"The Man Child" is a 1965 short story by James Baldwin, taken from the short story collection, Going to Meet the Man.
Contents
Plot introduction
Eric's parents are celebrating Jamie's birthday.
Plot summary
It is Jamie's thirty-fourth birthday and he is at Eric's parents' 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 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.