Answer:
To show the readers that Mr. Hawkins was a rich landowner.
Step-by-step explanation:
Richard Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost A Man" is about a young teenage black boy's desire to be an adult. But through the process of trying to 'exhibit' himself as an adult, he learned that adulthood is a difficult and extensive journey that he cannot easily achieve.
In the given excerpt, Dave is seen with his gun looking at Mr. Hawkins' "big white house" which he wishes he "[could] taka shot at tha house . . . scare ol man Hawkins jusa little ... Jusa enough t let im know Dave Saunders is a man." And through the description of the house, we can infer that Mr. Hawkins is a rich, white landowner who Dave hates.