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Ernest Hemingway: A Coming Of Age Story

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Ernest Hemingway: A Coming Of Age Story
According to the lecture this story is about race, class, and the second amendment. However, this is also a coming of age story, it is about a 17 year old black boy who hopes to attain respect by possessing a gun. He is almost 18, furthermore he is on the brink of adulthood. In short, the first move that he makes in the morning is to reach under his pillow for the gun. Initially, he visualizes, “This could kill a man, whether black or white.” He is let down by his parents. His father punishes him. The humiliation that he suffers is from his parents, and not from the land owner, old man Hawkins. Subsequently, this is a universal struggle in the pursuit of power. All in all, Dave wants to go somewhere that he can be a man.

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