"The Man Child" is a 1965 short story by James Baldwin

James Baldwin (writer)

James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.Baldwin's essays, for instance "Notes of a Native Son" , explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th century America,...

, taken from the short story collection, Going to Meet the Man

Going to Meet the Man

Going to Meet the Man, published in 1965, is a short-story collection by American writer James Baldwin. The book is dedicated "for Beauford Delaney." It covers many topics related to anti-Black racism in American society, as well as the creative process, jazz, drug addiction, family relationships,...

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Plot summary

It is Jamie's thirty-fourth birthday and he is at Eric's parent's to celebrate. Eric's father upbraids him for being alone, with no wife or children, only a dog and his mother. Then Eric and his father go for a walk, during which Eric learns that all the land around him is his, thanks to his father's self-discipline; Jamie, on the other hand, has lost his. Back at the house, Jamie blows the candles.

Later, after Eric's mother had a miscarriage

Miscarriage

Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...

with a baby the couple had imagined calling either Sophie or Jamie, Eric goes for a walk and runs into Jamie. The latter takes him into a barn and strangles him, whilst his mother is singing in the kitchen.

Characters

• Eric, eight years old, blonde.
• father. He is thirty-two years old.
• mother - pregnant
• Sophie
• Jamie, a neighbour who goes to a local bar, The Rafters, with Eric's father every night. His wife left him and Eric's father bought back his land. He is thirty-four years old.