Since that time, hunting has been considered a manly sport. Thus for a young boy like Dave, having a gun conjures of all those images of masculinity and he feels that once he is powerful, others would respect him more. In this story, Dave is completely oblivious of the link between age and respect. He doesn't want to be ordered around but he fails to understand that people don't treat him like an adult because he is not one yet. He associated gun with power ("In the gray light of dawn he held it loosely, feeling a sense of power") and fails to understand the importance of personal power that comes from achievement, experience and age. His lack of experience is what gets him into trouble when he accidentally shoots a mule. The last thing he had wanted was to hear people laughing at him: "He heard people laughing. Dave glared~ his eyes welling with tears. Hot anger bubbled in him. Then he swallowed and stumbled on." This moment could serve as epiphany but it did not. Instead it caused even greater anger inside Dave who later decided that instead of paying Hawkins two dollars every month for a dead mule, it was better to run away. The last few lines show utter lack of epiphany: when the train pulled in... "He hesitated just a moment; then he grabbed, pulled atop of a car, and lay flat. He felt his pocket; the gun was still there." Dave was still proud of his gun...

His mindset remains the same and his beliefs haven't change at all. This is clear from the closing line of the story where Dave is shown going away "... away to somewhere, somewhere where he could be a man."
We can say that Dave would have never tried to run away had he been accorded some respect and treated properly. But how a person misconstrues the behavior of others is never known and some sensitive people can actually take drastic measures to get what they want. We cannot say that Dave would never gain epiphany. He certainly will someday but as far as this story was concerned, the moment had not arrived for the young boy. As unfortunate as it might have been, Dave ran away because he didn't want to wake up and hear others talking about his foolish acts. He had practiced shooting enough to know that he will not be making another mistake with the gun but to prove that he could do it, he needed to be among new people- people who would treated him without ridicule.

Reference

James Joyce," MSN Encarta. Accessed online 1st March 2007 at http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568953/James_Joyce.html

Richard Wright. A Man who was Almost a Man. Accessed online 1st March 2007 at http://www.barksdale.latech.edu/Engl%20308/the%20Man%20Who%20Was%20Almost%20a%20Man.doc.