People are often the products of their environment. A wealthy person has more of a chance to do the more pleasurable things in life than a person who is
struggling to find food does. A person who is brought up in a household where no one drinks is less likely to become an alcoholic than one who is brought up in the home of alcoholics. A person’s environment can play a role even in simple things, like whether or not that person is allowed to grow up and mature. In The Man Who Was Almost a Man, Richard Wright depicts two sides to the main character in the story. He shows Dave as both a man in some ways, and a boy in others. Dave is as much a man as his environment allows him to be.
Dave is in many ways a man. The first thing that should at least make Dave nearing manhood is his age. “Ahm seventeen. Almost a man. (Wright 1228) he says to himself as he strolls home after a hard day at work. A male nearing the age of 21 which is the age at which society calls a person a man, should be able to make mature decisions. Dave does make some mature decisions. He goes to work every day and does a good job. He tells his father