The story explores the young protagonist’s quest for an identity amid Classism, Racism, and Economic Oppression. Richard Wright begins exploring this theme through the story’s structure. The narration alternates between the third person, representing the authorial voice, and the first person, which conveys the protagonist’s perspective. The vernacular used by the main character provides him with a distinct and authentic voice that contrasts the author’s more neutral tone, as well as with Hawkins’s more proper diction. The sharp difference between different characters’ speech patterns establishes the classist and racist social hierarchy of the Jim Crow South.

The text immediately establishes Dave’s internal crisis: Reaching adulthood, he desperately wants to claim his masculinity. This quest is symbolized by his obsession with the gun, a symbol of power, masculinity, and violence. Dave believes that owning a gun will earn him respect among other men, and his desire reveals the social environment he inhabits. The setting of an early-20th-century rural southern community encapsulates the myriad external forces that control and impact Dave, like poverty, racial segregation, and white supremacy.