Second, the implementation of satire and irony in the short story aimed as a critique to the societal norms and values of people at that time
From the story we learn that there's something really wrong with the social life system of people in that place at that time. We know Dave was still young and immature and how he was in the transition of teenage hood to adulthood makes it reasonable for him when he was trying to look for validation and approval from people as a part of his journey of discovering self-identity.
Even more, what he frankly really wanted was just freedom and chances to develop because deep down inside his heart, he knew he could do and be something more. Somehow ironically Dave was living in a very unhealthy and unsupportive neighbourhood where social and racial discrimination existed. In his belief, the only way he could grow and live a better life was by having power over people. Due to the discrimination and humiliation, he experienced and the lack of knowledge and understanding of life essense (since he was uneducated), both had contributed in shaping his unhealthy mindset. As a result, he grew up with this belief and he became obsessed with social life power (in his naive thought, a gun means power). He believed that his life could be more meaningful if he had power (gun) because none would dare to disrespect him anymore.
It's ironic when Dave knew exactly how it felt really bad to be controlled, underestimated and discriminated by others but at the same time he grew his interest in controlling and oppressing others. In other words, the author tries to show people: this is the result or effects of long and painful discrimination, that what is going to happen when you put someone under physical and physiological oppression for such a long time.
 Luckily that was a mule that Dave shot by the gun, just imagine if at that time he aimed to shoot human beings only for the sake of his self interest in trying to convince people that he was powerful, of course the effects would be much more miserable. That is why this kind of story can also be a reflection for the social life problems exist in our community. We can probably use this reflection to question why many young people these days are involved in young delicuency and violent actions, maybe there is also something wrong or not right with the social norms and values on life essense that exist in our society
Third, Dave and Mr Hawkins are characters with complex behaviours and motives
One of the characteristics of realism is the use of a character with complex behaviors, in this short story Dave could not be easily and lightly seen as a young naive boy. As a matter of fact, if we try to analyse his behaviours from the lens of psychoanalysis, Dave 's behaviors were kind of complicated though describable. On one hand, he could behave so obedient and respectful towards his parents. He did follow what his mom demanded him to do" working diligently", he did respect his father, never trying to upset him. Ironically on the other hand, he turned into a rebellious problematic child. He did refuse to obey his mom when she asked him to bring the gun back to home as soon as he bought it, he did not keep his promise to his dad to work hard for paying the debt to Mr hawking. Furthermore, once he felt regretful and helpless for being trapped in a place where he got no respect nor freedom but then he took the courage to leave and choose his own life path. It is obvious that some of the decisions he made were affected by his past life experiences. It took a process actually for him to reach the stage when he at the end chose to make the changes. It could be tracked down from the long process of oppression he underwent, how at the end his violent tendency and rebelliousness came to the surface and started taking control over him
Even more, it's interesting to observe how at the end of the story we could assume that Dave's mental and physiological condition grew ( he started knowing what he wanted and he dared himself to take control over his life when he decided to leave his hometown) on the other side, he was still not progressive on the concept of understanding life value, he did still believe that social power: having gun could make him happy and his life more meaningful. Indeed, he didn't even get the lesson from his mistake, he was still not aware of the idea of being responsible" to be seen as a grown man, he should have known that responsibility is an integral part of an adult's life"
 Then, Mr Hawkins can be also regarded as a complicated character. He seemed very kind to Dave. He did let him work in his plantation and take care of his mule. He always gave him payment. Somehow, there's no kind of thought and awareness of this old man to help Dave in preparing for his future. He did enjoy the privilege of being rich and white, he didn't even care if the young black boy might not have a bright future, that he had to live in the same way as his father or his great grandfather used to live as a worker for the white men.
His complicated behavior and motive can also be detected when he did act like a hero trying to save Dave from his father 's anger. He seemed very understanding when he offered such a win win solution for Dave's problem. He did not send Dave to prison or fire him for having shot his mule and making up a foolish lie. Somehow, he laughed at Dave's innocent stupidity and he made Dave promise to pay for his debt by working in his plantation with payment cut off which indirectly he did steal Dave's chance to be freed from the working labourer in the plantation for a certain time in which Dave actually really regretted. As a matter of fact, Mr Hawkins was just like the other whites for Dave, he did take benefit from the situation and the privilege he had.
 Last but not least, the focus of this short story is day to day life activity of marginalized and low-class family and therefore the plot is less complicated and plausible
