The Sky Is Gray Short Story

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Compare / Contrast Essay English 1301 M W 5:30 - 6:55PM Parenting Styles From the moment you are born your parents want to see you succeed. The two short stories by Richard Wright, "Almos' A Man" and Ernest Gains, "The Sky is Gray" show the struggle and sacrifice the parents make in order for their children to be a "man" in the world that awaits them. Dave and James, both have similar life styles and challenges, but both attempt to overcome these challenges a completely different way. Both children are young and lack the knowledge of the "real world" in which their parents trying their best to prepare them. Weather each child makes a successful transition to adulthood is up to them, and their wise choice. Mrs. Saunders, the mother of Dave in "Almos' A Man" is challenged to make the appropriate decision regarding his young, immature teen. Dave struggles to prove his manhood to his much older co-workers and his boss, after failing horrendously he suggest to getting a gun. Since Dave knows that his mother, Mrs. Saunders is far much more lenient than his father, he goes to her. Ms. Saunders is faced with a challenge of either giving Dave money to buy the guy, or the most responsible decision, refusing to. After negotiation between Dave and his mother, his mother decided to keep her son happy by giving him two bucks under one…show more content…
The reason for this is because he wanted James to be a man, so his younger siblings could look up to him and make wise choices. Octavia is not a nice mother but James knew in order for his mother to cherish him and be proud of him, he had to do as she said. The mother was preparing his son for the cruel and harsh world that African Americans dealt with at the time. Octavia also showed a lot of pride to his son. After being offered a warm meal by a white woman in town, Octavia refused. In order for her to accept the offer James had to do some type of

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