By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The Man Who Was Almost a Man’ is a short story by the American author Richard Wright (1908-60), originally published as ‘Almos’ a Man’ in Harper’s Bazaar in 1940 before being revised by Wright later in his life. The final version was published in 1960. In the story, a black youth in the American South buys a gun in order to make himself feel like a proper man.