In Joyce's short story we see how the narrator goes from "watching his door... every morning" (70) to "seeing himself as a driven creature and ridiculed by vanity” (70). Here it is obvious that the narrator realizes that Mangan's sister is just another ordinary girl and not worth all his troubles. The reader can easily see how the narrator progresses from the beginning to the end of the story. Certainly, the narrator would not have even thought of talking to Mangan's sister, but ends up conversing with her in the middle of the story and then fails to keep his promise at the end of the story. On the other hand, just like in "Araby", "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" also describes how the main character changes. At first, Dave dares to buy a gun because he thinks that “a man should have a small gun after working hard all day” (103). This passage shows that even though everyone sees him as a boy, Dave sees himself as a man because he is about to get a gun, which is a rather childish belief. The day he shot Jenny, that night Dave went out into the forest and went to shoot the gun again. As he prepares to shoot, he closes his eyes but then says to himself "No, Ah, I can't shoot with my eyes closed and my head turned".” (112).