000, <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1346170>, 377-405
Twombly, Robert C., Blacks in White America Since 1865: Issues and Interpretations, New
York: David McKay Company, 1971
Tyack, David, B., “Growing up Black: Perspectives on the History of Education in Northern
Ghettos,” History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 3, History of Education Society,
1969, <http://www.jstor.org/stable/366907>, 287-297
Weiss, Adrian, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Black Boy,” The Bulletin of the Rocky Mountain
Modern Language Association, Vol. 28, No. 4, Rocky Mountain Modern Language
Association, 1974, < http://www.jstor.org/stable/1346526>, 93-101
Wright, Richard, “Almos’ a Man”, as found on: <http://www.wmrfh.org/dcrews/index_files/>
accessed 14 Dec 2008