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Mrs. Saunders (Ma)
Joe is a white man who runs a store near Jim Hawkins’ plantation. Joe is a big man with an imposing figure and Dave is nervous around him. When Dave announces his plan to buy a gun, Joe tries to tell him he doesn’t need one, but he agrees to let Dave look at a catalog and take it with him overnight. Eventually, Joe does offer to sell Dave a loaded Wheeler pistol for two dollars, which Dave buys as soon as he gets the money from his mother. While Joe himself seems to generally be genial, his role in the story shows another way that the white community maintains economic dominance at the expense of the Black farmworkers.
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Joe Character Timeline in The Man Who Was Almost a Man
The timeline below shows where the character Joe appears in The Man Who Was Almost a Man. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Man Who Was Almost a Man
On the way home, Dave stops by Joe’s store. He feels confident at first, but once he sees Joe—a white man—his courage begins...
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Dave feels triumphant for getting Joe to give him the catalog. As Dave is leaving, Joe has an idea, and mentions...
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...Jenny. His father asks where he got the gun, and Dave admits it was from Joe’s store. Mr. Hawkins asks how Dave happened to shoot the mule. Dave insists again he...
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...must go out first thing in the morning to find it again, return it to Joe, and then give the money to Mr. Hawkins as a first payment on the debt....
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