Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin is composed of eight short stories: "The Rockpile", "The Outing", "The Man Child", "Previous Condition", "Sonny's Blues", "This Morning, This Evening, So Soon", "Come Out the Wilderness", and "Going to Meet the Man". The stories follow the everyday lives of black men and women from the 1930s–50s, addressing themes of racism, sexuality, drug addiction, lynching, and more.
"The Rockpile"
Context James Baldwin himself is from Harlem and the step-son of a preacher, which transcends to the inspiration behind "The Rockpile". Much of Baldwin's work mirrors his own life experiences. As an example, Baldwin's step-father was a preacher, which compares to John's character in "The Rockpile" whose step-father is also a preacher.
Summary "The Rockpile" was Baldwin's first story in the Going to Meet the Man collection, originally published in 1965. Set in Harlem, the story follows two brothers: Roy, the son of Elizabeth and Gabriel, and John, the illegitimate son of Elizabeth and step-son to Gabriel. Across the street from their apartment sits a rockpile, a forbidden object for John and Roy to play on, but Roy decides to go anyway, instructing his brother that he will be right back. There he gets into a fight, leaving him injured. He is brought back into the house and as the father, Gabriel gets home, he tries to blame Elizabeth and John for allowing Roy to go there. He favors Roy because he is his biological son, while John, his stepson, serves as the scapegoat.
Characters The characters are the same as in Baldwin's autobiographical debut novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain.
Elizabeth Grimes: John and Roy's mother Gabriel Grimes: Roy's father, John's step-father, and preacher Roy Grimes: Elizabeth and Gabriel's son, gets hurt on rockpile John Grimes: Elizabeth's illegitimate elder son, Gabriel's step-son, and born out of wedlock. Delilah Grimes: Elizabeth and Gabriel's daughter Paul Grimes: Elizabeth and Gabriel's son Sister McCandless Richard, a boy who drowned in the Bronx River. Aunt Florence: Gabriel's sister, lives in the Bronx.
Theme(s) Favoritism in Black fatherhood
Since John is not Gabriel's biological son, Gabriel plays favoritism towards Roy, revealing the theme of black fatherhood as well. Gabriel subconsciously acknowledges the importance of his lineage when Roy is injured, causing Gabriel to see a potential threat to his legacy. When Gabriel gets home and sees that Roy is hurt, he immediately casts blame on Elizabeth and her illegitimate son, John.
Alienation and neglect
John is the illegitimate son of Elizabeth and Gabriel resents her for it. Because of this, when fatherhood is brought into play for Gabriel, he disregards John due to the fact that he is not his biological son. With Gabriel's immediate blame on John for Roy getting injured, there is a "rejection of John and protection of Roy."
Symbolism Rockpile
While the rockpile is a physical bolder, the boys of the neighborhood use it as a battle ground for a "game of king of the mountain." Since the boys are racially and economically disenfranchised, the rockpile symbolizes the struggle for ownership since they nor their fathers will never own the rockpile. Blood Blood, specifically "black blood" plays a crucial role in Gabriel's favoritism toward Roy because the blood is passed down from black father to black son, symbolizing the "irreplaceable marker of Gabriel's paternity." The blood also represents a masculine inheritance as Gabriel dismisses Elizabeth, the mother, from the equation because of her sinful nature and "bastard son."
"The Outing"
Context
Published in 1951, "The Outing" touched on topics of homosexuality which were not widely accepted at the time. In the same year its publication, Baldwin was a queer male during this time, living with his partner, Lucien Happersberger.
Summary "The Outing" is the second short story in the Going to Meet the Man collection, featuring characters John, Roy, Gabriel, and Elizabeth from "The Rockpile." John and Roy's father, Gabriel, is the deacon of the church, and they travel as a family to the annual church outing. Typically, this outing takes place at a park, but this year, it happens to be a boat trip up the Hudson River to Bear Mountain on the Fourth of July. While on the boat, Roy, Johnnie, and David, Johnnie's friend, take an interest in Sylvia, daughter of Sister Daniels and member of the church. In the midst of getting acquainted, Johnnie's father, Gabriel, tells him to be good, and Johnnie replies that he need not reprimand him. Johnnie, feeling worked up from the interactions with Gabriel decides to take a seat on the deck where David finds him shaking. Johnnie welcomes David's embrace and also tells him that he loves him. Upon arriving to Bear Mountain, Roy and David await the perfect time to give their gift to Sylvia, an action that makes Johnnie insecure and retreating to be alone. Eventually, they give Sylvia the gift and David goes to find Johnnie who is alone again and similar to their first time together, they embrace each other.
Characters
Gabriel Grimes: Roy's father, Johnnie's step-father, and preacher Roy Grimes: Gabriel's son and Johnnie's younger brother Johnnie or John Grimes: Elizabeth's illegitimate elder son, Gabriel's step-son, and born out of wedlock. Elizabeth Grimes: Johnnie and Roy's mother (unnamed in this short story) Father James: authority figure in the church Lois: Johnnie's nine-year-old sister. Mrs. Jackson: David and Lorraine's mother. David Jackson: Johnnie's friend and potential love interest Lorraine: David's elder sister Sister McCandless: neighbor and friend of Elizabeth Sylvia: daughter of Sister Daniels and potential love interest for David Sister Daniels: Sylvia's mother Brother Elisha: member of the church Reverend Peters: member of the church
Theme(s) Homoeroticism
While Johnnie and David are friends, they share an intimate moment with each other when David pulls Johnnie in for an embrace multiple times while Johnnie tells him that he loves him.
Religion
Given Gabriel's job as a deacon and invested member of the church, religion is important to him and something that he wants to pass down to Roy and Johnnie. The short story also touches on the loss of religion across generations and how younger children grow uninterested. An example of this is shown in David and Roy's interest in Sylvia on the trip instead of religion.
Symbolism Traveling up the river
Commentary on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, where the Black saints annually travel to witness the works and power of the Lord.
Title: "The Outing"
Not only does the title of this short story represent the trip that the congregation is taking, it also represents Johnnie's personal journey navigating his sexuality. Johnnie has a "homosexual outing" as he grapples with his feelings toward David.
Reception
Jerome de Romanet states that there is a "spiritual homo-eroticism" found in "The Outing" that is "philosophically unsettling."
"The Man Child"
Summary "The Man Child," the third story in Baldwin's Going to Meet the Man collection was published in 1965. Set in rural town, the story follows an all-white cast, Eric, and eight-year-old boy who lives on a large farm with his parents, who are friends with Jamie, a farmer who has lost his farm to Eric's father. It is Jamie's thirty-fourth birthday, and he is at Eric's parents' place to celebrate. Eric's father scolds Jamie for being alone, with no wife or children, only a dog and his mother and acting like a child. After dinner, Eric and his father go for a walk, during which Eric learns that all the land around him is his, and should be passed down from generation to generation. Jamie, on the other hand, has lost his land, and the land of Eric's father has grown even larger because he bought Jamie's. Concurrently, back at the house, Jamie blows out his birthday candles. Later in the story, after Eric's mother had a miscarriage, Eric goes to wash his hands at the outdoor pump and runs into Jamie. Jamies lures Eric into the barn by claiming that his father would be in there but he was not. Consequently, Jamie begins to strangle him, in which Eric starts pleading for his life but his efforts are not enough. Jamie breaks his neck as a result of strangulation and retreats to his home with his dog.
Characters
Eric: 8-year-old boy who lives on a farm with his parents Jamie: 34-year-old neighbor (man child that the title references) of Eric and his family who is a failed farmer who goes to The Rafters, a local bar, with Eric's father every night. Father (unnamed): Eric's father and purchaser of Jamie's land Mother (unnamed): Eric's mother Sophie: Eric's would-be little sister, buried in the church courtyard
Theme(s) Masculine legacy and white-male ownership
Throughout the short-story, Baldwin provides multiple depictions of the land that Eric will inherit along with Eric's father's insistence on keeping the land in the family. Eric's father puts his son on a pedestal when showing him the land and telling him that it belonged to him since his existence. Eric shares in this masculine legacy and ownership as he mimics his father overseeing the land.
Homosexuality
At the dinner table during Eric's father's scolding of Jamie, the father questions Jamie's sexual abilities and Jamie's response implies that Eric and Jamie used to be romantically involved themselves.
Symbolism Paternal failure in Jamie
Jamie acts as a symbol and model for the failure of "white paternal legacy" due to his lack of land and no wife to reproduce children that will inherit his legacy.
Reception
Matt Brim comments on Jamie's murderous actions toward Eric at the end of the novel by stating that it was Jamie's way of destroying the "hetero-normative white myth of racial purity." Stanley Kauffman, a critic, suggests that "The Man Child" is a throwback to O. E. Rolvaag's poetry in terms of overall tone. He claims that the tone follows an author who is entering unchartered territory with a "failure of imagination."
"Previous Condition"
Summary Originally published in 1948, "Previous Condition" was included in the publication of Going to Meet the Man in 1965 as the fourth short story featured. The story follows the narrator, Peter, an actor, who is living in a white neighborhood in New York City with his Jewish friend Jules who lets him stay in a room he is renting in a white neighborhood. Despite hiding, Peter is eventually found out by the other neighbors and the landlady. While living together, Jules and Peter engage in a long philosophical discussion about the nature of Blackness and Jewishness in America. Later, he goes to dinner with his friend Ida, who suggests suing the landlady, but he prefers not to, contributing to a disagreement between the two. He then leaves, takes the subway, and goes to a Black bar, where he buys a drink for two women.
Characters
Peter: narrator-protagonist, actor, and Black man who stays with Jules and goes on a date with Ida Jules Weissman: Jewish boy who allows Peter to stay with him Ida: White girl of Irish descent, from Boston who Peter goes on a few dates with Landlady: kicks out Peter on the basis that she will not allow Black people to live in her building
Theme(s) Racial stereotyping
Racial stereotypes are placed on Peter throughout the short story. For instance, he plays a spin-off character of Uncle Tom in a production, gets kicked out of his living situation because he is Black, and realizes the "pity" that Ida has for him because of what he looks like. These instances all contribute to the stereotypes that White America has for Black people.
Oppressed becoming the oppressor