This article discusses the short story "Born of Man and Woman," by Richard
Matheson. If you are not familiar with the story and would like to know the
basics, please follow this link to read a summary of the plot.
You've no doubt heard, and perhaps even used, the expression "You little monster." Often used to describe poorly behaved children, it's just a colorful but figurative way of saying "bad."
But what if it were taken literally instead? That's what Richard Matheson did in his 1950 short story "Born of Man and Woman." Published just one year after Matheson earned his Bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, "Born of Man and Woman," as Gunn points out in its introduction in The Road to Science Fiction: Vol. 4, was intended to be a straightforward horror story. When published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, however, it was received as SF, and thus launched the career of one of the great writers of SF stories and screenplays. (For more on Matheson's career, see the accompanying profile.)
Drawing on Gothic influences, the story has much in common with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the effect on the reader is very similar. Shelley's tale is that of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates a life in a lab. His success is great, except that he overlooks the importance of aesthetics. What results is a being that looks at the world with childlike wonder, who possesses a good soul, but who is shunned by society and called things like "wretch" and "monster." As the story unfolds, the reader shares the torment that haunts both Dr. Frankenstein and his "monster."
"Born of Man and Woman" is also the story of a life created, only instead of in a lab it is by natural means. Something went wrong and a monster child was
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