"Born of Man and Woman" (Discussion Article)
born to "normal" parents. These parents approach the situation in much the same way that Dr. Frankenstein and society approach the monster of that tale—with no compassion or understanding. They keep their eight-year-old child locked in the basement, chained to a wall. They beat him when he tries to peek upstairs or does other things they don't like. And like the monster in Shelley's story, the child is referred to as a "wretch."
Beyond these superficial similarities, the two also share a common theme: the plight of one upon whom the door has been shut by family and society. Matheson leads us straight into the heart of this theme through the eyes of the shunned illiterate child, using poor grammar and a simple world view that allows us to put ourselves in the monster's shoes.
But the monster of this story isn't one at all. He's really a scared little child who longs to be part of a family, part of society, and who doesn't understand things because he has never been taught. When we hear the child describe his world with statements such as: "This day it had goldness in the upstairs" (Today it was sunny); or refer to his sister as "the little mother," because she looks normal, like his mother, only smaller; we realize just how innocent and undeveloped his mind is. To see a child so neglected really tugs on my heartstrings.
We see this same picture in Frankenstein. That story's monster is and isn't deserving of the term. When he begins his life, he is like an innocent child; the world is new to him and he doesn't understand the things around him. He is awed by the abandoned fire he finds and saddened when he is forced to give it up without knowing how to reproduce it. He also doesn't understand why people run away from him, and he is surprised when he kills for the first time. Being so large and powerful, he is not aware of how fragile humans are.
This last point is one that ties back into "Born of Man and Woman." Like Frankenstein's monster, Matheson's boy also unintentionally kills. When the "little mother" comes downstairs and he tries to hide—for fear that he will be beaten by his parents
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