Manchild in the Promised Land

Heartbroken, Claude flees to Harlem, joining a new group of young jazz musicians. He notices that the attitude toward drugs has changed: these musicians do not believe drugs are necessary to make good music, and like him, they want no part of street life. Many of them are professionals with good jobs who have never been arrested. Claude refers to them as “the young elite” and feels that he has found a place for himself (341). Harlem itself seems to have changed as heroin has loosened its hold on the community. While Claude is still glad that he left, he enjoys being part of this new Harlem.

He spends time with Turk, who has become a well-known boxer and a symbol of possibility in the community. Turk gives money to any person with an addiction who asks him for it and explains to Claude that it is seed money that will eventually come back to him. They talk about their friends who are in prison, many of whom committed violent crimes, and agree that none of them should ever have been involved in street life. Turks asks about Judy, and Claude says he had been trying something different by dating a white woman, but he has learned his lesson.

Having quit the watch repair shop job, Claude works briefly with a group of building contractors but quits when he realizes he—the only Black man on the crew—is doing more work for less money. He then starts selling cosmetics with the help of a fellow night school student, Shorty, who is a successful cosmetics salesman. Meanwhile, he passes the entrance exam for Columbia University, but knows he will never be able to afford to attend.

Although Claude initially struggles as a salesman, Shorty helps him become more confident, and the job allows him to spend more time in Harlem. One day, he runs into Jackie in a bar. She is apparently a sex worker with a client, but she gives Claude her address. He goes to her apartment a couple of days later, where the two drink, reminisce, and talk about their old friends. Jackie says that the way everything has changed is “just too much,” and Claude asks her if she plans to be a sex worker for the rest of her life (352). She avoids the question and says she wishes she and Claude could have been together. They say a loving goodbye. Claude wonders if everything he remembers from his childhood was real.

Claude begins to notice for the first time, largely through his work as a cosmetics salesman, the ways that men hurt women. Once, when he tries to collect money from a woman who had purchased soap from him, the woman screams at him before admitting that she is struggling with money because her husband has been arrested for raping their 15-year-old daughter. Claude feels terrible and leaves without the money. He acknowledges how strong Harlem women are.

Three days after Claude’s parents kick Pimp out, they learn that he attacked an emergency room doctor, begging for drugs, and has been taken to Bellevue Hospital. Claude’s mother believes Pimp is ready to start recovering and insists he is not like all the other people with heroin addictions. Claude becomes enraged at her naivete and reminds her of all the times Pimp has lied to the family. When his father agrees, Claude realizes he is being too harsh and tells his mother she might be right. He visits Pimp in Bellevue a few days later. Pimp claims he is ready to recover, and while he has doubts, Claude tries to believe him.

After five weeks in Bellevue, Pimp is released and gets a job. He stops using drugs, starts dating a girl, and expresses interest in getting his high school diploma. However, he still spends time with his old friends from the streets, and when Claude warns him that this is a bad idea, Pimp dismisses it.

Claude runs into a former Wiltwyck counselor, Lou, and tells him that he wants to go to college. Lou tells him about a man named Reverend James who works on a committee that sends Harlem students to college. Claude is suspicious of religious authority figures, but when he meets Reverend James, he is impressed with his intellect, kindness, and lack of interest in talking about God or “nonsensical holiness” (366). Claude starts visiting Reverend James regularly and eventually tells him about Pimp. Reverend James responds empathetically and explains that people who use drugs are strongly influenced by community attitudes, which is something Claude has never considered.

Claude learns that Pimp has quit his job, and his mother tells him that Pimp has been eating a lot of sweets (something common among people with heroin addictions). Frantic and angry, Claude finds Pimp on the streets near their parents’ house with a boy named Joe Norris. Overwhelmed by anger at Pimp, he punches Joe in the face. After recovering from his outburst, Claude tells Pimp he wants him to meet Reverend James. Pimp agrees.

That meeting leads eventually to Pimp’s going to the Metropolitan Hospital, which has a new ward for treating addiction. Pimp tells Claude he wishes he had finished school and left Harlem, as he can imagine a different life for himself, but he does not know how to survive anywhere else. He plans to break up with his girlfriend, so he does not end up stuck in Harlem forever.

After six weeks in the treatment program at Metropolitan, Pimp has stopped using drugs, is healthy, and is working at a hospital. Reverend James arranges for him to attend a school in the South. Claude makes plans to meet Pimp at the bank to give him some money before he leaves for school, but Pimp does not show up. Claude’s mother tells him that she has not seen Pimp for days. Claude searches the city for him without success. He soon learns that Pimp has been arrested for armed robbery.

Claude visits Pimp in jail. Pimp admits that he had relapsed before the robbery and says that maybe this was always his fate. He also tells Claude that his girlfriend is pregnant, but he does not seem to care. Claude visits him a few more times and admits that maybe it’s better for Pimp—and the rest of the family—that he is in jail.

Meanwhile, Tony has become increasingly frustrated with his life and starts using heroin, albeit casually. Claude offers to introduce him to Reverend James, who can help Tony go to school. Tony accepts, but the day before the meeting, Claude’s mother calls and tells Claude that Tony is dead. She claims he died of an overdose, but there is evidence that he might have been beaten to death. Devastated, Claude says that Tony died because he had simply gotten tired of living.

Claude says he has not lived in New York for four years—he does not explain why—and that even so, he sometimes goes back to Harlem. Despite all the changes he has observed—many of which seem impossible—the neighborhood maintains much of its “old misery” (389). He describes a recent event in which people with heroin addictions broke into his parents’ home and stabbed his mother. He searches the streets for Skippy, who he believes was involved, and runs into an acquaintance known as Rock. Rock tries to talk Claude out of killing Skippy, telling him that everyone will know who did it. Ultimately, the police arrest Skippy before Claude can find him.

Claude runs into Danny, which makes him wonder once again if his childhood was actually real. Danny is doing well and introduces Claude to his children. They talk about mutual friends who went to prison or died and about how much the world has changed. Danny asks about Pimp, and Claude tells him Pimp finished his high school diploma in prison and has started writing poetry. Danny remembers that Pimp always understood that he would inevitably suffer and seems to have accepted it.

Claude wishes he could tell the younger generation of Harlemites about people like Danny and Turk who had triumphed over adverse socioeconomic circumstances. He thinks about how unfair it was for Tony to have died before he realized his dreams, and he feels like he has to make it for both of them. He remembers the last time he saw Reno, about four years previously. They talk about old times over drinks, and Claude expresses gratitude for everything Reno taught him. They agree that some of the most important learning does not happen in colleges, but on the streets and in prisons and reform schools. Claude believes that Reno has become “one of the happiest people in Harlem” and feels very close to him (399).

Claude reflects on the deep fear he felt as a child and a young man and realizes that many other people in Harlem have felt the same way, afraid of what Harlem would do to them. He also acknowledges that everyone in Harlem has some kind of dream, and he feels sad for people whose dreams, whether big or small, are never realized. He concludes by recalling how comfortable and happy he once felt on the Harlem streets: They felt like home to him, and he never wanted to go inside because of all the things he might see simply by sitting on his front stoop.