Going to Meet the Man (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: James Baldwin
- First Published: 1965
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The early 1960's
- Setting: A town in the American South
- Principal Characters: Jesse, Grace, Jesse's father and mother, A black Civil rights leader
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, Politics, Racism, Sex or sexuality, South or Southerners, Prejudices or antipathies, Guilt, Violence, Suffrage or voting rights, Satire
- Locales: United States
The Story
“Going to Meet the Man” divides clearly and purposefully into two parts. In the first half, the main character, Jesse, a white deputy sheriff in a southern town, lies in bed with his wife, Grace, for the first time in memory suffering from insomnia and impotence. James Baldwin catches Jesse on this night at a moment of crisis, which he shares with other white males: The Old South is now history, the blacks are protesting en masse by registering to vote, and a new South that Jesse cannot conceive is about to be born. That he cannot accept what is happening is clear...
[The entire page is 2205 words long]
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