Get Rich or Die Trying

The short story “A Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright left me with a few different views on it. I felt as though Dave did not feel like a man because of the color of his skin. He wanted to buy a gun so he could have a form of authority thus making him feel like a man. While reading this short story, I found myself thinking about the movie “Get Rich or Die Trying” starring 50 cent. The protagonist in “Get Rich or Die Trying” is African American just like the main character in “A Man Who Was Almost a Man.” The connection that I found between this short story and movie goes deeper than just the race of the main characters.

In “Get Rich or Die Trying,” 50 cent has a very bad home life, which resulted in him buying a gun to basically help him get what he wants. In “A Man Who Was Almost a Man” Dave does the same exact thing. He purchases a gun in order for him to feel like a man. Even though 50 cent and Dave bought guns for two different. At the end of “Get Rich or Die Trying” 50 cent is not afraid to be who he wants to be. At the end of “ A Man Who Was Almost a Man,” Dave hops on a train to go somewhere where people will think he is a man. Although this isn’t the same ending, Dave and 50 cent both do something that was completely unexpected in the beginning of the story.