In the story, what does the gun symbolize?
The first thing that the gun symbolizes is Dave’s want of masculinity. Dave’s “family, coworkers, employer, and the store owner all call him ‘boy’ and remind him that he is only a child,” but he does not like that (2517-2518). Because of this, Dave wants to be considered a man and he believes that a gun will grant this to him. He tells Mister Joe that he’s “gittin t b a man like anybody else,” so he believes he should have a gun (2519). Once Dave has the gun in his possession he thinks he is a man, but it is made known to the reader that this is not true. The story reveals that Dave is still immature because he did not obey his mother by bringing the gun straight home and also because he chose to fire the gun without truly knowing how to, which in result killed Jenny (2522-2533). Therefore, the gun plays a very significant role in Dave’s life because he believes that it is something that he must have in order to be considered a man.
The second thing that the gun symbolizes is Dave’s want of power. Dave does not seem to like people calling him a boy and it was as if he craved some kind of power over people. Dave even tells his mother that they need a gun in their house because “yuh kin never tell whut might happen” (2521). Once Dave has the gun, he says that he felt a “sense of power” and that he could “kill anybody, black or white” (2522). He did not seem to think about the true power that the gun had itself, but rather just the sense of power that it gave to him. It is proven that he underestimated the power of the gun when he shot and killed Jenny by accident; when he did this, he did not want his sense of power to be taken away from him so he insisted on lying about what had happened (2523-2524). He also did not seem to learn the true power of the gun and instead was only concerned with his own power when he still considered shooting at Jim Hawkins’ house, but he was out of bullets. Therefore, the gun allows Dave to think that he has his own sense of power, even though that it is not truly the case.
Dave believes that owning a gun solves all of his problems because he seems to think that he has become the man that he has always wanted to be and that he has achieved the extent of power that he wanted. Even though he should have realized that none of this was true when he shot Jenny, he did not learn his lesson. Although the gun did not truly give him the masculinity or power, he continued to think it did because at the end of the story he goes back to get the gun, thinks about shooting at Jim Hawkins’ house, and runs away (2527).
What was the purpose of Richard Wright’s skillful use of dialect throughout the story?
The author’s skillful use of dialect truly put an emphasis on the story. The different dialects that are seen in the story truly add to the meaning. Dave’s family appears to have a much different dialect than Mister Joe or Jim Hawkins (whites); Dave’s family along with himself seems to have a much more slurred dialect than the others, they do not seem to pronounce words the correct English way. Also, their dialect was much harder to understand and took more time to read, but it truly stood its purpose in the story.
The purpose of the use of dialect is to reflect upon the time period in which Wright was writing about. Wright often wrote about similar experiences that happened to him, therefore he uses the dialect from the time period that he lived. The dialect that he uses truly shows how different people were in the time period, such as Dave’s family and the whites. It seemed as if Dave’s family had the dialect that did due to a possible lack of education. In this time period, whites were seen as higher than blacks; the dialects in this story can truly reflect upon that. The author’s use of dialect truly places the “story firmly in its sociohistorical setting” (2518). Without the use of dialect in this story, the reader might not have a significant understanding of the time period or setting in which the story takes place.
Also, Wright’s skillful use of dialect allowed the reader to truly visualize the characters. Because of the different dialects that the author uses, the reader can visualize how dissimilar the characters were. The dialect adds a significant amount of imagery to the story because when you are reading, you can truly picture the characters talking the way that they are. It is almost as if you can hear the characters talking themselves. Because of the dialect adding imagery to the story, it makes it much more interesting. The skillful use of dialect that the author uses allows for the reader to truly picture the characters. Without the use of dialect in this story, the reader would not be able to clearly see the differences amongst the groups of people: whites and blacks.
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