Power In The Man Who Was Almost A Man

It is one thing to have power. It is another to know how to use it. Once a person is giver power over others it is important that they know how to use it in the correct way. The more power one has, the more responsibility they take on. Once Macbeth got the power he wanted, he abused it. Early on in the story, Macbeth hated the idea of killing for his own gain, but after he becomes king he has no problem with it. He orders to have his best friend, Banquo, killed and decides to have Macduff’s whole family killed, all out of his paranoia and desire for power. When Duncan was the King of Scotland he was benevolent with his power As king, Macbeth used his power to make people suffer. In Dave’s case in The Man Who Was Almost A Man, Richard Wright’s character, Dave, desperately wanted a gun because he believed that he was a man. Almost immediately after the gun comes into Dave’s possession, he becomes reckless with it. Even though he wanted the gun to validate his maturity, he lied and hid it from his mother, a very childlike thing to do. Once Dave had the weapon in his possession, he did not have the patience to wait for a safe opportunity to shoot it. Once he was alone on the farm, Dave was not even careful
It was Macbeth’s own foul actions that made all of Scotland hate him, and it was his overconfidence that lead to his fight to the death with Macduff. Similarly, it was Dave’s lack of responsibility that caused Dave to refuse to give up his gun to his mother. Later on, he isn’t conscious enough of his surroundings to avoid shooting the mule. Instead of accepting responsibility in the aftermath of that incident, Dave was frustrated and embarrassed enough to run away from the whole situation in an attempt to find somewhere where he could be his own man. It was the two characters’ lack of responsibility with their new power that lead to their respective